I was watching a crime show on television the other day and the camera angle was slightly unusual: we were shown a parked car from in front & slightly below -- so the car was sort of towering over the viewer. Someone was walking towards the car, ready to drive it to work. I turned to my wife & said: when he gets in & starts the car it is going to blow up. Sure enough, the car blew up.
I turned to my wife & said, I finally figured out what life has prepared me for. It has prepared me to watch television shows.
What a sad statement; what a true statement.
I have watched thousands upon thousands upon thousands of hours of television. I grew up just as television was emerging as a force in society. When I went to college, Id avoid doing homework by watching television. Only when the television went blank -- and back in those days they stopped broadcasting at one or two a.m. -- did I begin doing my schoolwork, my homework.
I once realized, and this was half my life ago when I was in my thirties, that I could have built half a pyramid if I had devoted the same number of hours to building a pyramid as I devoted to watching television.
I do not mean to moan, or complain, or blame. I am merely observing that a large chunk of my life, a huge chunk of my life and of the lives of many people who are alive today, has been spent immobile, watching events unfold on a small screen with flickering images.
I could analyze why we do it -- to escape from our own lives -- I could see its good points -- we do learn about the world around us, outside our limited spheres -- I could wish it did not exist, I could blame it for the violence around us. I could do a great deal, but that is not what I wish to do.
It has been a real part of my life. It has entertained me, soothed me, educated me. It has, at times, wasted large chunks of time in the only life I will ever lead. But I do not blame it, nor do I wish it did not exist. It, television, is merely one of the forces in my life. For many years I lived without a television; for many years I watched it mindlessly. Now I watch it sporadically. But one thing I do know: I am well versed in the techniques of TV programs. I know when someone will be killed; I can tell, from a particular camera angle what will happen next. The many years of watching television has prepared me to watch television.
Copyright © 2004 Henry Morgenstein