Does your family life revolve around the TV guide?

Prior to this week’s lecture, if you asked me if television controlled my life, I would consider you absurd and regrettably correct.

Television viewing is to me and most Australian’s, a national pastime with the Australian Bureau of Statistics reporting ‘Australian adults spend on average four hours per day doing sedentary leisure activities such as watching TV’ (ABS 2013). This charismatic ‘idiot box’ has evolved since its launch on the 16th September 1956 via constant innovations to its design and mobility, its affordable pricing and the diversity of media forms. Today, the television set is not seen as the precious item found in the front formal; it has ventured throughout the household, through domestic space/zones and through the convergence of other platforms, it has multiplied.

This week, I gained an understanding regarding the journey of television throughout the home; creating distinct audience-friendly space and privacy zones. To broaden my research and acquire a gender take on the topic, I chose to interview separately (one on one) my parents, my mother dearest and my tell-it-how-it-is stepfather. The dialogue was kept simple with open and closed ended questions and revolved around their own personal television experiences and viewing space in their household.

Both are of similar age, brought up in the 70s, when the television was the huge set in the formal lounge room. My mum’s memories revolve around being placed in front of the television when ‘Kimba’ was on, ‘I was raised by a Television’ (Cresswell 2013 pers. comm., 22 August).

My Stepfather, on the other hand, spent till dark, playing outside so television viewing for him was a true family event; watching Friday night sport and eating fish and chips. In the 70s, society’s concept of childhood was carefree and technologically challenged with the television being a valued commodity, one per household.

As media developed, so did the use and location of the family television/s. It ‘entered the home for communal use in the living room and gradually relocated to kitchens, bedrooms, even hallways’ (Livingstone 2007). This invasion of space developed privacy zones in which the audience/inhabitant of the room could choose where to locate the television set and its function.

My stepdad uses his designated television viewing time to relax; putting his feet up and attaching the remote to his hand so he could constantly flick the channels. His privacy zone or haven is in the lounge room with the comfy chairs and the Television fixed as the focal point in the wall. My mother, on the other hand, likes to multi-task so television viewing is performed via the family-room where the Television is visible from the kitchen (cooking dinner) and the dining room (when on the computer or ironing). This cultural perception of privacy sectors is evident in my interview results highlighting my parents’ current home has distinct divisions which are personalised to encompass the requirements of the audience and the accessibility of the media available. My own personal preference of television space is in my messy bedroom where I can enjoy some alone time while attempting Uni work on my desk.

 

           

Today, society embraces innovation and diversity in media and technology; enabling individuals to access multiple media platforms in the manner that suits ones own personal taste/lifestyle. This advancement in media has instigated a shift in family Television viewing. An Australian adult may watch an average of four hours of television a day (ABS 2013) but is he/she watching it by themselves in their own tailored private space/zone in the family home.

Does having more than one television, more choice and more space disconnect traditional ‘family time’?

 

Livingstone, S 2007, ‘From family television to bedroom culture: Young people’s media at home’, accessed 22nd August, 2013, <http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/2772/1/From_family_television_to_bedroom_culture_(LSERO).pdf>

ABS 2013,’Australians spend one month a year sitting watching TV’, Cat 4364.0.55.004- Australian Health Survey: Physical Activity, 2011-2012, Canberra, accessed 22nd August, 2013, <http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats%5Cabs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/19D9A81DC4ABD21BCA257BAC0016BBE9?Opendocument >

“Back in my day the cinema was a community event”

This week our media class discussed the problematic analysis utilised by researchers of grouping cinema audiences as demographic clusters; organised through background and association. Unfortunately, this practice can present a one-dimensional result. To ensure my research of the topic, ‘how has the cinema experience, space and audience changed over the years’, I decided to take the direct path of asking someone who was a ‘movie buff’ back in the day; an expert. In the 1960s, every week, my Grandmother walked to her local ‘Picture Theatre’ which was in the middle of the rural town of West Wyalong NSW. She shared her teenage memories with me describing her true cinema experience as being a Saturday afternoon must, a ‘social ritual’ shared with all her close friends and subsequently the entire Wyalong community.

My secondary research article, describes the cinema as just another public space where audiences would go ‘for entertainment and relaxation; for enlightenment or to be challenged’ (Aveyard 2011). Alternatively, my Grandmother explained that the cinema in her teenage years was a community event promoting positive social networks. Farmers would come off the land, town folk and their entire families, teenagers and their friends would gather at the cinema to meet up, have a chat and share a film. The film content included world news, cartoons for the children and a serial- type presentation so everyone present engaged in the performance and the social experience. ‘They provide opportunities for engagement with film culture, but can help promote important local community connections’ (Aveyard 2011). Nan, being the typical country teenager participated and cherished the positives of the cinema space, describing the experience as a personal ‘rite of passage’ where all the teenagers would meet their friends and race to acquire their seating. ’The older you were, the better the seats, the best being the backseats where all the cool kids sat ‘(Jones 2013, per. comm. 16 August).

The interview process broadened my understanding of the community experience in a rural cinema space and instigated a need to ascertain a complementary view; the social experience of an urban city goer. Why do we go to the movies? ‘‘To see a particular film” was overwhelmingly nominated as the most important factor influencing attendance, regarded as ‘very important’ by 77 % of respondents (Aveyard 2013). Urban audiences tend to partake in the entertainment aspect not for the communal experience. Alternatively, my Grandmother’s simple portrayal of rural cinema depicted a perfect space; a place to ‘have a chat’ and ice cream with friends, all achieved on 2 shillings 6 pence from Dad’s wallet. Nan’s experience of attending her cinema space was to gain a positive sense of belonging, to be part of the community in a public space.

My grandmother represents the REAL CINEMA AUDIENCE. Forget the stereotypical images portraying the cinema experience as excessive techno and pretty people with pretty smiles. It’s all about real people and bona fide emotions; like running to the cinema to get your seat with your friends, full of excitement with coins in your pocket. The 1959 ‘Picture Theatre’ encompasses that small things, simple pleasures are paramount in making life sincerely memorable.

Nanna Jones would be the first person to inform these naïve researchers while rolling her eyes, “back in my day” the local cinema was a community event. By knowing your audience personally, one does not have to assume, to stereotype or to collectively cluster. 1959 was a safe space, a time when you could walk to the pictures alone without fear or judgement, a time to look forward to and to reminisce.

Times have definitely changed but has your cinema experience?

 

Aveyard, K 2011,’The Place of Cinema and Film in Contemporary Rural Australia’, Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies, Vol 8, Is 2, pp 294-307, accessed 16^th August, <http://www.participations.org/Volume%208/Issue%202/3a%20Aveyard.pdf>

Val Morgan 2011, Val Morgan Cinema Network, webpage, accessed on the 25^th August 2013, < http://www.valmorgan.com.au/audiences/>

The Big Screen- Public Enemy or Private Stage

Society consumption of media and space is a fascinating demonstration of contradiction. Why is it that we as a society can choose to display an unapproachable façade; closed off and introverted while inhabiting a public space such as travelling on public transport, yet are welcoming and carefree when circulating our personal details via social media whilst in our own private space? Realistically, both our public and private audiences share an unfamiliar association as strangers. So what is preventing this confident private media conveyance being relayed to those present in our public domain? Habitually, public space or communal transport exposes the vulnerability of the consumer while private space or social media, Facebook portrays a safe place or free speech. This week’s lecture and tutorial we discussed media consumption and its reflection towards society’s differing assumptions regarding space; public and private.

This paradox regarding media in public spaces can be observed with the consumer’s use of iPods! What do we listen to when sitting in a public area, when we are exposed, on show to the world?  Is it the same music when we have our earphones in, when we are in our safe haven of our head, in our own world? Fes up, we all listen to the unthinkable, ‘One Direction’,’ Taylor Swift’ on our IPods, don’t judge me.

A simple trip to watch your favourite public cinema falls into a similar media/ space anomaly. Predominately, the cinema is a public space, where individuals can buy a movie ticket and partake in this digital experience with strangers.  Alternatively, the cinema set-up promotes a private space with individual setting and an elevated screen where individuals can respond as if you were the only one there. On reflection, this digital concept of promoting media on a public scale; is it confronting as being a passenger on public transport or exciting as enjoying a movie at the cinema.

A blog by McQuire discusses electronic media where television screens leave the privacy of home, relocates to public city structures and the implications on society’s relationships through the distributed global networks created through convergence.

McQuire investigates the control and media filtering of formal advertising screens and then compares the creative use of the screens  for ‘ Body Movies’ to produce interactive content and enforcing a relationship with the participants. This projection model promoted up to 50 strangers to contribute ‘a delicate balance between personal participation and collective interaction’ on a public scale.

Ideally, media and public space doesn’t have to be a conformed, confronting advertisement which tells society how to behave but can be creative and alternate; a bonding experience.

 There’s a thought, until we blog again 🙂

MEDIA AND SPACE: A COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP!

The whole phenomenon of media and blogging is personally, mind-blowing. It is ludicrous to ponder that any person; no matter what their status, influence or expertise can type an idea, an opinion or argument which is accessible to a global audience, instantaneously. Blogging is undeniably a bizarre concept. For instance, to you, I am a stranger but here you are, reading my words. So let’s be friends…my name is Claire and I am a 21 year old student studying Media and Communication Studies at the University of Wollongong and I need to get my blog on for one of my subjects.

This week’s BCM240 lesson focused on the connection between MEDIA and SPACE and the challenge of sharing an image which captures our own personal interpretation of this relationship.

I took the attached image of my friends having lunch at the University caf today. It depicts my friends gathered together in a social huddle though visually mesmerized in the conversations on their mobile phones rather than with their immediate company. This photo encapsulates my perception of the universal link between media and space; portraying my friends as being connected by media in the same space (a dinner table at Campus) when in fact, they are present in another space through utilising social media via their mobile phones.

Thanks to the wonders of media; limitations of space and communication are minimal. Ideally, media permits the establishment of relationships with individuals on a global scale in the matter of seconds. Alas, unfortunately, media can establish problematic antisocial standards to those individuals in our own immediate surroundings.

 Till next blog, be present, be aware… PEACE OUT!