Watching TV to get a PhD
Someone came to my blog looking for something about "Mindy orange juice suit shrank," so I couldn't resist and back tracked--never finding the episode, but did discover an interesting PhD Thesis on TV comedy theme songs. I find that amazing. That someone spent all that time and our money watching TV and listening to the theme songs, and then gets to wear a cap and gown, and call herself Dr. Butcher.- "The purpose of this study is to examine the function of the bard in situation comedy theme songs. This study calls upon Fiske and Hartley's concept of television as a cultural bard, a singer and teller of stories that create and conserve community. The bard reaffirms the culture's
identity while delivering social and political messages relevant to the culture at specific times throughout history. . . The results of the analysis reveal that the themes address relevant cultural issues such as race relations, the role of the domestic woman, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, class conflict, and the construction of reality."
A lot of heavy, deep ideas in this thesis
- Many of us in the United States live and grow up in front of our television sets, and television theme songs become ingrained in our minds.
- While the 1960s was a decade of social upheaval and change, the 1970s appears to have been a decade of self-absorption.
- The primary function of the theme song, however, is to "hook" the audience into watching the show.
- Gomer joins a long-standing tradition of fools, clowns and other tricksters who, aware of their powerless position and out of fear or threat of punishment, do not voice their opposition in a forthright manner.
- and so on.
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5 comments:
Our money? Ummm.. how so? It was a Ph.D. thesis, so that person was attending graduate school, which usually means the student is paying. Not us. Unless they are getting grants or scholarships.
State school. Graduate schools are funded either by the state or endowments, and this was a state school (not mine), the "our" refers to "we the people." Even in the social sciences and humanities, grad students don't work in a vacuum, but apply for and receive grant money either from the government or foundations. Then the university skims about 60% of that for overhead. (I used to teach grant writing.)
My entire education from kindergarten in California to public school in Illinois, to bachelor and master degrees at U. of I. were entirely paid for by the taxpayers. The people of my little town sacrificed to pass bond issues which supplied the bricks and mortar and staff to support my efforts. Thank you all--with a few exceptions they've gone to that great tax-payer reward in the sky. Only my one year at Manchester College was funded by the sacrifice of Christians who had gone before, and probably didn't even get tax deductions. Yes, I paid tuition, (no grants or scholarships) but even in the "old days" of the 50s and 60s, tuition didn't cover it. Donors or the government did, depending on whether you attended private or state schools.
I was considered a good investment by my country and state--top 10% of the class. In return, armed with my 2 college degrees, I have been able to secure meaningful employment and return to the state and federal government, bunches of taxes, which, they haven't used particularly well. And so, I can call it "our money" and complain or compliment as I wish.
I understood the meaning of "our". As in tax money. I was using it in the same sense you were.
And so, I can call it "our money" and complain or compliment as I wish.
I never said you couldn't. You're really big on knocking over straw women aren't you?
Well, RL, you not me said, "not us." I've laid out for you not a straw woman (how p.c. is that?), but the facts that we the taxpayers pay a large part of the education bill. I'd like to see it used well. Maybe Dr. Butcher will go on to great things when she publishes her book on TV sit-com theme songs, and will be able to repay us with taxed sales.
"Many of us in the United States live and grow up in front of our television sets, and television theme songs become ingrained in our minds."
I don't have a point to make about the major content of the blog, but I had a moment of deja vu the other day as I was listening to some symphonic music on our local NPR station and in the midst of the piece, out came a passage that was the theme song for a TV show and I was stunned. I'm sorry to say, I haven't come up with the name of the show but it will nag at me until I do. I promise an update if I remember it.
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