Thursday, October 23, 2014
Blue Skies
Why do you think that Thomas Streeter titles his essay the way he does? What do “blue skies” and “strange bedfellows” have to do with 1960s discussions about the possibilities of cable television? Does the language used around cable at that time sound similar to the way new media technologies are discussed today? Explain.
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Shakespeare had a knack for inventing words and phrases, one such being "strange bedfellows" in The Tempest. “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows," he said, which I interpret as meaning that one reaches out and makes unexpected alliances in times of need, or, as Flynn Rider would put it, "unlikely friends." Blue Sky refers to the optimistic expectations and outlook on cable television during this time, thinking it would "magically resolve" many of the issues in the 60's. There were a lot of bubbling conflicting interests at the time, despite the "blue sky" appearance of it all. I also think Streeter might have meant the issues assumed to be resolved by tv may be the "strange bedfellows." For instance, how could television solve racial, gender, and monetary issues? Perhaps the media could impact it, as it is well able to, but to rely on this new technology to solve the country's problems was strange indeed, even if it had "the potential to rehumanize a dehumanized society" (Streeter, p. 228).
ReplyDelete“blue skies” refers to the idealized utopian discourse surrounding cable technology during the 60s. the ideas that cable was either unique or a magical technology of sweeping social change were both misnomers - cable technology had existed and been implemented since the 40s, and cable was merely one element of a new telecommunications technology infrastructure to which the possibility for social reform was in no way inherent. rather, the blue skies rhetoric was a strategic discursive formulation by “strange bedfellows”, a group of discordant industrial, political, and social groups united not in their specific motivations, but in their realization that social change could be affected through changing the discourse of existing social structures rather than challenging the oppressive elements of social structures outright. by introducing cable to wider society through a discourse of utopian technology capable of healing societal woes, these various groups introduced a symbolic demand for social reform: the introduction of cable, whether or not it solved issues such as racism, certainly raised awareness of racism and its dangers to society. Modern examples of symbolic demands for change may be seen in discourse surrounding social media and the internet during the Arab Spring a few years ago. Although social media and internet communications were already at least 15 years old and have been used for purposes not only unrelated to democracy, but also oppositional to it, various think tanks and political leaders could inflect a discourse of democratic liberalism into the social consciousness of the Middle East with the symbolic gesture of social media.
ReplyDelete“Blue skies” refers to the the optimism expressed by various groups regarding cable television and its potential impact on society in the 1960’s and beyond. These groups, given the name of “strange bedfellows,” included people with different political, social, and business goals but all managed to develop a “dystopian discourse” about cable. They thought cable would be in many people’s interests and would solve a lot of problems being faced at the time. I think the names “blue skies” and “strange bedfellows” were given to mock these groups and their unrealistic expectations for the widespread emergence of cable television. I don’t think the language used around cable at that time sounds similar to the way new media technologies are discussed today because I think enthusiasm over a new media technology’s potential impact is more justified in today’s world. Specifically in terms of cable television today, online and other streaming options have increased the possibilities for larger numbers of people to watch certain cable programs. These technologies may not solve our country’s problems like the strange bedfellows had hoped, but they still have a large cultural impact and people don’t expect much more than that out of new media technologies.
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