TV Tuesday: Caption Use

[yourlibrarian]

In an interview, Seth MacFarlane said that he created The Orville because “the dishes that we are serving up are so dystopian and so pessimistic.”

Do we need hopeful television? Can dystopian television be hopeful? Which shows are hopeful to you?

Comments

[lauramcewan]

(Title says caption use?)

I don't usually respond here because I'm awful at thinking of answers, but this one I can. I have been coming to view a lot of what's offered up as "violence as entertainment", because look at the sheer number of cop shows involving gunfire. Action involving gunfire or blowing people up. Doctor shows with docs at gunpoint to "fix him!" Terror and violence, and audiences lap it up. (I have my own exceptions, but I still will point at those particular shows as examples anyway.)

I found myself last fall/early winter leaning into Hallmark-type shows and also the sappy Christmas movies. I needed the happy endings. The hopeful. There may well be a challenge but it all ends with love and self-responsibility. When Calls the Heart became my go-to on DVD's from the library since I don't have a Hallmark subscription. Shows that are hopeful like Virgin River, and Sullivan's Crossing, and The Way Home. People figuring things out and while grief may happen, love prevails.

[yourlibrarian]

I'm so glad you weighed in! It's funny you should mention this because two days ago I watched a documentary via Hulu, Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna. Rust was a movie not a TV show, but there was some limited discussion of how often guns are used in productions, and particularly so given this was a western. I think someone mentioned (perhaps in hyperbole, perhaps not) that guns were in every shot of the movie.

But what struck me was hearing the director talk about the discussions he'd had with the murdered cinematographer. They added shots of guns being pointed into scenes, to make them more dramatic and urgent. The scene that ended up killing her and wounding him, was (supposedly) not even meant to have a gun drawn and pointed but it was supposed to feature Alec Baldwin drawing it slowly from his holster and cocking it. Their belief boiled down to the idea that (my words) a scene was less boring if a gun was being pointed.

It reminds me of the great debate that went on in the 2010s about how often characters were killed off on TV, either because writers couldn't think of what else to do with them, or because it was a cheap way of raising the stakes on something. In short, a ratings ploy, to get audiences more engaged. And it worked of course. An angry audience also gets a show into the news, makes other people more aware it exists. But guns and death substitute for more subtle drama, and character development, and other emotions beyond aggression and anxiety.

[lauramcewan]

Yes, all this. Interesting about Rust!

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> In an interview, Seth MacFarlane said that he created The Orville because “the dishes that we are serving up are so dystopian and so pessimistic.” <<

That's a great thing. The first season was the most hopeful and innovative though. After that, it got a great deal darker. *sigh*

>> Do we need hopeful television? <<

Absolutely. Before we can make the world a better place, we must first identify what we dislike here and then imagine what "better" might look like. Television, theatre, art, and writing are all ways to show examples of that. Some TV shows are really good at this, others not so much.

I'm a writer, working a lot in crowdfunding. My fans favor the more upbeat series, although I do write some very dark stuff as well. And then people ask, "Okay, these characters never seem to walk more than a few blocks to a bus stop, or wait more than 5-10 minutes for a bus. How does that society make it work?" I wound up digging into bus maps and federal budget. Well, turns out both federal and local government put a lot more into mass-transit, so it's better. And that hooks into everything from how many parks there are, to share bikes, to most apartment buildings having their own shuttlebus for trips. I wound up writing a whole piece on "How to Make Your Hometown More Like Bluehill."


Can dystopian television be hopeful?

Well, one of my series, Daughters of the Apocalypse, is what my fans call "postapocalyptic hopepunk." I haven't seen a version on TV but it should be possible. It's really about focus. There's a ton of beautiful postapocalyptic art with vines growing over ruins, but that's not really dystopian. With dystopian settings, there's a very dark aspect somewhere, so you'd have to work around that a good bit -- without erasing it.

>> Which shows are hopeful to you? <<

High Potential is the best I've seen for talking with a baby genius about how to cope with challenges that smart people have.

The Chobani solarpunk ad stands out for showing a hopeful future.

I tend to avoid dystopian stuff nowadays because it looks too much like the news. :/