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I realize this could quickly turn into a list thread, but that's okay because I love discovering strange new television shows anyway. Even so let's try to have at least a little description of the television shows being mentioned.
So what am I talking about exactly? Well, here's an example. As far as game shows and prank shows, I'm embarrassed by America's showing in this category. To me Japanese television provides the best of both in the world. What, I hear you asking, can you learn re: culture from a prank show? Well, take this prank show for instance*. From this I can infer that Japanese society must not be as litigious as my own, because in my country someone would have been sued almost immediately. Also I can infer that there can't be many concealed weapons licenses given out, as no one in their right mind would try something like this in a lot of American cities because you don't know who is armed or what they will do when they feel threatened.
And then there's this show (halfway through they kick things up a notch. Worth a look), which provides pretty much the same lessons as the above with one addition. Japanese society is famous for several things, among them its resolve to ignore something strange or embarrassing (in public) even when it's right next to them (I've seen entire crowds of people step over a man in a business suit, complete with briefcase, lying face-down on the sidewalk). Pretending like it's not there seems to be the go-to plan, and I think this show is playing off that in a "let's see you ignore a naked man shooting down a ski slope in a rocket chair" sort of way. I think these pranks are on the innocent bystanders as much as the person being pranked (who may or may not be in on it, when you think about it).
"Television and Culture" is a very wide and no doubt fascinating topic to delve into, and if you're expecting me to go into it in detail you're shit out of luck. I'm sorry! What I know of this topic can fit in a thimble. I'm hoping that someone who is both educated on television, culture, etc. and eloquent will eventually wander through and enlighten us a little as we go along. I'm also hoping this thread will also give me an idea of what television from my area is actually being broadcasted in another country and what isn't, and what parts of American culture are being picked up on because of it.
You can classify by genre or style or whatever, so long as a fair description is involved.
The first I'm going to mention is, perhaps not surprisingly, The Simpsons . Barbelith's own thread laments its decline, something I hear a lot about actually, but it nevertheless remains a monument in american television.
Should I even go on about them? Is there anyone here who doesn't recognize The Simpsons? The very idea seems so strange to me. To both myself and a large demographic of the United States they display, daily, the best and worst of american culture and have been doing so for most of my life. The majority of the people I've met know all about The Simpsons, here and abroad. But, and this seems odd to me now, I have no idea how many other countries in which it is broadcasted or how popular it is there. It lampoons American culture so well, but do you have to have a working knowledge of American culture to enjoy it? How educational is it? How much are people able to learn about American culture watching it? To me, it skillfully points out the all the worst parts of my culture but redeems it with its heart of gold. Is this a common experience, even across the globe?
The next is Law and Order, a classic courtroom/police investigation drama. To be honest, I don't know how insightful or education this would be re: culture. It's very possible that I just want the world to know that even America dreams of men and women so chiseled and weathered from their tireless fight for justice that their very faces seem carved from stone. Although, now that I really think about it, I suppose it provides a broad spectrum of modern attitudes present in my culture by playing them against each other via the inherent drama of a court case and/or police investigation, but is that spectrum available to foreign viewers?
Not surprisingly, after almost twenty years of broadcasting, some of the actors have achieved icon status among a large portion of the population.
Artist Brandon Bird provides an example of someone playing with these iconic images. To someone who hasn't come home from work, started watching an episode of Law and Order that was half over and somehow watched four hours worth of Law and Order (the networks tend to run the syndicated episodes back-to-back-to-back) without even knowing, this picture of Jack McCoy has little or no effect, but to me the juxtaposition is both hilarious and somehow heartwarming.
I imagine courtroom dramas must be popular all over the world. I'd like to think Jack stands up to all the other hard-boiled lawyers from overseas, but I won't know until I start watching some similar foreign dramas (Recommendations, please).
I want to place Deadwood on the list of exported television, as it is a fantastic show and I would export it with pride, but I wonder how well it would go in a non-english speaking country. Would the translation be difficult? Would the translators provide a translation in a modern dialect of their language, or would they try to capture the archaic feel of the dialogue by using older words and grammar from their own language?
*interesting note: the first run of this prank fails miserably. The old man doesn't even seem curious about a crowd of people rushing at him suddenly, and doesn't even turn his head to watch them go after they pass. He is stoneman. |
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