Topic Paper
Topic 1
- Neal Postman calls American television a “medium” that creates a
“social and intellectual environment” that “attacks” “literate culture”
because it “requires minimal skills to comprehend it, and is largely
aimed at emotional gratification” (84, 86).What do you think?
- Postman claims that by presenting “all subject matter” as
“entertaining,” American television “has made entertainment itself the
natural format for the representation of all experience” (87).What do
you think?
- Please make a list of popular concerns often expressed
about technologies like the internet, comic books and video games and
identify points of overlap and distinction.
- Can you come up with an example of how television has served as a rule-breaking tool for you?
Topic 2
- What do you think about Hirsch & Newcomb’s ’s claim
that television serves as a “cultural forum”? How does “Betty, Girl
Engineer” raise questions that encourage civic discussion? How does it
close them down?
- How will different viewers walk away from “Betty, Girl Engineer” with different interpretations?
- Has the explosion of channels and platforms, along with
the ability to time shift content altered television’s possible role as a
cultural forum?
