Why I hardly watch TV any more
I’m finally getting around to posting about the episode of CSI that I watched last week with Wil Wheaton showing up on TV for the first time in years in a true acting role. I was entertained by the show and fascinated at how they manage to get the killer.
However, I was appalled at the level of violence and gore displayed in the show. No offense to Wil, but I think that episode of CSI is my first and last viewing of CSI unless you show up in it again. My friend, Matt, best summed it up in an email discussion we had:
A part of me thinks that hiding the bodies [from the viewing audience] and things of that nature is a bit silly, because death is part of life and it seems like so much of life is sanitized for us that we as a society have regressed into children to a certain degree. On the other hand I much more strongly feel that shows like Quincy [another coroner-based murder-mystery television show from the 70s] were an artistic success comparatively because they didn’t *need* to show bodies. If the acting and story are strong enough, there is no need to invoke such a viscerial reaction as you get when you show a mutilated body.
That last statement is the crux of the matter. Since when did the shock factor carry the story? It wasn’t necessary when reading a book to have an image of the murder scene included for you to get the idea of death. The advent of movies and television only allowed for us to finally see what we’ve been told all these years. Sometimes in more detail and realism than we ever wanted before. I watch for entertainment and seeing that stuff is not entertainment.
I guess I noticed the contrast more so only because, earlier the same week, I watched the movie “Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World” and was kinda bothered by scenes of death and archaic means of surgery. However, it was nothing compared to the imagery used in that one episode of CSI. Made me wonder if Hollywood has decided to switch from the movie screen to the television screen for its shock factor with audiences.
