Education + Entertainment = Edutainment?
Over the years, I have taken note of the changes in television channels and programming. For example, TLC used to be known as "The Learning Channel." It focused on education and was originally founded by NASA and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare! The channel was originally called the Appalachian Community Service Network but was then bought by a private company and the name was changed to The Learning Channel, whose focus was documentaries on space, science, how things were made, and medical studies.
By the mid 2000's, the format had almost completely changed. The channel that focused on genuine educational materials became "TLC" and switched from documentary to docu-drama to just plain garbage drama with shows like "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo." Talk about devolving.
But the same thing seems to be occurring on most of those kinds of channels. Perhaps because education doesn't sell. There has to be some twist, plot device, or maybe it's because we have collectively confused reality television with actual reality. As such, we cannot understand a documentary that doesn't have a hoarder, a murder, a dysfunctional family, or screaming children in it. How can a documentary on space exploration be entertaining if there isn't some kind of built in, built up drama? Easily, but not if you want your television to be entertaining and your mind to be spoon fed on the high calorie, low content food of what passes for educational material.
Likewise for the History Channel. Not too much history there anymore. Sure a few documentaries pop up from time to time, but for a channel whose focus is history, there sure is a lot of profiteering on it. What does it say about our culture when the History Channel features shows like "Pawn Stars" where history is discussed briefly in between someone trying to make a profit off of it and someone else trying to figure out how to undercut the asking price? Maybe the show is a history of capitalism, or maybe it shows that we are only interested in history if we can make a few bucks off of it.
Of course one only need to watch MTV for a few hours to realize that the M which stood for "music" when the station began in the 1980's, now seems to stand for materialism or muck.
It seems to point to a larger trend which is, as Nirvana sang, "Here we are now. Entertain us." Entertain doesn't mean educate. And we are a well entertained society. I don't know how educated we are anymore, but we sure know how to spot and pick our history - because we know we can sell it at the nearest pawn shop.
By the mid 2000's, the format had almost completely changed. The channel that focused on genuine educational materials became "TLC" and switched from documentary to docu-drama to just plain garbage drama with shows like "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo." Talk about devolving.
But the same thing seems to be occurring on most of those kinds of channels. Perhaps because education doesn't sell. There has to be some twist, plot device, or maybe it's because we have collectively confused reality television with actual reality. As such, we cannot understand a documentary that doesn't have a hoarder, a murder, a dysfunctional family, or screaming children in it. How can a documentary on space exploration be entertaining if there isn't some kind of built in, built up drama? Easily, but not if you want your television to be entertaining and your mind to be spoon fed on the high calorie, low content food of what passes for educational material.
Likewise for the History Channel. Not too much history there anymore. Sure a few documentaries pop up from time to time, but for a channel whose focus is history, there sure is a lot of profiteering on it. What does it say about our culture when the History Channel features shows like "Pawn Stars" where history is discussed briefly in between someone trying to make a profit off of it and someone else trying to figure out how to undercut the asking price? Maybe the show is a history of capitalism, or maybe it shows that we are only interested in history if we can make a few bucks off of it.
Of course one only need to watch MTV for a few hours to realize that the M which stood for "music" when the station began in the 1980's, now seems to stand for materialism or muck.
It seems to point to a larger trend which is, as Nirvana sang, "Here we are now. Entertain us." Entertain doesn't mean educate. And we are a well entertained society. I don't know how educated we are anymore, but we sure know how to spot and pick our history - because we know we can sell it at the nearest pawn shop.
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