MTV Killed the Video Star
I'm For: T minus 6 days until I am in Seattle, Pete Coors owning half of Colorado resulting in lots of cool free stuff for me, and my new Le Coq Sportif shoes.
I'm Against: Sharing half of the romance genes of my father (he took my mom to TGI Friday's for their 35th anniversary), charity events that don't have real good food, paying 178 dollars so I can roll up my window, and the popping sound that my sternum makes every once in a while.
Everytime I turn on the television MTV is reminding me to watch their VMA's. The VMA's apparently stand for Video Music Awards, which is news to me because I was not aware the MTV still played music videos. The last time I watched a string of multiple music videos played in their entirity on MTV was two summers ago at 1 am Mountain time. The artform of the music video is dying and pretty soon the only place we will be able to see them is in anthropology classes. In fact I would have said that Music Videos no longer existed but according to the VMA's they do.
MTV for those of you too young to remember, MTV once had a mission of provided non-stop music entertainment to the masses. For many years MTV struggled to gain presence on cable packages and was only seen in packets of the country. In the late 80's and early 90's MTV became a legitimate network and brought rock, hip hop, and other popular music forms to the nation. It changed the cultural landscape of suburban and rural populations and at the time was as legitimate and real as TV got. It was about that time that MTV began experimenting with its formula and bringing other programming that was loosely tied to music. This included game shows, news, and interviews with artists. It was during this experimentation that MTV pioneered a new form of entertainment called "Reality Television." The Real World started in New York as a response to the abundance of family oriented sitcoms and soap operas. MTV proclaimed that sitcoms were not real, the characters don't represent our market, and their problems are oversimplified. They answered with a show where they stuck 7 different people from their demographic into a house and see how they dealt with each other and problems in the "Real World."
At the time The Real World was groundbreaking television and as "real" as TV could get. There were some flaws. Most of the people in the first show already lived in New York so there wasn't much culture shock. The people were mostly well educated individuals and fit sterotypes of the demographic that they "represented." But, they still had to get their own jobs and deal with living in a house with different roommates and personalities. People yelled at each other for staying up until 3:00 and not doing dishes. They forced in some issues like racism and sexuality here and there, but even today I could identify with that season. Plus 3 of the 7 roommates were actively pursuing music careers so the show still had to do albeit loosely "with music culture."
Over the next several years the Real World really shaped my understanding of reality. I was watching the show habitually by the time I was 9 years old. My first real encounters with AIDS, Racism, Homosexuality, Alcoholism and Drugs were through watching the Real World. Simply put, I would have not been exposed to those issues at least until high school living in the suburbs. After about season 4 MTV's ego began to destroy the network. They struck gold with a new "Artform" in reality television and they began to manipulate their new best form of programming. They started to make the casts more formulaic and pursue crazier people with the most absurd life stories. They started to give the casts jobs, free alcohol, and outlandish vacations to build more dramatic storylines. They even began to show their casting process to show the world what it takes to be a member of the "Real World."
A modern typical cast member has to fit a certain criteria. Be incredibly good looking, about one "abnormal looking" person is accepted per season but they have to have a whole bevy of redeeming qualities to make up for that deficency. They have to be well spoken for the demographic they represent. This does not necissarily mean smart, but articulate with their feelings and views. They need to have an incredible life changing story. Examples are their parents abused them, they were raped, somebody important in their life died, they had/have an eating disorder, they shit their pants during a date whatever it is it must drive you to tears at some point. They have to be superpassionate about or disagree with a major political issue. Finally they must embody a demographic of the MTV market. The typica 7 that seem to be popular these days are: Someone from the Northeast (Boston/New York/Philly) with an attitude, A southern bimbo/debutant, a laid back west coaster, a frat boy or sorority girl, someone black or at some point oppressed, a homosexual, and a braniac that has attended an ivy league or equally prestigious school. Now they are throwing in some wildcards like outright crazy or doing hybrid people who fit more than one criteria, but this is still the basic formula. Now everybody who is anybody wants to be famous and on the real world. It is statisically 50x easier to get into Harvard than to make the Real World Cast.
The result of this formulation and manipulation is that the Real World no longer resembles anything near reality. The most recent season was filmed in Denver and from what I saw of the filming process the show is completely staged. I was in a bar drinking after a frisbee practice when the Real World stopped by . The cameras showed up 30 minutes beforehand to scope out and get action shots of the place. The producers were telling people what to do to make interesting television. The gay guy made out with like 6 different dudes, and a triple kiss with two guys and a girl broke out. Shortly after someone got in a fight the bar was cleared out. The cast members were dressed like they were in West Holywood not Denver, and pretty much just made the biggest scene possible. They were all drunk off their ass and non-stop obnoxious.
Now all of MTV's programs closely mirror "REALITY." The television station makes no claims to live up to its name "Music Television." In fact they have created new cable franchises to fill the void of their music-less motherstation. The sad thing is that they have killed an artform that actually enhanced the enjoyability of music to some degree. It's hard for me to really get behind a band these days because I have pursue all of the exposure. I have to actively find new music on my own and even if I do listen to a new band it's hard to become loyal to them. There is only so much likability that you can get from listening to a CD time and time again.
Music Videos gave bands a special opportunity to connect with their fans in a relavent way. They could give a glimpse of their stage personality and live show in scenes playing "live without an audience." Sometimes this was corny and have us watching bands playing in obscure locations like on a ship, on top of a building, or in an abandoned warehouse. But, it gave you a real opportunity to see what a band was like and enhance your connection with them. Today I would be curious to see how The Shins, The Racontours, or Wolfmother want their music to be percieved visually. I might be more inclined to see these bands in concert because of their videos, or read their websites. Instead I listen to their music occassionally, and forget about them when I am not.
These bands might have videos but I wouldn't know. The only thing I see when I turn on MTV is an abundence of crappy reality television. Even MTV's marquee music programming "TRL" doesn't feature full videos. In a sixty minute show there is less than 10 minutes of actual music videos show inbetween innane annoucers and kids screaming. Even if I did like the kind of music that the masses request, I would be lucky to see a full minute of my favorite video.
There is a solution to this problem, I have re-discovered some music videos through the miracle of YouTube.com. I have been able to watch a bunch of my favorite videos from the past. Mostly Guns N' Roses epic music videos from before my time. I even discovered some new music videos that were truly innovative. In particular, I recommend Jurassic 5's "We Know" video which features breakdancing mascots http://youtube.com/watch?v=e0Fifym6s5E, and OK Go's treadmill choreography. http://youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI
MTV's innovation of Reality Television essentially killed the sugarcoated storlines of sitcoms and family programming. Could youtube be the death of MTV's over-inflated "REALITY" if it isn't, something else needs to come along to kill this indulgent beast.
I'm Against: Sharing half of the romance genes of my father (he took my mom to TGI Friday's for their 35th anniversary), charity events that don't have real good food, paying 178 dollars so I can roll up my window, and the popping sound that my sternum makes every once in a while.
Everytime I turn on the television MTV is reminding me to watch their VMA's. The VMA's apparently stand for Video Music Awards, which is news to me because I was not aware the MTV still played music videos. The last time I watched a string of multiple music videos played in their entirity on MTV was two summers ago at 1 am Mountain time. The artform of the music video is dying and pretty soon the only place we will be able to see them is in anthropology classes. In fact I would have said that Music Videos no longer existed but according to the VMA's they do.
MTV for those of you too young to remember, MTV once had a mission of provided non-stop music entertainment to the masses. For many years MTV struggled to gain presence on cable packages and was only seen in packets of the country. In the late 80's and early 90's MTV became a legitimate network and brought rock, hip hop, and other popular music forms to the nation. It changed the cultural landscape of suburban and rural populations and at the time was as legitimate and real as TV got. It was about that time that MTV began experimenting with its formula and bringing other programming that was loosely tied to music. This included game shows, news, and interviews with artists. It was during this experimentation that MTV pioneered a new form of entertainment called "Reality Television." The Real World started in New York as a response to the abundance of family oriented sitcoms and soap operas. MTV proclaimed that sitcoms were not real, the characters don't represent our market, and their problems are oversimplified. They answered with a show where they stuck 7 different people from their demographic into a house and see how they dealt with each other and problems in the "Real World."
At the time The Real World was groundbreaking television and as "real" as TV could get. There were some flaws. Most of the people in the first show already lived in New York so there wasn't much culture shock. The people were mostly well educated individuals and fit sterotypes of the demographic that they "represented." But, they still had to get their own jobs and deal with living in a house with different roommates and personalities. People yelled at each other for staying up until 3:00 and not doing dishes. They forced in some issues like racism and sexuality here and there, but even today I could identify with that season. Plus 3 of the 7 roommates were actively pursuing music careers so the show still had to do albeit loosely "with music culture."
Over the next several years the Real World really shaped my understanding of reality. I was watching the show habitually by the time I was 9 years old. My first real encounters with AIDS, Racism, Homosexuality, Alcoholism and Drugs were through watching the Real World. Simply put, I would have not been exposed to those issues at least until high school living in the suburbs. After about season 4 MTV's ego began to destroy the network. They struck gold with a new "Artform" in reality television and they began to manipulate their new best form of programming. They started to make the casts more formulaic and pursue crazier people with the most absurd life stories. They started to give the casts jobs, free alcohol, and outlandish vacations to build more dramatic storylines. They even began to show their casting process to show the world what it takes to be a member of the "Real World."
A modern typical cast member has to fit a certain criteria. Be incredibly good looking, about one "abnormal looking" person is accepted per season but they have to have a whole bevy of redeeming qualities to make up for that deficency. They have to be well spoken for the demographic they represent. This does not necissarily mean smart, but articulate with their feelings and views. They need to have an incredible life changing story. Examples are their parents abused them, they were raped, somebody important in their life died, they had/have an eating disorder, they shit their pants during a date whatever it is it must drive you to tears at some point. They have to be superpassionate about or disagree with a major political issue. Finally they must embody a demographic of the MTV market. The typica 7 that seem to be popular these days are: Someone from the Northeast (Boston/New York/Philly) with an attitude, A southern bimbo/debutant, a laid back west coaster, a frat boy or sorority girl, someone black or at some point oppressed, a homosexual, and a braniac that has attended an ivy league or equally prestigious school. Now they are throwing in some wildcards like outright crazy or doing hybrid people who fit more than one criteria, but this is still the basic formula. Now everybody who is anybody wants to be famous and on the real world. It is statisically 50x easier to get into Harvard than to make the Real World Cast.
The result of this formulation and manipulation is that the Real World no longer resembles anything near reality. The most recent season was filmed in Denver and from what I saw of the filming process the show is completely staged. I was in a bar drinking after a frisbee practice when the Real World stopped by . The cameras showed up 30 minutes beforehand to scope out and get action shots of the place. The producers were telling people what to do to make interesting television. The gay guy made out with like 6 different dudes, and a triple kiss with two guys and a girl broke out. Shortly after someone got in a fight the bar was cleared out. The cast members were dressed like they were in West Holywood not Denver, and pretty much just made the biggest scene possible. They were all drunk off their ass and non-stop obnoxious.
Now all of MTV's programs closely mirror "REALITY." The television station makes no claims to live up to its name "Music Television." In fact they have created new cable franchises to fill the void of their music-less motherstation. The sad thing is that they have killed an artform that actually enhanced the enjoyability of music to some degree. It's hard for me to really get behind a band these days because I have pursue all of the exposure. I have to actively find new music on my own and even if I do listen to a new band it's hard to become loyal to them. There is only so much likability that you can get from listening to a CD time and time again.
Music Videos gave bands a special opportunity to connect with their fans in a relavent way. They could give a glimpse of their stage personality and live show in scenes playing "live without an audience." Sometimes this was corny and have us watching bands playing in obscure locations like on a ship, on top of a building, or in an abandoned warehouse. But, it gave you a real opportunity to see what a band was like and enhance your connection with them. Today I would be curious to see how The Shins, The Racontours, or Wolfmother want their music to be percieved visually. I might be more inclined to see these bands in concert because of their videos, or read their websites. Instead I listen to their music occassionally, and forget about them when I am not.
These bands might have videos but I wouldn't know. The only thing I see when I turn on MTV is an abundence of crappy reality television. Even MTV's marquee music programming "TRL" doesn't feature full videos. In a sixty minute show there is less than 10 minutes of actual music videos show inbetween innane annoucers and kids screaming. Even if I did like the kind of music that the masses request, I would be lucky to see a full minute of my favorite video.
There is a solution to this problem, I have re-discovered some music videos through the miracle of YouTube.com. I have been able to watch a bunch of my favorite videos from the past. Mostly Guns N' Roses epic music videos from before my time. I even discovered some new music videos that were truly innovative. In particular, I recommend Jurassic 5's "We Know" video which features breakdancing mascots http://youtube.com/watch?v=e0Fifym6s5E, and OK Go's treadmill choreography. http://youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI
MTV's innovation of Reality Television essentially killed the sugarcoated storlines of sitcoms and family programming. Could youtube be the death of MTV's over-inflated "REALITY" if it isn't, something else needs to come along to kill this indulgent beast.
posted by IrishZag at 9:30 PM
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