Help Screen: Don't Be A TV: Television Victim

by Jim Mikles
Winter 1997

Don't Be A TV: Television Victim & Warning: The Media May Be Hazardous To Your Health
Ann J. Simonton, Jenai Lane
(Media Watch, P.O. Box 618, Santa Cruz, CA 95061-0618 $150 to buy, $40 per week to rent. (408) 423-6355.)

Television, the drug of the nation, breeding ignorance and feeding radiation. This quote from a hip-hop melody is fitting introduction to these two video titles, produced and directed by Ann Simonton and Jenai Lane in cooperation with Media Watch, which present a startling illustration of just how strong an influence television has on society. "What is real?" "Where do your values come from?" "Is TV your best friend?" Questions like these form the core of the series as it runs down a list of types of false, negative and otherwise damaging TV imaging and stereotyping. TV news, subliminal product placement, negative racial and gender stereotyping, the victimization of women, the glorifying of and desensitizing to war and violence--the series doesn't pull any punches. Targeted toward an education or seminar setting, the tapes are relatively short (30-35 minutes each), and feature a low-budget production and amateur actors that are convincing in their contrast to the slick Hollywood and Madison Ave. images they lambaste. Urging people to think for themselves, talk back to their TVs, form their own opinions and create their own media, the Media Watch series makes a strong self-empowerment statement as it exposes the belly of the seediest side of the television industry. Supplemental instructional booklets and documentation for an instructional setting is available from Media Watch.
Four Stars

Who Is King of Hollywood?
Dale Mason
Eden Communications, 1044 N. Gilbert Rd., Gilbert AZ 85234 1-888-888-EDEN

For the Christian set, a series of video tapes on the topic of the "American Dream/Nightmare" covers the negative influence the media, especially Hollywood, has on traditional conservative Christian values. It's a well-produced series that features John Schneider (Bo Duke of Dukes of Hazzard fame) as its affable host. The series bills itself as useful for the secular crowd as well, and to its credit, about half of the video dwells on the scientific and sociological data that clearly indicates TV, especially sex and violence, has negative effects on our society. But in the end, the series can't escape the "Hollywood is a den of sin corrupting our country so boycott anything you don't agree with" motif. Maybe Hollywood is to blame, but it's the flippant, gratuitous and glorified treatment of the topics of sex and violence that creates desensitization, not the fact that the topics are dealt with at all. This distinction is ignored. The positive message we get from Schneider and others featured in the video that we, as viewers and consumers, are ultimately in charge of what is on the TV. Unfortunately, the solution presented--trust in Jesus Christ and refuse to deal with topics that are uncomfortable or unappealing--is great for born-again Christians, but it just isn't a viable alternative in a country and world with multiple cultures and belief systems.
Three Stars

Dot Com Kids: The Search for The Missing Keys
Daniel J. Porter
(1996, TAPP Creative Productions, Cleveland, Ohio. 95 pp., $12.95)

An Internet mystery adventure that deals with many of the situations parents and kids have to deal with in today's high-tech world, Dot Com Kids: The Search for the Missing Keys is a fun and creative approach to some very important socio-technological issues. The storyline follows a set of twins, Dot (short for Dorothy) and Com (Commodore), as they work on a school social studies assignment on the Internet. Along the way, as typically happens on the Internet, they get caught up exploring other various people, places and things and eventually wind up in a mystery which they help solve using their rapidly expanding online computer skills. Besides being entertaining, the book teaches proper family PC etiquette. Not only are the parents directly involved in the children's online experience, for example, but the twins also come across a list of online rules early in the adventure that includes: "Get permission first," Online language equals at-home language," "Do not give out any personal information," and "If in doubt, LOG OFF!" A glossary of Internet and computer terms rounds out the book and makes Dot Com Kids a great family introduction to safe and productive Internet and PC usage.
Five Stars