Mass Communications
Growing up in a very conservative and religious family, having time to watch tv was very unlikely. However, I was allowed to watch Full House whenever it was on. Almost like the Tanner family, I could easily relate, having three sisters and twin cousins of my own. Now, as I watch Full House on Nick and Nite, I am quickly beginning to realize that their portrayal of the “not-so-typical” yet ideal family isn’t very realistic at all.
For those unfamiliar with Full House, it was a very popular sitcom in the 80s and 90s based out of San Francisco. One of the main characters, Danny Tanner, is forced to raise his three daughters, DJ, Stephanie, and Michelle on his own after losing his wife. Moving in to help raise the girls is Danny’s brother in law Jesse and best friend Joey. The sitcom eventually featured an aunt to the girls, Rebecca, and her twin boys…all living under one roof.
Looking at its effect from a typical standpoint it might seem that Full House is on the positive end of the spectrum. Especially when compared to other popular shows of the time such as Beverly Hills 90210. For years it still seemed the only problems my sisters and I had was that we became obsessed over Full House exclusively, and constantly had this tainted version of what an ideal family life was like.
We began to treat what we saw on television as reality, and quickly separated ourselves from
our “not so perfect” version. Tim Leary, a psychologist and former researcher amongst his many other highly regarded credentials, puts it this way. “You’re beginning to think that the tube is reality and that your own lives are unreal…you do whatever the tube tells you”. Also, in the video link below, I heard an unknown man's voice quoting "we are being constantly conditioned to take on a certain reality".Looking back, it’s easy to see how oblivious my sisters and i were to the truth behind what we were obsessing over. We spent hours upon hours recreating our own episodes of the show and often got into pretty heated arguments over who got to play Michelle.
Fighting over make believe roles may seem frivolous…but try explaining that to an eight year old!
The frightening possibility that Tim Leary and many other researchers are right, would pin point many of the problems in today’s society. One such problem is growing up with an impractical perception of reality and wasting your life trying to fulfill this "fake" dream-like lifestyle that may only exist on the tube!!When thinking of the later effects of such shows, I, like Tim Leary am afraid that television is becoming much too synonymous to what we call “hallucinogens”, which are defined as false or mistaken ideas, delusions. Looking back, I am quite certain that the typical combination of shows such as Full House, Sex and the City, and Walker Texas Ranger for example has the definite potential to create a warped perception of reality in our minds that could possibly become indistinguishable from actual reality.
Check out this weird yet interesting video called"Think for yourself" on youtube regarding
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1zXuhR7OJd8&feature=related
For kicks, check out part of one of my coincidentally favorite episodes of Full House:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3a1P4z25zVU&feature=related
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