Television Journal Number Two

Perspectives While Viewing

The purpose of this activity is to help you become aware of how the content/meaning/understanding of television shows are dependent on the perspective being taken by the viewer who is processing the information. Recall the example I gave in class about the description of a house – from the perspective of a potential home buyer and a potential burglar.

For this activity you will watch at least an hour of television – primetime (8-11 pm), commercial (ABC, CBS, NBC, or FOX), sitcom or action/adventure/drama. Please do not watch a news type show or a “reality” TV show…you will not reach the awareness level I hope you will get from this assignment. You may watch different shows for each perspective or the same show…personally I think you will get more out of the activity if you watch several different shows.

As you are watching the shows, take the following perspectives and respond to the questions related to that perspective.

A Child – Watch the show from the perspective of an elementary school age child (tell me how old the child is). As you are watching, tell me if there is anything that confuses you, or frightens you, or makes you feel uncomfortable. Do you understand the language or the meaning enhanced by the media attributes.

A Child who is Different in some way (i.e. heavy set child, skinny child, a child who wears glasses, or is of a specific ethnicity, or is from a divorced family environment, or an abused child. Just describe a child and be specific about that child…then watch the show from that child’s perspective. Ask yourself similar questions as the previous perspective.

A Parent of an elementary school age child. While watching the show are there any things you are seeing or hearing that are not issues you are ready to discuss with your child, are the values or behaviors being presented what you are teaching your child, are there things on the show that are embarrassing for you to discuss with your child should questions arise…just think of yourself as a parent and see if you would want your child to ask you questions about the show you are watching.

An Elementary School Teacher. While watching the show are there any redeeming qualities you find in the show – little segments you think you might be able to use to “spruce up” a lesson, or that could serve as a catalyst for discussion, or that could be useful to enhance an understanding of an issue.

I don’t want you to “over think” while doing this activity…just try to put yourself in the shoes (or couch, in this case) of the various roles and really THINK about how the information being presented on the screen is being interpreted by the various roles assigned.