MEDIO MEDIA: last meeting, when i said i didn't watch tv, i didn't mean it to come off rude. i grew up in a quite remote and backward little barrio in pulilan, bulacan. and the whole village didn't have electricity until i was about 8 or 9 years old. every siesta time, my mother would let us listen to radio dramas: mga mata ni anghelita, etc to put us to sleep, and gabi ng lagim, ito kaya'y totoo, etc (with sabatini fernandez, estrella kuenzler, etc) before we go to bed at night.
finally, when electricity came, so did tv, karaoke, etc. and it changed our lives. we were thrilled. i was addicted to afternoon animes (voltes v, grendizer, daimos, etc). in fact, i was so hooked to these animes that when marcos banned it (because he thought it was too violent for kids. duh! marcos condemning violence?) my friends and i retaliated by cursing him. that was probably the very first time i ever got involved in politics.
until i went to high school and rpn 9 (is it still rpn?) went 24/7. i was so glued to tv that i actually faked making assignments so i could stay and sleep in the sala. and all i was watching the whole time was replays of the gods must be crazy 1, 2, 3 and 4. they aired all four every night. and i watched cathy santillan reporting every night. needless to say, i lost a lot of precious sleep while i was growing up. probably the reason why hindi ako tumangkad. yup, i'm blaming tv for that.
that's why right now, i don't watch tv anymore. several years ago, i bought a tv set and i had cable. i thought i was all grown up and i could control my tv-watching habits. but it turned out it wasn't true. then i modified it a bit and told myself i'd just let tv in the background while i was reading or writing (those who write and/or work at home must know this). but it wasn't true either. so when it conked out last year, i tried very hard to resist the temptation of having it repaired or replaced. and now i am slowly rehabilitating myself, and recovering what's left of my humanity--kidding. i mean, i am trying to re-channel my time, energy and creativity to other worthwhile tasks. (and then comes internet... haaay, it's a never ending struggle.)
anyway, my point is that (yup, i may have a point) tv is highly addictive. i realized that when an individual abuses tv, it's actually tv that's abusing him/her. especially now that all the stations have gotten very competitive and they want dominance over each other (ratings-wise, not necessarily content- or value-wise), they're not satisfied with making unsuspecting preys not *change the dial.* they want them to tune in to their respective channels and get hooked.
probably it also helped that i worked in some tv shows of most local channels. i was part of the illusion-making process. i knew some of the tricks and how they did it. my first disappointment was when some years ago, i was told by my superior that they were giving me certain assignments because i knew how to make the subjects (drum roll) cry. that was when i realized that what i was doing was wrong, unethical and abusive. and i had an epiphany after that conversation: everything on tv is fake. they're there to make us laugh and cry and buy the shampoos and detergent bars paying for their prodcost (can i be more cliché?).
i admit that i will have to be involved in media--either as part of the team that produces the content or as a viewer--to make my observations (and bashings--kidding) as accurate as possible. i know that we can't and mustn't separate ourselves from this phenomenon if we are to make sensible conclusions--as media practitioners, students, critics, scholars and as individuals living in a world where media continue to evolve to suit our wants and the needs of the people who run them.but we all know that already. so i'll just shut up.
Click the pix to go to their respective sources.
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