How much can you tell about a person by the TV they watch?

[yagami]

This thought randomly popped into my head today while looking at my username for this board. The name Yagami is from my favorite anime of all time called Deathnote. It's a story about a senior in high school that is a genius and one day finds this notebook on the ground. He discovers that this book has the power to kill anyone who's name he writes in the book as long as he has seen that persons face. In the anime he goes around killing criminals trying to make perfect world in which he is the decider of who will live and who will die.

 

My favorite shows tend to be along these lines where the main character has no problem killing people for what he believes and the main character is always significantly more intelligent than others in the story. Code Geass would be my number 2.

 

I wonder why these type of shows appeal to me and what that means about me if anything. I'd never actually kill someone of course so let me just put that out there. I dont exactly expect an answer from anyone here. I mean how could you know without significantly more detail about me. It's just food for thought. Have you every noticed a trend in the characters you enjoy?

[MysterionMuffles]

I think you can tell A LOT based on what people watch, and even more so, which characters they identify with. 

 

What is it about these characters that appeal to you other than them having no problem killing people? Is really more about their beliefs and intelligence? What else?

[Wuzzums]

I have a strong adoration for Al Swearengen from the TV show Deadwood. He's probably my favorite character in all of fiction. Another character in the show sums him up perfectly: "When he's not lying, Al's the most noble person you'll ever meet."

[D.D.]

I wonder why these type of shows appeal to me and what that means about me if anything.

Visual culture is the aspect of culture expressed in visual images. Many academic fields study this subject, including cultural studies, art history, critical theory, philosophy, and anthropology.  source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_culture

 

Film theory or cinema studies is an academic discipline that aims to explore the essence of the cinema and provides conceptual frameworks for understanding film's relationship to reality, the other arts, individual viewers, and society at large. Film theory is not to be confused with general film criticism, or film history, though there can be some crossover between the three disciplines.  source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_theory

 

In my opinion, taken with a lot of salt, when a character is portrayed as gifted, whether genetically or by chance, it sends a message to me that knowledge, practice, determination, etc. are not required to be good or amazing at something.  This means that you can watch T.V., make fart jokes, and basically live a consumptive lifestyle while still achieving excellence.

This is not reality, except for the minor chance events like winning the lottery but even then you have to earn the money then purchase the ticket and so on.

 

Even when cinema shows a character practicing knowledge in a determined way, there is a time-lapse.  I believe we walk away from cinema with a distorted view of time.  I believe this causes us to feel, think, and behave in a way to expect amazing things to happen "over night".

 

 

My favorite shows tend to be along these lines where the main character has no problem killing people for what he believes and the main character is always significantly more intelligent than others in the story.

 

Merriam-Webster (source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vicarious) defines "vicarious" as:

experienced or realized through imaginative or sympathetic participation in the experience of another <a vicarious thrill>

 

 

Have you every noticed a trend in the characters you enjoy?

Absolutely, for me they are both good and evil/immoral and struggle with it.  I also like pure evil guys who talk about why they are bad; the insight.

Edited May 28, 2016 by D.D.

[dsayers]

I think you can tell A LOT based on what people watch

I wouldn't conflate implication, supposition, or projection with knowledge. All you can know by what somebody watches is what they're willing to spend their time doing. You cannot even derive from them watching it that they LIKE it.

 

A few years ago, I was having a day where I wanted for total abnegation. I thought it probably couldn't get more mindless than Trailer Park Boys. That show has a lot of charm IMO. Since then, I've watched everything with that named slapped on it. Yet my saying/doing so literally tells you NOTHING about me. Nothing accurate anyways.