We often forget just how long television has been around. The public discussion around television usually places it soundly in the modern era. In fact, it’s even used to define the modern era at times.
When we want to show something in the distant past it’s not unusual to show people listening to audio plays on the radio. But when one looks back on the history of television it’s easy to be struck by just how far back that stretches. In fact, one can find television dating back all the way to the 1920s. That’s nearly 100 years of cultural history on the small screen. And it brings up a rather important point.
Television isn’t some recent idea or flash in the pan concept. It’s a form of entertainment which is deeply ingrained into our culture. People often form some of their best memories around TV shows. Some people make this rather obvious. They might have tattoos that showcase a symbol or moment from a TV show. But other times the marks are made in a more subtle way.
For example, a line on a card might reference a moment couples watched something particularly meaningful together. Or a pet name between them might do the same. In any case, one can find meaningful moments from TV etched into the very foundation of people’s most important relationships. Many people are a little surprised to find just how much TV has entered their life.
But really, it’s understandable when one considers our culture’s relation to TV. It is in many ways an evolution of going out to the theatre. And that’s equally true of both a movie theater and going out to watch a play. A screenplay for TV and film isn’t that different than the plays we might read in school. The language might be less flowery than Shakespearean drama. But it’s important to realize that those older works were written with the language of the time. They were meant for the public in the same way that TV is today.
And looking at media in that light can offer up some interesting comparisons. For example, any type of as broadcast scripts have more in common to plays than one might expect. We often find great value in reading Shakespeare’s plays rather than watching them. Likewise, reading scripts for TV and movies can offer up insight as to an actor’s take on it. Or it can shine light into the mind of the person who wrote it.
All of this really suggests that we can look at popular media in a different way than the norm. The plays Shakespeare’s time really were similar in a way to TV and movies. When media touches us we shouldn’t assume it has less meaning because of the medium. Instead we should focus on the fact that a story was able to move us. We should take a step beyond that initial exposure to a show and study how and why a particular story connected with us in the way it did. In that way we can both learn more about ourselves and the story we just watched.