Ray Bradbury, one of my favorite authors, was recently awarded a special "lifetime achievement" Pulitzer Prize, the first science fiction/fantasy writer to receive one (about time!). He talks about the award and his most famous book, Fahrenheit 451, in this article from the LA Times.
Bradbury disagrees with most scholars about the main theme of Fahrenheit 451--they think it's censorship, he says it's how TV will destroy (has destroyed?) reading and to some extent people's thinking. I'm with him for the most part on that, except for select quality TV shows that stretch one's brain such as M*A*S*H, Babylon 5, some PBS programs such as the Mystery! Sherlock Holmes stories, and most recently Torchwood (it's been shown only in Britain and on the Net so don't be surprised if you haven't heard of it.
Most "news" programs, on the other hand...
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2 comments:
You forgot West Wing.
That aside, I think Bradbury is 100% right; TV is one of the major factors behind the destruction of thought in modern America. Partly because it's such a passive form of entertainment - you don't need to know anything, just sit there and they'll spoon-feed it to you; and partly because TV itself, driven by the ratings game, has devolved to cater to the lowest common denominator. And the American people have devolved right along with it. Lack of infrastructure isn't the only reason we couldn't go back to the moon now if we wanted to.
I did forget The West Wing and it was a significant omission. What an excellent series!
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