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| LINDAMAN |
It's
Just a Movie!
by Thomas
Lindaman [writer, publisher]
5/19/06 |
Back
in the 80s when "Saturday Night Live" didn't suck
out loud, William Shatner did a famous skit where he told
off "Star Trek" fans for spending so much time
on the show. His oft-quoted line, "Get a life, would
you people? I mean, it's just a TV show," still makes
me laugh today, partially because of how the skit hit so
close to the bullseye. And I should know. I've gone to more
than a few of these conventions and when I'm the coolest
guy in the room, you know it's Geekapalooza.
But Shatner's
line has another, deeper message. (Putting "Shatner" and "deep" in
the same sentences has to break some law of reality.) The
message is that we should not spend any more attention on
entertainment media than what is reasonable because when
we cross that line, it gets incredibly tough to jump back.
Yet, it seems like anything that comes out these days in
any media form is hyped to the hilt, in some cases as the
greatest creative venture since God said, "Let there
be light." And more often than not, the hype is more
entertaining than the final result.
Contributor
Thomas
Lindaman
Thomas
Lindaman is a Staff Writer for the New Media Alliance,
Inc. and NewsBull.com. The New Media Alliance is
a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers,
journalists and grass-roots media outlets. He is
also Publisher of CommonConservative.com. [go to
Lindaman index]
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Take
a look at the hot subjects in the entertainment media right
now:
-
"Mission Impossible III" The latest Tom Cruise
movie has the media's attentions right now. Within the past
year or so, Cruise has been acting weirder than usual. Jumping
on Oprah's couch. Telling off "Today's" Matt Lauer
about psychology and the use of drugs to control depression.
Suggesting that girlfriend/wife Katie Holmes be quiet during
the birth of their baby. (I'm not a woman, but I know darn
well that giving birth hurts. A LOT. Keeping a woman quiet
during that would be harder than getting the turkey leg away
from Oprah during Thanksgiving. Or during a commercial break,
for that matter.) I'm not sure if Cruise or the movie is
getting more attention anymore.
-
"An Inconvenient Truth." Al Gore's documentary
about global warming is already starting to get Oscar buzz
and media attention. In fact, Gore has gone so far as to
say the film is "the ultimate action movie." (Putting "Al
Gore" and "action" in the same sentence? At
this rate, reality will unravel by the time I get to the
end of this piece!)
-
"The DaVinci Code." Dan Brown's popular book
is being made into a major motion picture starring Tom Hanks.
No word on if Peter Scolari is a co-star in a "Bosum
Buddies" reunion of sorts. If so, the movie could be
renamed "Blaspheming Buddies." Catholic churches,
including the Vatican, are planning to protest the movie's
release because they believe it to be anti-Catholic. Some
have even suggested the Catholic Church may file legal action
to prevent the film from being shown, along with the usual
talk of boycotts.
-
"American Idol." Yeah, I admit I'm an "American
Idol" junkie. Fortunately, I'm not alone, as there are
millions of people voting, blogging, and talking about the
show. There is even a Fantasy Idol game not unlike fantasy
baseball where you can predict who will win. Variety published
a piece recently talking about how companies are using their
connections to "American Idol" to increase their
business and viewership.
-
"Commander In Chief." Even though
this ABC show has gotten the axe, show star Geena Davis
and show creator
Rod Lurie were recently given awards by The White House Project,
a non-partisan group created to help women get into public
office. The group gave Davis and Lurie the awards for the
show because...well, I'm not exactly sure why. It may have
put the idea in people's heads that a woman President might
not be too bad, but I'm still a little fuzzy on how an actress
pretending to be President with writers intent on making
Davis look Presidential helps put women into real public
office.
-
Anderson
Cooper. The newest CNN super-stud is appearing on magazine
covers with the frequency of freaky things going
on at Dennis Rodman's house. Whether it's gossip
fodder or more in-depth interviews on Cooper's opinions
on such important
issues like what wine goes best with a Swanson TV
dinner, the media love following around Cooper and making
him a modern
media icon.
-
Ashlee
Simpson gets a new nose. Speaking of ABC, the Simpson
nose job story ran on ABC's website as news. And
it's complete with photos!
William Shatner, we need your sage advice
and Tribble-like hairpiece more than ever! There are people
who pay WAY too
much attention to the entertainment elements of "hard" news
these days, letting their opinions of one media event or
another be propelled by those covering the event. When we
let the inconsequential become important and the important
become inconsequential, we're not doing ourselves a favor.
I can relate to wanting to plop down in front of the TV after
a rough day at work, but that doesn't make the important
stories go away. And it doesn't make "Joey" any
more funny. (That has nothing to do with my overall point;
I just wanted to let people know where I stood on the show.)
What we can do is be more savvy media consumers. I say this
a lot, but it's the best way to address the situation and
get the fluff out of journalism. If we demand the media start
doing more to cover more complex, more substantial stories
than whatever Britney Spears's kid is doing right now, the
media will have to respond if they want to keep their readers
and viewers. After all, it makes no sense to put out a newspaper
or run a TV show if nobody's paying attention. Then again,
Air America is still broadcasting.
So, don't let the media dictate to you what you should pay
attention to. More often than not, they'll steer you more
wrong than the instructors at the Patrick Kennedy Driving
School. CRO
copyright
2006 Thomas Lindaman
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