Lost (How did ABC do this to me?)
(no spoilers, please)
We just finished the 1st 4 episodes of Season two of Lost, and disks 2&3 are were shipped today (Netflix) so we should be done soon, by which point spring cleaning will be desperately needed, due to the unprecedented neglect we've shown our apartment!
It's rabidly escapist, you know? I'm fascinated by the mental state that ensues when people escape from their daily existence through drama - be it books, friends, films, tv, cult organizations, etc...it's really interesting to me. BUT when that escape becomes a daily habit, as Lost has for Jonathan and I, it's without a doubt detrimental to everything else going on in life.
I am very curious about the Lost phenomenon, too, because it's so popular, and also stimulating in a different way from most television- character sketches and trauma-level interactions and community building instead of gags and quips. Could this indicate an advancement in the sophistication of American Telly-watching? Will it last? Could it possibly be a good thing?
Ira Glass from This American Life said he believes we are in a "Golden Age" of television, and I see what he means, but I'm a little frightened by the time-suck of it, and by the apathetic withdrawal I get from the escapist high. Because that's definitely what it is, my train of life-related thought is completely derailed in favor of the flights of fancy generated by characters on an island in Hawaii, and I'm certain there's a change in neurotransmitter levels, though I couldn't say what. Or maybe it's more of a brain-wave change, though they could be related. It is somewhat like entering a different state of consciousness, especially without commercials.
The fact that we're watching them on DVD, paired with the general moment-to-moment intensity of the show, means I don't get up and do things while the show is on, like I do if I watch anything else on the Telly. I'm one of those annoying people who can't stay on the couch long. So, we'll see how long this lasts.
We just finished the 1st 4 episodes of Season two of Lost, and disks 2&3 are were shipped today (Netflix) so we should be done soon, by which point spring cleaning will be desperately needed, due to the unprecedented neglect we've shown our apartment!
It's rabidly escapist, you know? I'm fascinated by the mental state that ensues when people escape from their daily existence through drama - be it books, friends, films, tv, cult organizations, etc...it's really interesting to me. BUT when that escape becomes a daily habit, as Lost has for Jonathan and I, it's without a doubt detrimental to everything else going on in life.
I am very curious about the Lost phenomenon, too, because it's so popular, and also stimulating in a different way from most television- character sketches and trauma-level interactions and community building instead of gags and quips. Could this indicate an advancement in the sophistication of American Telly-watching? Will it last? Could it possibly be a good thing?
Ira Glass from This American Life said he believes we are in a "Golden Age" of television, and I see what he means, but I'm a little frightened by the time-suck of it, and by the apathetic withdrawal I get from the escapist high. Because that's definitely what it is, my train of life-related thought is completely derailed in favor of the flights of fancy generated by characters on an island in Hawaii, and I'm certain there's a change in neurotransmitter levels, though I couldn't say what. Or maybe it's more of a brain-wave change, though they could be related. It is somewhat like entering a different state of consciousness, especially without commercials.
The fact that we're watching them on DVD, paired with the general moment-to-moment intensity of the show, means I don't get up and do things while the show is on, like I do if I watch anything else on the Telly. I'm one of those annoying people who can't stay on the couch long. So, we'll see how long this lasts.