Response: “Screens: televisions dispersed ‘broadcast’” Discussion Question

Question:

  1. How has portability impacted television? Discuss both negative and positive impacts.

In his textbook chapter, P. David Marshall talks a lot about the increased portability of television. I’m going to preface this blog entry by mentioning that Marshall wrote this piece in 2009, back when watching portable TV meant putting a disc with the first season of friends into your portable DVD player on a long car trip. Even though it’s only been seven years, portable TV has changed drastically. For many, it means watching Netflix on your iPhone at the gym… or on a plane…  or at a boring family gathering. So that’s what I’m referring to when I say portable TV.

The most notable change brought on by portable TV is increased consumption. There are now screens EVERYWHERE, which has both its pros and cons. The most apparent con is that we get less exercise and sunlight, but increased consumption fosters a community feel, since TV brings people together.

Portable TV also affords us more agency. Marshall talks about how traditional television leaves little up to the consumer. Yes, you can choose which channel to watch, but other than that, the TV does its own thing and continuously spouts out content and information. With portable TV like Netflix, we can pick when and where we watch shows and episodes of our choosing. Although we could be robbing ourselves of valuable information using this method, increased agency is generally a good thing for the consumer. It puts more pressure on networks to create quality content since there’s a more pressing threat that we’ll simply watch something else if their shows are bad. Hollywood went through this same transformation when the spectacle of movies began to wear off and Edison lost his monopolistic control over the industry.

The third biggest change deals with content and affects networks rather than audiences. Since screens continue to shrink and audiences increasingly bingewatch, producers must find a way to cater to these new needs. Marshall mentions that some shows have tried to change filming styles to better suit phone screens, and writers have complicated the plots (Jane the Virgin is a great example of this) to hook viewers for hours on end. It’s too soon to tell weather or not this is a negative or positive development for the TV industry.

Portable TV has undoubtedly changed television’s landscape. Like any development, it carries both negative and positive changes, but overall, the agency, community, and content change are largely beneficial.

 

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