Chickens and Eggs, and Eggs and Chickens (Colton Core #4)

     I wanted to touch briefly on Morley's essay, and his initial points regarding ethnographic studies and their relation to media consumption studies. First, it should be pointed out that Morley's essay—at least for the first several sections—reads like unto a theorists version of a rap-battle song, in which the author takes public jabs at other authors, but without sharing indepth context, assuming that the 'listener' will simply know said context, because they are fans of the medium. In short, I just thought it was interesting that most of Morley's initial points are him discussion criticism of what others have said about his work, then saying why they are wrong. We are in the middle of a theorist fight, but we all get to be the middle man since the two aren't talking to each other. Just, a little interesting. 

    On to my main point. I really enjoyed Morley's discussion of reasoning for studying the domestic space specifically in regards to TV consumption. His overall argument is that a deeper micro study of the domestic, in this specific reference the domestic space, helps us understand the global uniformity and structural apparatuses that the more macro culture is imposing. Simply put, if one stays only on the theoretical stance, without looking specifically at the family dynamics of personal interactions, they are only theorizing. He writes: "The argument is rather that, if we are in fact to understand their pertinence, these 'broader questions' have to be approached via this necessary detour into the detail of domestic consumption" (4). He clarifies that we should not settle for only discussing television's role ideologically in representations, or ritually in creating social structure, nor simply the domestic consumption. Instead we should look at trying to "understand [how] all these issues [relate] to each other" (5). 

In summary, I am a fan of combining this 'vertical' dimension of communication (ideology, power and politics), with the 'horizontal' dimension (consumption and everyday use by actual viewers.) I firmly believe that we theorize too much in what a story is saying, why it is saying it, and how it is saying it, while ignoring what it is actually doing to the real life individuals and groups who watch the story.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.