Wesley Morris, writing for The New York Times:
In 2007, television underwent a great expansion — beyond the major broadcast networks, beyond televisions and into all kinds of genres — just at the moment the economy shrank, and a fantasy emerged. As real people became poorer and lost their jobs, the ones on TV got richer, and their jobs seemed more beside the point. All that space to tell new stories ended up dedicated to a limited set of jobs and an increasingly homogeneous notion of what work even means.
Something fundamental has changed, a move from reflection to idealism.
I’m looking forward to reading this, but tv entertainment was never interested in the working class in the first place. It has always idealized its depiction of whatever passes for “ordinary life” on sitcoms or dramas. Relatively few tv series characters have ever had to concern themselves with money problems or having a decent place to live.
Same goes for movies. During the Depression and World War 2, movies were a great escape from the drudgery of daily life. You didn’t go to the movies to be reminded of the hell you lived in (despite a news reel at the beginning that tried to depress you or spin something good about what was happening).
It’s been little different throughout the years.
Seriously. I think the Times writer is cherry-picking examples that fit his thesis, which seems to also include the idea that the better tv shows we’re seeing now on smaller networks are somehow indicative of the larger collection of ordinary, average entertainment that still constitutes the majority.
Yeah, some shows out there are actually talking about how tenuous our economic lives have become, if only obliquely. Most aren’t.
Most assume there’s always a decent job for someone young and thin enough (or older and silly enough) so they can afford that loft in the big city and focus on this week’s trivial conundrum, whether it’s planning a surprise party for a grumpy parent, or scheming to catch a hackneyed serial killer.
“The factories and mills and laundries are now lofts and cafes where
characters sit around and talk — where all they do is hang out.”
And write think-pieces about half-researched ideas.