KATODB: Some Aspects of the Effects of Television upon Popular Culture

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Some Aspects of the Effects of Television upon Popular Culture

Publication Date:197807
Book title: unpublished paper (submitted to the conference of 'Televisa')

Some Aspects of the Effects of Television Upon Popular Culture (19790700)
(Submitted to the conference of "Televisa", Acapulco, Mexico)

Television's impact upon culture has been discussed by many scholars in the last one-quarter century, and in this paper, I would like to pick up a few of the basic characteristics of television and explore some culture implications related to this new medium. Instead of presenting abstract statements, however, I shall raise concrete facts and questions so that we can develop our thoughts through discussion with you.
1) The most recent developments in the arts of television in Japan is the introduction of a sophisticated electro-optical device which measures the speed of balls thrown by pitchers of professional baseball game. With this device, the spectators of baseball who enjoys the game through the medium of television can have an information on the velocity of a ball instantaneously, since the figure appears in a corner of the television screen. (Those who are not familiar with the game may replace baseball with tennis, football, or cricket). Nobody in the past had ever dared to measure the speed of a ball. The only comment one could make was "It was a slow pitch" or "The pitching was quite fast", and even such comments were exchanged, usually among a limited circle of experts, such as professional critics and newspaper reporters. But, alas, thanks to the progress of electronics, millions of spectators now can learn the exact speed of each pitch (like 137.54 Km/h).
As early as late 1950's, the crew of television stations who started relay broadcast from baseball stadiums began to think how to make the game more attractive to the audience. Traditionally, of course, the only way to appreciate and enjoy the game was to be on the spot, i.e., to sit on the bench of the stadium and to watch the game 2live". The task given to the television broadcasters was how to make the relay broadcast "different" from the "live" game. If a camera was fixed on a bench where an ordinary spectator sits, then everybody would, naturally, preferred to go to the stadium instead of watching the screen at home. The "television baseball" had to be "different" from "live baseball".
In the fist place, the broadcasters set a camera in the back of the catcher's position, because such seats were the most expensive ones and an average citizen could not get that particular angle. The television audience, in other words, was given the best seating positions to enjoy the game free. With the use of zoom lens, the audience could see the game from an exclusive chair (not a bench) provided for a VIP. Also, in order to let the audience fully informed of what was going on, the broadcasters employed baseball experts (such as retired veteran players) as commentators. They explained to the audience the strategy of a team, the batting average of a batter, the similar situation which took place several years ago, and many other technical detail., Coupled with the exclusive seating, the television audience could enjoy the game through experts' eyes.
The broadcasters as well as audience, however, were not satisfied with these early devices. They wanted more. The next step was to set several cameras around the stadium, so that any particular spot of the on-going game could be relayed. For example, when the possibility of "steal-base" was high, a camera, which was located on the first-base side, could catch a clear picture of the runner under the question. The director of the program, watching the game in his ""control room", switched the camera from one to another at his judgement so that the audience could be exposed to the best positions every moment. By doing so, the people watching the game through television were given mysterious power of mobility to move around the huge stadium instantaneously, though the decisions of such moves were in the hands of the director. In the "live" baseball", such a mobility was beyond one's imagination. The only thing one could do sitting on a bench was to look around, sometimes missing the most exciting part of the game because of his limited perspective.
By the skillful switching by the director, now a baseball fan, sitting in his (usually "his") living room can move from a particular seat to another. The art of appreciation of the game became completely different from that of "live baseball". Indeed, a young child who used to watch the game through TV shouted to his father, when he was taken to the stadium for the first time, "Dad, I cannot see the face of that fly-chaser!" At home, it was a taken-for granted matter for him to watch a fly-chaser (our outfielder) dash to catch a ball on full-size close-up screen. In a "live baseball", especially when a person sits on a relatively good seat near the home-base, all he can see is the fly-chaser far away just running. His move is so far that he is recognized only as a small dot on the field.
The device of the broadcasters did not end here. They developed an extraordinarily strong telephoto lens in several key spots. The secret signs sent to a pitcher from a catcher are clearly caught by the lens and transmitted directly to the audience (and ironically, the manager of the opponent team, watching such scenes brought by television, sometimes contemplates counter-strategy, reminding me of missile-race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union). The telephoto lens can also catch the facial expression of a pitcher wiping his perspiration and deliberately gripping his ball for the next pitch. In this sense, television transformed the game of baseball into human-interest stories.
And as I wrote in the outset, we have now automatic speed meter of a ball. From the eyes of people who used to know the joys of watching "live baseball", "television baseball", in spite of the fact that the basic rule remains the same, is something completely different. Like an innocent boy who saw the "live baseball" for the first time in his life, the way people perceive and enjoy the game through television has nothing to do with the "traditional" way of the appreciation of the game. The point is that, as exemplified by the transformation of baseball game, old forms of popular entertainment are "re-created" by television and became something completely new.

2) Japan used to have, and still have, popular entertainment establishment called "Yose", small vaudeville theaters. Early in the 19th century, it is recorded that there were more than 800 of such theaters in the city of Edo (Tokyo). The arts performed at "Yose" were mostly jokes and funny stories, and to enjoy an evening attending to these small popular theaters was one of the most typical pastimes among city dwellers. The performers, or storytellers, could also enjoy the process as "feedback" with their audiences. For example, a comic storyteller might point to a particular individual among the audience and exchange casual conversation and jokes. The audience was mostly "regulars" and therefore there was comfortable and intimate exchange of feelings between the performers and the audience.
The story telling, by definition, was done mostly by improvisation. On ad hoc basis, storytellers quoted old anecdote with his own interpretation, or told about his recent personal experiences. There were, of course, standard repertoires, but a performer could make modifications or could develop a story to other directions at his own disposal. The narrative might continue almost endlessly, just like Mark Twain's stories. When the "mood" of the theater was amiable and heightened, both the performers and the audience were so absorbed to each other that they often discovered that their joy continued till dawn. When, on the other hand, the interaction was poor and one of the parties was not in that "mood", a performer might decline to continue his story and left the stage suddenly. Everything depended upon the nature of interaction of a particular evening, and people accepted such fluctuation of the "mood" as an everyday affair. They knew that there were ups and downs in human interaction, and it was an essential component in popular entertainment of this nature. The same was, more or less, true of similar popular entertainment both in the East and West.
In 1925, when radio was introduced to Japan, the broadcasters thought that it might be a good idea to put "Yose" entertainment on the air, and they invited eminent comic story-tellers to radio studio for broadcasting. The entertainers, out of their curiosities, appeared to the station but to discover that they had to talk to an unfamiliar gadget called "microphone". The machine was more than enough to discourage their willingness to tell their amusing stories. Many of them declined to appear on radio. Some courageous entertainers tried to talk, but they demanded one condition. They wanted at least ten "live" audiences in the studio. They said, "We were born to talk to the people, not to a machine. Get people in the studio, then we will talk to them. If there were people, we can forget about the machine." The staff of the station, upon such solicitation, entered the studio in order to satisfy the entertainers. The stories were so comical and funny with plenty of jokes, the mock-audience, the staff could not help but laugh. However, radio at that time was thought to be a medium of straight-talk without audience participation. The burst of laughter of the mock-audience should not be on the air. The poor station staff, managers, directors, technicians, and janitors had to get pillows and blankets to shut their laughter from the microphone.
The entertainers, after ten years of experiences, became accustomed to talking to the microphone, and today, to be taken by television cameras. But still, they had to face with a hitherto unknown new challenge. The challenge was "time". As indicated in preceding paragraphs, the basic characteristics of "Yose" art were its improvisation. There was no limit of "time", people even did not have the idea of "time". If any, it was a continuous flow from which they could take whatever they wanted.
But in the era of broadcasting, the decisive constraint is "time", because without time limits, the whole programming is impossible., The entertainers were strictly instructed that their stories had to be confined within 14 minutes and 30 seconds, sharp. Under such circumstances, poor entertainers had to be watchful of their watches more than the contents of their stories. One of the entertainers, with irony, once said "Directors of the program always say compliments to me ﾐ "very good, you finished exactly on time", but none of them evaluated what I talked about". From the viewpoint of the audience, the structure (or un-structure) and the contents of "Yose" arts became less and less attractive because "time" constraint imposed upon the entertainers is so apparent that it disturbs "free flow of the narratives. "15 minute- Yose" in daily Japanese conversation, means something boring.
What made the situation worse was, after 30 years of experience, the entertainers, especially younger ones, adjusted their performances so well to the time module of broadcasters that they became unable to talk more than 15 minutes even when they appear on "live" stage. Probably, invisible internal clock is already built inside the body or the brain of such entertainers. In this sense, it may be safe to say that "time" killed the traditional popular entertainment of "Yose" in the past few decades. The last "Yose" entertainer, who resisted against broadcasting and never appeared either on radio nor television passed away a few years ago.
In this case, again, old forms of popular entertainment were changed or even destructed, by the new electronic media. Out of nostalgia, old people still go to "Yose" ("live" of course) theater, but they express their despair and disappointment simultaneously. How can a person who knows the joy of improvisational art of "Yose" appreciate the condensed 15-minute version? One of the psychologists was brave enough to present a hypothesis as regard to the effects of broadcaster's time module. As I have pointed out, it may be possible that the performers already acquired a built-in body clock. The clock, though invisible, is designed in such a way that it gives an "alarm" effect each 15-minutes. The psychologist said that he was curious if the same was true with the audience. According to his observation, those who watch television, habitually often show "15 minute syndrome", meaning that these people become restless every 15 minutes. Television programs, under the heavy influence of American programming, are divided into several parts usually "interrupted" by commercials. The heavy viewers, accustomed to this time module, almost automatically take that module as their psychological period.
Though one may be skeptical about this "15 minute syndrome" on the part of the audience, the important point is that "time" dominates over the new era of popular culture mediated by television.

3) Traditionally, popular culture has been "public" by definition. Whether it was baseball game or Vaudeville Theater, these are the entertainment provided for the public at public space. People had gone to these places in order to enjoy. To be public is to be able to mix with other people. The person who sits next to you at a baseball stadium or a theater, usually, is somebody whom you have not seen before. It may seem to be impersonal, but in these "public" places, one might encounter with unfamiliar people and situations. In the "public", young people might have opportunities for socialization as public citizens. Transportation to these places might have been inconvenient, but it could give experiences which people could not appreciate in everyday life. In a sense, to attend to "public" events represented by popular culture was to detach from everyday affairs. Television, on the contrary, brought the "public" into family situation. 30 years ago, when one decided to enjoy an evening, he or she had to go out of family situation, but with the rise of television, one does not have to go out anymore. Instead, he or she can just sit in the living room and turn on the television. Then a theater, sports stadium, music hall, or whatever he or she likes comes into the screen. The situation to appreciate and to enjoy this variety of entertainment is very familiar. It is their living room. Once "public" became "familiar" in literal sense of the word.
A family is consisted of members of different age and sex. When popular culture was "public arts", each subculture could have its own popular culture, i.e., teenagers at movie theaters, sophisticated adults in concert halls, younger children in "children's theaters", men in their clubs, etc. But television changed the whole picture. Adults and children alike, and men and women together, people watch television at home. Popular culture, which, in the past, was synonymous with "public arts" (as argued by Gilbert Seldes) turned out to be an integral part of "family culture".
Furthermore, it should be noted that as the result of further mass production of television sets, in many developed countries, people came to have more than one television set per family. If that is the future trend of television, then it is possible to predict that more differentiation and "privatization" may take place. In other words, television may turn out to be an "individual" medium rather than the "family" medium. The history of radio was very suggestive because radio also developed from "communal" to "familial", and with the rise of transistors, further developed into "personal" medium. Nobody can tell how the whole cultural set-up in the future will change by such "personalization".

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