A rant about tv and fancy schmancy new technologies:
I watched a first-season episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer tonight on Much Music, and then a second-season episode of Angel off DVD. What pleasure, what sublimity, or, as Homer says, "C'mon TV, give me some of that sweet, sweet pap!" I need my tv shows to ooze escapism; they must lead me into the land of pure crazy fantasy where my brain cells relax completely and the story carries me away. And looking at David Boreanaz for almost an hour doesn't hurt my sense of well-being either. That's why I can rarely get into prime time soaps, or dramas that are really just soaps in disguise, because they're too realistic; the pettiness, the drama-queens, the politicking: man, I get enough of that off the news channels and in my family for about 25 years.
That's the same reason I don't go to 3D movies, even though everyone else in the world apparently saw Avatar in 3D and LOVED it. My life is 3D enough for me; I don't need that in my movies too, shoving that stuff right into my brain; hey, back off a little, I want some distance from my escapism so that I can take a relatively short trip to get back to reality when the hour's up. I want to escape for a while, not drown. And I definitely won't be buying a 3D tv; again, life = 3D, don't need that in my story-box too.
I've been learning about accessibility issues lately at work, thanks to mandatory online training modules. This 3D technology is not particularly successful for people who must use corrective devices for their vision; I heard more than one person say that the 3D glasses needed to watch the movie did not sit on their face well at all with their own glasses. What a surprise that a Hollywood gadget fails to consider accessibility issues, 'cause if the average 14-year-old boy can wear the 3D movie-glasses without problems, then why should they care about the aging population that is growing larger and larger every year? And all this neglect in a time when wearing glasses is again rather chic, at least among my crowd of peeps.
Back to the pap, I need it, I crave it, I must have it, but I won't be buying the latest tv gizmo, at least not until they make adjustments for those of us who don't want to balance their wacky glasses on top of the perfectly good glasses that we must wear to actually see the tv. I guess they need to invent prescription 3D glasses, then I'll go see Avatar.
Note: The Simpsons is one of my favourite tv shows ever, and it would NOT be better in 3D.
3 comments:
Do you remember that Simpsons Halloween episode where Homer falls into the vortex and ends up in the 3D world? TERROR.
I concur -- 3D world = TERROR.
I saw *UP* in 3D and enjoyed it for about half an hour. After that, I guess I'd grown accustomed to the 3D because things just weren't jumping out anymore, and the colours were just terrible. In the last hour, I vowed to see all movies in 2D. I intend to watch Avatar on my 21 inch TV that Santa brought be in 1991.
I have family members who insist on 3D-watching. It's a strange pressure. It seems silly to have to defend one's love for 2D, but people assume it's only an anxious, old-folkish resistance to technology. These pressure people forget that Disney really really wants them to police their peers about 2D, given the hike in prices.
So let's call it... critical viewing. Even critical citizenship!
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