Watching Comprehension
In Episode 6 of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, NBC's TV series premiered in fall 2006, sketch actor Tom invited his parents to the studio for his show. The lines between Tom and his father are still echoing through my mind even though I've watched the episode for more than two weeks.
Dad. You still have a turntable at home, right?
A record player? I don't have any use for a CD player, Tom. The music sounds just fine to me coming out of...
No,I... I wanted to give you this. It's a recording of Who's on First. You gotta set your turntable to 78. When you get home you're gonna laugh. And you're gonna listen to it over and over again and you're gonna laugh every time. I love you, Dad. And whether you like it or not, you taught me everything I know.
You all right? You need any money?
I'm fine.
Obviously, the writer of Studio 60 portrayed Tom's parents who live in Columbus as complete rubes, because almost every American from the generation has heard of Who's on First, however, the thing happening in Tom's family is not that far off. I got the impression that he had a very stern education and laughter was not a main part of his infancy. And it's the very reason he knew little about the comedy shows, and couldn't catch up with Tom from time to time.
My heart really ached for Tom, because I have an interest in something called show-biz that my parents could never comprehend and have spent many times having similar conversations with them in a similar frustrating way. When I lived in Fuzhou, a small city in the southeast China, during the National Day vacation, I bought the DVD of Peter Jackson's King Kong and played it on the big flat-screen TV with Dolby Digital 5.1 surrounding sound system for my parents. Five minutes past, my mom said, "Now we're too old to understand the story."
It seemed as Tom's father had not asked "You all right?" for such a long time that Tom could hardly hold his tears after the words. I don't see why they could get so out of touch, but I've got the answer to myself. Actually, I could not remember the last time I watched any TV programs with both of my parents.
"How endless choice is creating unlimited demand." Chris Anderson, the editor in chief of Wired magazine, wrote on the cover of The Long Tail. With the content becoming tens of thousands more than ever before, each member of a family could find his or her favorite on the big screen or the Internet. There are three televisions and four computers (including two laptops) in my parents' house, so how can we go back to the "good old days" when my mom, my dad and I watched Mickey Mouse or Tom & Jerry at 18:30 on CCTV 1 every weekend?
The poor situation is going from bad to worse recently. Since the rise of Internet video, watching has transformed from a family activity undertaken in the living room to a solitary practice embarked upon while bored at work. Sure, YouTube videos are e-mailed from friend to friend, but we watch them alone. As Slate's associate editor said, if America's Funniest Home Video was a vacation slide show at grandma's house, YouTube is a viewing booth in a porno shop.
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