Entertainment out of control?

[Prebe]

Inspired by the plastic surgery thread, I thought I would start a thread about entertainment/human preference.

How do preferences arise?

Do we constantly crave more grotesque entertainment?

Is western civilisation going to break because of the increasing depravity of its entertainment?

And what does it all have to do with sex?

Before you start slinging mud, I had better say that I am not a hair better myself. It used to make me happy looking at pictures of naked chicks. Not any more.

[Plissken]

Naked chicks don't make you happy anymore?

Huh.

Oh well, here we go:

I think that the need for grotesque entertainment arises from a the beginnings of a societies death-throes. It's not a huge leap from the Coluseum to "Fear Factor". I think that the quiet frustrations of peoples lives in a decaying society, combined with having been trained to be too polite to deal with them directly creates a need for substitutes to punish and surrogates to humiliate themselves to a greater degree.

Prefrences, however, are mostly about procreation.

[Prebe]

Pictures pliss. Naked chicks IRL make me exceedingly happy!

[Plissken]

Ah, I see.

I have some other thoughts on the Entertainment Industry that may or may not be where you're leading:

Remembering that advertisers do not set social agendas, but instead sell products and that program directors are there to sell advertising, the almighty SitCom is pretty instructive, as an indicator of society. In short, they know who to sell to, in order to get product out the door.

I'll be coming back to advertising content later, but the people advertisers and program directors are selling to are women. Think about it: The basis for just about every SitCom out there is a family with a smart, gorgeous woman who is inexplicably married or involved with a confused, overweight, bumbling idiot. If they have children, they invariably outsmart their Father, who then then comes to his wife to learn a lesson about child rearing.

If the woman in question is single, she is still gorgeous and her potential mates are divided into two camps: The pretty, sensitive guy and the sexy, (usually) sexist, bumbling moron. There is also usually a greek chorus of idiotic best friends and family (who exist to highlight the wit and charm of the lead), and another (usually) sensitive moron in a subservient position (who will eventually be chosen as a mate - should the series run long enough).

There are exceptions - more recently, the atrocious Seinfeld, which centered on the lives of the self-obsessed (eventually redeemed by a hilarious final episode), and further back, Roseanne, which was only acceptable because it was created and produced by the female lead (think about it - if a series was created by a bunch of "Suits" that centered around a fat, self-destructive bitch who took joy in emotionally abusing her children and hardworking, upright rock of a husband, all hell would've broken loose).

So: What does this tell us about society?

[High Lord Tolkien]

I'm in front of the computer all the time and I have to admit I find myself gravitating toward the more....extreme. (I'll leave that to you're own twisted imaginations)

I think the more a person is exposed to something the more bored they get at a certain level.

I love horror movies.
When I was a teenager 1/2 my check went to movie rentals.
I started normally, watching the whole movie but pretty soon I'd pop a movie in and then just fast forward to the gory parts.
As time went on I wanted to see more and more high tech horror stuff and was sending away for some "banned" German horror. (I think banned was just a selling point though.)

But eventually my sources or funds went dry and I moved on to something else like girls.

Young teens viewing all this porn on the internet thing really scares me though.
I'm an adult.
I understand what I'm looking at.
I've experienced enough in life to process the fantasy I'm seeing and put it into perspective to real life.
If a 13 year old is bored seeing pics of regular sex or things that I think are totally wild (or impossible!) but hasn't kissed or held a girls hand yet.... then there's a huge learning curve that being bypassed or destroyed.

I used to sneak a peek at men's magazines like Playboy or Hustler and think about those pics when I was with a girlfriend.
Those pictures were very tame and in exotic locations.
Now kids can download hour long gangbang porn movies in the privacy of thier rooms.
I imagine their respect and expectation of what they want from thier girlfriends will reflect that too.

The "age of innocence" is now 10 and under.

[sgt.null]

I agree, more extreme porn is the answer to hours of porn. and we de-sensitize these kids as well. everything is a movie or game.

as to Plissken: I hate sitcoms, that stupid laugh track. but I really hate how men are portrayed as bumblimg, lying morons. and why would these couples still be married? they lie, cheat and deceive. call each nasty names and the kids pile on the abuse. it's a freak show.

[Nathan]

Don't know what kind of sitcoms you're watching... The kind of sitcoms I see don't portray any men as bumbling idiots. I would imagine that kind of thing would be wildly unpopular round here anyway.

[High Lord Tolkien]

Don't know what kind of sitcoms you're watching... The kind of sitcoms I see don't portray any men as bumbling idiots. I would imagine that kind of thing would be wildly unpopular round here anyway.

American sitcoms usually portray the father as a fool.
Children are witty politically correct sages.
Commercials follow the pattern pretty much too.
There are exceptions but the adult male is usually a helpless fool.
I know its supposed to be good natured fun but, come on!
Enough already.
And this is coming from someone who only sees commercials when I watch with the wife.
Aside from my wife, who can't be bothered changing the channel, does anyone here even watch tv commercials?

[sgt.null]

According To Jim
King of Queens
Everyone Loves Raymond
Yes Dear
Still Standing

off the top of my head...

[Kinslaughterer]

Network tv...who the heck thought "reality" tv was a good idea? Network tv. I'd guess few are more out of touch than the network chiefs...

[lucimay]

i have a somewhat different kind of tv "bent"...

true crime.

i'm quite conversant. i know all the cases in rotation at any given time. i monitor new documentaries (the french are doing some particularly good ones...

www.newvideo.com/productdetail.html?p ... 3-NVG-9540


can't go to sleep without a good murder, forensics, even, by god, psychic detectives.

i'm a bit haunted.

[Prebe]

That wasn't where I was leading Plissken, but it is a remarkably lucid dissection of the standard American sitcom, and of the cynical calculation behind the template. Actually we have just started seeing that family pattern (sweet babe mom, wise kids, moron dad) on TV but only in commercials. I always wondered where it came from and thought it oddly out of place.

Nathan: As a brit you probably watch british sitcoms. Luckily they have not sunk to the level of the American ones yet. At least not the ones we get in DK.

HLT and sgtnull: I think you are right about the de-sensitation. The thing is of course, if you dont want to censor all you can do is keep your own kids away. As HLT, my tastes have also been leading to more and more extreme (and unrealistic) types of pr0n. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. The kinky stuff is just getting to strange these days. I find myself going back to the good old innocent babe pictures/movies. It's a biological thing I guess.

[High Lord Tolkien]

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. The kinky stuff is just getting to strange these days. I find myself going back to the good old innocent babe pictures/movies. It's a biological thing I guess.

Oh, I'm not worried about it.
To me the photo-enhanced Playboy pics are the best.
I just think it's funny that when someone tells me that they "saw the sickest thing ever on the internet" I can usually say to myself "I saw it 6 months ago"
Prebe. maybe we just have WAY TOO MUCH FREE TIME TO SURF THE NET.

[Nathan]

According To Jim
King of Queens
Everyone Loves Raymond
Yes Dear
Still Standing

off the top of my head...

Ahhh, I've heard of king of queens and everyone loves raymond, but found them tedious and boring.

The sitcoms we get tend to focus on the antics of "abnormal" families, like a girl and her father who haven't seen each other for years who suddenly find themselves living together, or an older sister bringing up the younger one.

[Plissken]

Well, I love Britcoms, but we usually have to wait for a year or two for them to show up on BBC America. (And you guys aren't safe from the decline in good TV - I've seen Footballers Wives...)

To our American readers: If you're unsure of the idea that women control the American pocketbook, watch the advertising: All selling to men is done based on how using the product will make women feel. All selling to women is done based on how using the product will make women feel.

Every ad for men's razors (and hair coloring and... ) include at least one shot of a woman reacting with pleasure to the man's use of the product. Find me a commercial for Loreal where the actress is telling you that going blonde will make you more attractive to men (instead of making you feel good about yourself or expressing your best self or whatever) and I'll start using emoticons!

[drew]

So true about advertising Plissken.

The entrtainment Industry knows nothing about Moderation.
They take an idea that worked, and then beat it to death.
ex. Home Improvements was a big hit (somhow?); so therefore we no have According to Jim, King of Queens...etc.
-And how many stand-up comediens got there own show after Seinfeld came on...? Ellen and Jeff Foxworthy, off the top of my head.

And then there's Reality TV--after Survivor, and Big Brother, all the shows are now the same formula-There's even two Apprentices now!!!

I wish I knew though, why they have to use Sex in Everything.
Why does every show (no matter what the plot) has to have half naked hotties running around the whole time...it's like TV producers don't think that the average person's attention span will hold on long enough, so they have to fill their show with T&A.

My feelings are; save the T&A for pr0n, and try to put a little effort into television and movie writting.
I know I'd still watch CSI if the women weren't models.

[onewyteduck]

Don't expect that to ever happen, Drew! I think for the most part, the entertainment industry mindset is that we like the way it looks, we'll swallow anything.

[sgt.null]

well I watch sports, Lost, Austin City Limits and the news.

a friend once pointed out that women's magazines sell on that women are terrible and incompetant. "how to give hime better sex" "raise your kids better" they sell to women's guilt of not being good enough.

men sell boobs, booze, guns, cars. a juvenile semnse that men have.

[drew]

I've noticed that on the front of most men's magazine's (With the expection of Men's Health, or Hunting Mag's) there are pictures of Beautiful women...while on the front of most Women's magazines, there are pictures of...beautiful women.

[sgt.null]

the men are attracted to the pretty women and the women are shamed by the unrealistic ideal.