The Play's the Thing

[August1991]

"The play's the thing, Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."

Hamlet

----

What attracts our conscience, or attention, and why?

Please don't tell me that people are stupid, and that they are attracted by baubles. Most people in North America are rich, or they are richer than I am. Most people ignore most world news. They are smart. They pay attention to what matters to them. True?

And anyway, what catches our conscience?

Edited September 14, 2007 by August1991

[M.Dancer]

"The play's the thing, Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."

Hamlet

----

What attracts our conscience, or attention, and why?

Please don't tell me that people are stupid, and that they are attracted by baubles. Most people in North America are rich, or they are richer than I am. Most people ignore most world news. They are smart. They pay attention to what matters to them. True?

And anyway, what catches our conscience?

To be honest, bush and britany bore me silly......but do you mean conscience or consciousness

[Higgly]

Well first of all, Britney looks better nekkid. And she's never killed anybody. Other than that, two peas in a pod. Dumb and dumber. But again, Britney looks better nekkid.

[August1991]

To be honest, bush and britany bore me silly......but do you mean conscience or consciousness

No, as Shakespeare, I meant conscience.

Well first of all, Britney looks better nekkid. And she's never killed anybody. Other than that, two peas in a pod. Dumb and dumber. But again, Britney looks better nekkid.

Yuk, yuk.

----

I'm disheartened that this thread did not attract more attention.

Dan Rather himself has said that CBS News is no longer concerned about "hard news" but rather (sorry) "entertainment".

In Shakespeare's play, Hamlet organizes a play (within a play) to discover his uncle's and mother's guilt. IOW, the play's the thing.

Why?

Edited September 21, 2007 by August1991

[geoffrey]

Care to expand on your Hamlet reference? Are you suggesting something about the news people trying to catch our conscience? I'm confused.

There is little doubt about the business of news. People want the latest gossip for the watercooler. Whatever station gives them this will get the viewers, therefore the advertisement dollars. CPAC and Business News Network (though the later is always in elevators...) likely don't sell as much in commerical revenue as Ben Mulroney does in a night of Canadian Idol or his entertainment show (which one does he do?).

Bottom line, hard news isn't commercial worthy because such a select market would watch it. So no one produces it.

[kimmy]

Because with Britney it's personal. She has been on our televisions for years now, and to some extent people feel as though they know her in a sense. She is much like a strong character in a good work of fiction... people develop some connection or attachment to strong fictional characters, or they resonate with us in some way, or evoke some emotional response... and Britney is such a character.

As with a literary character, news items about Britney could be categorized as either "characterization" or "plot development" or sometimes both. Gossip that Britney doesn't change her kids' diapers, but does put whitening-strips on their teeth serve to reinforce peoples' view of her. Events like her disastrous marriage to that deadbeat, or her recent disastrous "comeback" performance at the video music awards show, advance the plot in the slow-moving, long-running drama that is Britney's public life. She's a compelling lead.

It might be disguised as "entertainment industry news", but the ongoing saga of Britney Spears is really just a very popular soap opera.

-k

[Visionseeker]

I remember when Entertainment Tonight first hit the airwaves and my father (quite prophetically) stated: [insert heavy French accent] "Fuck a duck! If they put this shit on the airwaves there will soon be no room for reality".

With each "reality" program that gets released, I can't help but think of that prophetic statement.

I have little time for TV (other than the Simpsons and my favoured sporting teams) and have removed myself from entertaining popular culture. Why? Because it's nothing but garbage.

Thankfully, the idiot box has grown apart from me.

[ScottSA]

"The play's the thing, Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."

Hamlet

----

What attracts our conscience, or attention, and why?

Please don't tell me that people are stupid, and that they are attracted by baubles. Most people in North America are rich, or they are richer than I am. Most people ignore most world news. They are smart. They pay attention to what matters to them. True?

And anyway, what catches our conscience?

From the last set of photos available on the net, I was given to understand that Britney had no bush.

[AngusThermopyle]

Why is Britney bigger than Bush?

Easy answer, she has way, way nicer boobs.

Guys like that, you know?

From the last set of photos available on the net, I was given to understand that Britney had no bush.

Guys tend to like that too.

Edited September 22, 2007 by AngusThermopyle

[Michael Hardner]

And anyway, what catches our conscience?

Auguste...

We can't say. If we could, then generating a hit TV show or movie would be as easy as manufacturing a nail. What do the TV executives do ? Throw things against the wall and see what sticks.

We would do well to understand this process better, though, as we might use such knowledge to get people more interested in politics.

If we want that to happen.

A better use of such knowledge might be to make politics less interesting for the general public. That could conceivably encourage politicians to raise the level of dialogue, so that it's directed to MapleLeaf-type wonks...

[Guest American Woman]

A better use of such knowledge might be to make politics less interesting for the general public. That could conceivably encourage politicians to raise the level of dialogue, so that it's directed to MapleLeaf-type wonks...

So responses of this intellectual level

Well first of all, Britney looks better nekkid.

Why is Britney bigger than Bush?

Easy answer, she has way, way nicer boobs.

Guys like that, you know?

From the last set of photos available on the net, I was given to understand that Britney had no bush.

Guys tend to like that too.

would require politicians to raise the level of dialog? Now there's a scary thought.

[Michael Hardner]

I think that's just MapleLeafers having a larff...

Certainly the worst of the posters I know and love here (I'm an oldtimer in these parts) are a cut above the average doughnot-shop proselytizer...

[August1991]

There is little doubt about the business of news. People want the latest gossip for the watercooler. Whatever station gives them this will get the viewers, therefore the advertisement dollars.

IOW, why is news of Britney more cool at the watercooler (sorry) than news of Bush?

Sorry Geoff, you haven't answered the question. You've just foisted the question onto another similar question.

Because with Britney it's personal. She has been on our televisions for years now, and to some extent people feel as though they know her in a sense. She is much like a strong character in a good work of fiction... people develop some connection or attachment to strong fictional characters, or they resonate with us in some way, or evoke some emotional response... and Britney is such a character.

As with a literary character, news items about Britney could be categorized as either "characterization" or "plot development" or sometimes both. Gossip that Britney doesn't change her kids' diapers, but does put whitening-strips on their teeth serve to reinforce peoples' view of her. Events like her disastrous marriage to that deadbeat, or her recent disastrous "comeback" performance at the video music awards show, advance the plot in the slow-moving, long-running drama that is Britney's public life. She's a compelling lead.

It might be disguised as "entertainment industry news", but the ongoing saga of Britney Spears is really just a very popular soap opera.

You could say the same about Bill Clinton.

IOW, if politicians need to have a story arc to be successful, then politicians will create one. Would this mean that Bush Jnr is just lousy at telling a story? There's no drama, conflict or change?

---

I guess that I'll just have to fall back on my tired, standard explanation for this conundrum. People like drama and conflict. They prefer zero-sum games to non-zero-sum games. They prefer to watch divorces rather than weddings. Car crashes rather than kisses. (But is that really true? One of the world's most watched events was the moon landing, or Prince Charles marriage to Princess Diana.)

I remember when Entertainment Tonight first hit the airwaves and my father (quite prophetically) stated: [insert heavy French accent] "Fuck a duck! If they put this shit on the airwaves there will soon be no room for reality".

With each "reality" program that gets released, I can't help but think of that prophetic statement.

I have little time for TV (other than the Simpsons and my favoured sporting teams) and have removed myself from entertaining popular culture. Why? Because it's nothing but garbage.

Thankfully, the idiot box has grown apart from me.

I don't watch TV either but I don't agree with the condescension in your post. People are smart about things that matter to them. When they watch TV, they want to relax so of course, TV programmes are not a good measure of people's ability to cope with thought-provoking ideas. If you want to measure people's intelligence, I'd listen in while they negotiated a mortgage, decided a bid on a house or prepared for a job interview.

My point in the OP was to wonder why we are attracted to a show or a play? What constitutes entertainment, American usage for the arts? And why is Brittany Spears more attractive than the drama of politics?

Why is Britney bigger than Bush?

Easy answer, she has way, way nicer boobs.

As the beer marketing people say when asked why beer commercials always have bikini babes, "That's what young guys want to see."

If the only voters in America were young guys, then I could understand your point. But Obama and Thompson and the others are probably more concerned right now about what retirees in Florida think. (And the retirees are probably appalled about the antics of that woman Brittany.)

So, how to attract people's attention? How to know their conscience?

We can't say. If we could, then generating a hit TV show or movie would be as easy as manufacturing a nail. What do the TV executives do ? Throw things against the wall and see what sticks.

We would do well to understand this process better, though, as we might use such knowledge to get people more interested in politics.

I guess that's my point.

They say that Washington is Hollywood for ugly people. I think that Washington will increasingly become like Hollywood. Filled with beautiful people. And they'll have a story arc.

Edited September 23, 2007 by August1991

[Michael Hardner]

They say that Washington is Hollywood for ugly people. I think that Washington will increasingly become like Hollywood. Filled with beautiful people. And they'll have a story arc.

Auguste,

I recommend the book - 'Life, the Movie' by Neil Gabler.

In it, he explains that the world itself has begun to remodel itself around around our stories, our mythology.

Certainly, that would explain the Clintons somewhat.

[August1991]

I recommend the book - 'Life, the Movie' by Neil Gabler.

I'll take a look on alibris.

In it, he explains that the world itself has begun to remodel itself around around our stories, our mythology.

Certainly, that would explain the Clintons somewhat.

MH, you're taking kimmy's viewpoint.

In another thread, I once presented politics as hockey teams - people (voters) are fans who choose sides. This makes Election Night, like a Final Stanley Cup game, more interesting. MH, you seem to think rather that voters choose myths. WTF? A myth?

For such an irrational act as voting, what determines where a person puts an X? Enquiring minds want to know.

Edited September 30, 2007 by August1991

[kp186]

With Britney it's like passing a bloody accident on the freeway. Everyone slows down to look. We get a certain satisfaction watching someone famous self-destruct, especially someone like her, who couldn't cut it musically without her body and sexual "pop tart" image. Personally I love it when someone like that goes off the rails. There are too many talented musicians who can't get arrested these days because they don't appeal to the video generation and their cookie-cutter, corporate so-called "music".

Edited October 3, 2007 by kp186

[Michael Hardner]

I don't know. Somehow I feel sorry for her. Like the German WW2 soldiers who were taken at 12 to fight on the eastern front, then caught and imprisoned in the USSR until they were old men.

"I never had a life."

Brittney's not a real person. If I were in the same room as her, I'd have to leave. It would be too depressing.

When we vote, we're buying (spending time to go down and vote) a product (candidate) for it's effect, the 'sizzle' (the general feeling of well-being or misery that we get from a newspaper headline or tv news image).

Rather than continue to dumb down and destroy our electoral system, the parties should voluntarily extricate it from this terrible decline. Stephen Harper is 'snubbing' the national press right now, but if he's successful, it might mean that politics and television are on their way to a happy divorce.

[jennie]

I don't know. Somehow I feel sorry for her. Like the German WW2 soldiers who were taken at 12 to fight on the eastern front, then caught and imprisoned in the USSR until they were old men.

"I never had a life."

Brittney's not a real person. If I were in the same room as her, I'd have to leave. It would be too depressing.

When we vote, we're buying (spending time to go down and vote) a product (candidate) for it's effect, the 'sizzle' (the general feeling of well-being or misery that we get from a newspaper headline or tv news image).

v

Rather than continue to dumb down and destroy our electoral system, the parties should voluntarily extricate it from this terrible decline. Stephen Harper is 'snubbing' the national press right now, but if he's successful, it might mean that politics and television are on their way to a happy divorce.

You show real compassion.

I think I get it ... to some of us (me) Britney Spears is fluffy soap opera entertainment to distract us from our terrifying or tedious work ... at the watercooler, in the elevator after you exhaust the weather. It's a common story, she's only the latest, though watching so much of it live in progress is a new twist.

BUT watercooler talk of politics? ... well I'd have to leave because it is a highway crash in progress and it is ALL waaay too anxiety provoking.

And I hope Brits kids are ok.

[Michael Hardner]

When I look at the fact that a lot of these kids started as 1980s mouseketeers, then ended up in rehab, they start to look more like products on an 'icon assembly line' than people.

[DogOnPorch]

I don't know. Somehow I feel sorry for her. Like the German WW2 soldiers who were taken at 12 to fight on the eastern front, then caught and imprisoned in the USSR until they were old men.

Just to be clear, neither the SS nor the regular Wehrmacht conscripted 12 year olds...for duty in Russia or elsewhere. Sixteen year olds were drafted in 1945 into the Volkstrum (Home Defence)...but that's officially as young as they got.

As for Ms Spears...they should leave her alone before she ends up like Anna Nichole...or Princess Di.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The cool thing about being famous is traveling. I have always wanted to travel across seas, like to Canada and stuff.

---Britney Spears

[Michael Hardner]

I stand corrected, thanks DoP.