Wednesday, May 15, 2013

GONE GHOUL

I usually don’t pay attention to commercials…
But when I see bloody meat sizzling in a pan…
For the umpteenth time…
I sit back to see what’s up…
Or should I say what’s cooking?
Oh, a new TV show?
Hannibal? As in Hannibal Lechter?
Oh, come on. Really?
It was creepy enough watching Anthony Hopkin’s face…
As he described eating some guy’s liver…
With fava beans and a nice chianti…
But to do that with facial expressions is great acting…
To actually see the liver…
With the blood oozing out when sliced into…
That’s gratuitous.
And then there’s another commercial…
For another new TV show—The Following.
First you see a nice guy with a family…
And then you see the same guy…
But now he’s a bad guy, torturing a woman.
Really?
Is this what entertainment is coming down to?
OK, I admit that I watch Criminal Minds
But sometimes I have to change the channel…
Because I don’t want to see all the gore and horror…
Especially because all episodes…
Are based on true stories…
And worse?
Every episode had to be ratcheted down…
So as not to shock the viewers.
It seems to me that our entertainment…
Is obsessed with horrific stories…
Which makes me wonder…
Are we becoming a society...
Of entertainment vampires and ghouls…
Waiting for our daily fix of blood and gore?
What's your daily intake?

Always, Em-Musing

9 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Shock value is where it's at right now. Although it's scary what they can get away with showing on television now.

farawayeyes said...

Don't have TV. Apparently, that's a really good thing.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Well you don't have to watch those shows. Other people like different things. I watch Hannibal, and it's mostly because the character is fascinating in the same way as it's fascinating for me to look through a window at a Bengal tiger.

You know the person on the other side of the glass (or tiger) could kill you, but the dangerousness of the creature (or monster) you are staring at is kind of riveting.

For what it's worth, the Mormons have banned Hannibal from NBC affiliate KSL here in Utah. The only way I can watch it is through syndication on the CW late at night on Friday or by going online.

I think that if people don't want to watch a program on television, they should feel free to turn it off at any time.

Stephen Tremp said...

I'll take a good old fashioned wormhole any day, thank you very much.

Gina Gao said...

Unfortunately, I guess TV has indeed become more violent as time goes by. Although I am personally not a fan of vampires and gore, I am a violent show fan in terms of action.

www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

Adam said...

I don't mind violence and gore as long as it's more the afterthought. Like a battle between two samurai, or a wild west shootout.

Now movies like Saw and zombie movies I really can't stand.

Intangible Hearts said...

As long as we're ratcheting down there's still hope. :)

Hart Johnson said...

Man, you're so right. I like dark stuff, but definitely prefer more OFF-SCREEN or else a kind of horror with some deniability. A paranormal element or at least a fantasy setting (huge game of thrones fan and that is pretty graphic). I think part of it is we want our entertainment to make us FEEL and stuff we've seen never before easier to hit than touching real emotion.

Arlee Bird said...

So this is what I missing on TV these days. I suffer through "American Idol" and that's torture enough. My mother and sisters are getting tired of "Idol" and probably won't be watching it after this season so I guess I probably won't since I was only watching to have some common topic to talk about with them.

I'll stick to the news. No, wait! That can be worse than those shows you're describing.

Maybe I'll read. Now there's a novelty.

Lee
A Faraway View