| |
Since American television stations began
featuring serials in their daily casts, generation after generation
sat and watched—literally. More than anything else, just with every
field of mass communication, television serials have influenced the
standard of living among the audience it caters to. The 1990s saw
this influence among various age groups: Dawson’s Creek led teen
dramas that made their debut on television and made teenage life
somewhat more exciting.
THE EVOLVING PICTURE
It wasn’t just teenagers who saw a typecast change—therefore
essentially changing their entire lifestyles. Police investigators,
detectives and fashion saw their own fields evolve in television as
their showbiz counterparts become the standard. Through generations,
tastes have changed across various age groups.
The ‘90s saw George Clooney in the highly acclaimed medical drama
ER. This age, on the other hand, saw Gray’s Anatomy and Scrubs as a
new form of this genre, as well as a more mature and comic form in
House. The tastes have changed, apparently—though the premise
remains intact. Modern-day norms have been adapted, as what might
have been scandalous before appears common for this age.
There is no question about police drama—producers Dick Wolf and
Jerry Bruckheimer presented CSI and Law and Order with the newest
technology and the innovations of techniques in crime investigation.
Detectives are still slick, sarcastic and sharp—the same as they
have always been. The crime labs still have the most up-to-date
equipment. Courtroom drama follows closely—the smartest, sassiest
lawyers ever to hit television screens sashay and litigate at the
same time.
 Teen
drama barely changed, reflecting the raging hormones common to
teenagers of all generations. If Dawson’s Creek set the standards
for teenage angst and drama, then today’s Orange County and One Tree
Hill take off on the same pedestal of hormonal overdrive.
Supernatural angles such as 1992’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and
Charmed take new forms in Smallville, tackling Superman’s teenage
years, and Ghost Whisperer, Jennifer Love Hewitt’s self-produced
series on clairvoyance.
Television has come up with new tales as well. Prison Break
chronicles the life of a willing detainee out to spring his brother
from jail, while Ugly Betty retells the story of a geeky, under
compensated office assistant adapted from a Mexican telenovela.
Desperate Housewives is seldom compared as a suburban version of Sex
and the City.
SAME OLD, SAME OLD...
Though these pictures have changed in the manner of fashion,
technology, and even premise, the messages they deliver have not
really changed. The stories still bring with them the message of
what is popular and most admired. They are updated with the hottest
of couture, the latest gadgets, and the most recent techniques.
Indeed, the characters walk the walk, talk the talk and say the
right words at the right circumstances. Subsequently the nerds, the
geeks, and the losers among the characters do the exact opposite.
THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG?
Despite the wide reach of its influence, television serials often
inspire ideas and ideals—and do not ultimately manufacture them for
a passive audience. People, though obviously taking after the drama
and romance of television, still make their own decisions and change
with the times. They need not conform to these dramas—precisely
because drama in television is derived from real life. They evolve
because even society evolves. In this area, perhaps, both television
and real life complement each other—and streamline each other.
THE THING IS...
Television is just that—moving pictures made to entertain. Though no
theorist can fully explain which influenced the other, audiences are
in fact affected by the turn of events and the situations in these
television shows. Stories derived from real life are what make up
these tales, despite claims that they all form what is popular.
Perhaps the aim to recognize the causes of evolution and its effects
are but mere towers of ivory—there is no real benefit from
recognizing the difference. After all, it’s just television.
■ |
|
