Week 9 - Cinema & Television

Cinema and television are high profile creative industries as well as and pervasive forms of popular entertainment and cultural expression within contemporary society. Cinema is life: it inspires, it entertains, and it gets you thinking. Cinema breaks your heart, again and again, but you keep coming back for more. While, television is a powerful medium for appealing to mass audiences; it reaches people regardless of age, sex, income, or educational level. In addition, television offers sight and sound, and it makes dramatic and lifelike representation people and the products.

Cinema and television actually give us the cultural literacy on it.  It gives the basic information that we need to know to carry on a logical conversation with most people we associate with. The more culturally literate you are, the more conversations you’re able to participate in with more people. According to Puttnam (1999) “screen literacy can help us achieve a better understanding of both the medium and the message”.

The influence of cinema & television shapes our concepts of who we are, what is important to us, and how we live our lives. This stated by Kermabon & Shahani (1991), “Television has accustomed the viewers to quick changes of perspective and identification of objects within the frame, transparently denotative of concrete things and events”. 

For example, the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on the TV shows.

Although it is to entertain people but it gives a negative/bad effect on the children. The children tend to follow their wrestler steps in wrestling with their brothers and anyone. The children want to be strong as their idol wrestler. I see thing happened on my little sister also, where she act wrestle with the pillow after watching that show.

While for me, I like watching Grey’s anatomy where it showed how our lives is very priceless. Where all the doctors are trying very hard in saving the people lives. 

And Crime Scene Investigation (CSI), where the staff analysis on surrounding environment also could improved my observation and analyse on my work.

Therefore, cinema & television could shape our identity, where the people aims or behaviour could change after watching some dramas or scene.

References:

• Kermabon, J. & Shahani, K. (1991). Ed. Cinema and television. India. Orient Longman Limited.
• Puttnam, D. (1999). Screen Literacy and Cultural Morality in the Digital Era. Retrieved on the October 2, 2011 from EbscoHost Website