Overkill

[Dave2002]

doversoul

I do find it all rather a surprise - http://www.brunel.ac.uk/cbass/social...logy/kimposium

I was about to comment on TV in the lives of "real" people - and then reread the heading in the "flyer" - Reality Television—Life, Death, and Genre.

A few years ago I was on a train, and a woman and her husband (I presume) got on. The woman was desperately interested in soap operas, and I think she either had a magazine about soap operas, or maybe even a more specific one - Eastenders Daily, or Neighbours Weekly or some such. The way she was talking really gave the impression that she thought the people in the programmes were "real". Her companion largely ignored her comments, however, but she did seem totally wrapped up in these "unreal" worlds, and was speculating about what would happen, and what would happen "if".

Reality TV however does use real people, but puts them into fake situations. Maybe sometimes it is entertaining, and perhaps sometimes it is worthy of study. What might be more interesting is how and why so many people get drawn into these programes - either reality TV or soap operas - and how such behaviour is exploited by "the media" and commercialisation.

Mind you, let's not knock soap operas and "youth culture" too hard - there are still many older people who listen to the Archers!

Re Kimposium, I suppose some academics have to make significant efforts to justify their positions.

[Dave2002]

As for popular culture, my attention was drawn to another Guardian article today in which a university professor (I think) was defending his 'Kimposium' - a symposium on Kim Kardashian.

I think there are gender differences - http://www.brunel.ac.uk/people/meredith-jones

[Stanfordian]

I think there are gender differences - http://www.brunel.ac.uk/people/meredith-jones

Hiya Dave,

Who is Kim Kardashian? What instrument does he/she play?

[johncorrigan]

Hiya Dave,

Who is Kim Kardashian? What instrument does he/she play?

I think she blows her own trumpet, Stanfordian!

[P. G. Tipps]

I was about to comment on TV in the lives of "real" people - and then reread the heading in the "flyer" - Reality Television—Life, Death, and Genre.
The way she was talking really gave the impression that she thought the people in the programmes were "real".

They are on Judge Judy, Dave!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h_mjOUGI7A

[Tapiola]

I think she blows her own trumpet, Stanfordian!

Kim's father was OJ Simpson's defence lawyer during OJ's infamous murder trial in 1995.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A few years ago I was on a train, and a woman and her husband (I presume) got on. The woman was desperately interested in soap operas, and I think she either had a magazine about soap operas, or maybe even a more specific one - Eastenders Daily, or Neighbours Weekly or some such. The way she was talking really gave the impression that she thought the people in the programmes were "real". Her companion largely ignored her comments, however, but she did seem totally wrapped up in these "unreal" worlds, and was speculating about what would happen, and what would happen "if".

The tabloids quite often report on the death/marriage/birth of a soap character as though these people were real - as front page headline news.

What sort of feeble society do we live in?

[Serial_Apologist]

The tabloids quite often report on the death/marriage/birth of a soap character as though these people were real - as front page headline news.

What sort of feeble society do we live in?

One in which escapism mirrors the governing principles that keep that society ticking, would be my answer. There will always be escapism when people need to escape.

[MrGongGong]

There will always be escapism when people need to escape.

And that's why folks love Wagner

[Serial_Apologist]

And that's why folks love Wagner

Well, we all (???) have our different forms of escape, GG. Perhaps the times we get farthest from using music as a means of escape (like I am doing right now listerning to and enjoying Jean Coulthard on COTW) come when the music's capacity for grabbing and holding the attention coincides with the capacity of the listener to be drawn to the moment. For some (like me) that would most likely either be music containing few predictabilities, so that I would be like the man who daren't blink for fear of missing the lightning - and therefore probably freely improvised music in which the performers don't know where they are going either - or a walk in the woods here, or somewhere likewise not too sensorially overwhelming with data demanding attention.

[EdgeleyRob]

Unfortunately, others always have the last laugh on both of us, in view of our football allegiance.

Very true (double )

[Beef Oven!]

And that's why folks love Wagner

& Stockhausen

[P. G. Tipps]

And that's why folks love Wagner

Then, maybe the Black Anglican Bishops should embrace a bit more of him as well ... ?

[doversoul1]

doversoul

I do find it all rather a surprise - http://www.brunel.ac.uk/cbass/social...logy/kimposium

I was about to comment on TV in the lives of "real" people - and then reread the heading in the "flyer" - Reality Television—Life, Death, and Genre.

Reality TV however does use real people, but puts them into fake situations. Maybe sometimes it is entertaining, and perhaps sometimes it is worthy of study. What might be more interesting is how and why so many people get drawn into these programes - either reality TV or soap operas - and how such behaviour is exploited by "the media" and commercialisation.

Mind you, let's not knock soap operas and "youth culture" too hard - there are still many older people who listen to the Archers!

Re Kimposium, I suppose some academics have to make significant efforts to justify their positions.

Apologies for going back a bit and maybe stating the obvious.

I think it is because the storyline of soap is variations of what the audience already knows. As for reality show, the audience knows that the participants will be safely back to their normal life when the show is over. Reality Show is a very clever name. Simulation Show wouldn’t have taken off. The use of ‘real’ people spares the viewers form having to use their imagination.

The viewers of these programmes are a readymade market for the media and commercialism since their ‘desire’ has already been created..

I don’t think all this in itself is new but I find the scale of manipulation alarming.

[french frank]

[Hadn't read ds's post first]

Getting back to the Overkill debate: for me, this isn't even specifically about David Bowie (and what he may or may not have meant to anyone). It's about this national or, as now, global phenomenon whereby human beings become so 'attached' (for whatever reason) to others only known to them through the media - or a particular medium - that dumbfounds me.

Did it start with the death of Grace Archer? (And that's not trying in any way to trivialise Bowie - the Archers mean as much to some people as Bowie meant to others). Not so much the Global Village as the Media Village, presumably. Not the media as influencing but as disseminating.

But I still find the outpouring of emotion surprising.