Television Essay, Research Paper

QuIP # 1

Questions-

Q- In the styles of live performing or television performing which style would be more suited for an average viewer.

A- I believe that television as a way of mass producing entertainment has made it more of a low rate form of entertainment than live performances, however when using mass media one can broadcast a show to millions of viewers at one time. This surely proves that in our society that live performances are very rare but well remembered unlike all the ridiculous T.V. shows we Americans watch everyday.

Q- In our book The Lively Art Wilson and Goldfarb briefly describe the phenominon where we as viewers of a play ” step back outside into the ?real world? “. The question is, do we as people influence others through what we have learned.

A- The answer is yes. In an essay I dug up which involves an interview with a modern play write named Edgar de LasPena, he mentions the fact that after some people have watched his plays they have ” seemed to change their whole look on the world that they had just come in from”. This to me says it all with the exception that one must remember that people may also come back into

2

the “real world” with a negative look on things because of a tragedy or something of that origin.

Insights-

I think that the biggest connection that I made was with the fact that I now know that no matter if the play that one watches is from ancient Greece or from a modern day script on Broadway the audience will learn something they didn?t know before and leave with that under their hat. To me that is the most powerful thing about plays: their ability to make you feel like you been let in on a secret that in some instances has been around for hundreds of years.

Points of disagreement_

The only aspect mentioned in the reading that I disagreed with was the fact that in our book the authors have a section with is designated to commenting on the importance of theater space. I really disagree with that being an important issue for two reasons. One, I feel that cameras can now make a small area a make it appear to be huge. And two, it is the actors who make the play not how much space they have. A good actor could turn a small stage into a vast desert or even the ocean just with his ability to persuade the audience.