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Traces of the Past
In the last paragraph of Lynn Spigel’s “Installing the Television Set,” Spigel quotes historian Carlo Ginzburg, who writes: “Reality is opaque; but there are certain points—clues, signs—which allow us to decipher it.” Why do you think Spigel closes her analysis of post-war television’s role in American domestic spaces with this quote? How does she describe her historical approach/methodology? What types of “traces” of the past does she examine in this essay and how does she use them? Do you agree with her approach to history?
I believe Lynn Spigel chose to end her essay “Installing the Television Set” with a quote about following ‘traces’ or clues to analyze the role of television in postwar America because it is impossible to look back on a historical event from the present day and with 100% certainty explain every factor and influence that caused a historical outcome. However, historians can, as Spigel did, use concrete historical “traces” such as women’s magazines, newspaper articles, old television show clips, and advertisements from the time period she was analaysing to try and construct a deeper understanding of how television came to be so prominent in the 1950s. Spiegel utilizes mostly primary sources in her essay to examine through what channels television gained popularity and the impact of television on society as it became more common to own a television set. I think this is a valid way to examine history, and that a lot can be learned through this type of study. For example, a section run in “Better Homes and Gardens” in 1951 that Spiegel includes in her essay includes a cartoon that mocks a husband’s desire to stay in and watch television while his wife would prefer to go out to the movies. This primary source reveals a tension that Spiegel explores in her essay that television sets were fundamentally changing the power relationship between husband and wife, as well as the social dynamics of neighborhoods. Almost every type of 'trace' Spiegel included in this essay was used to highlight a social concern or change of Americans that related to their introduction of a television set in the home.
ReplyDeleteSpigel closes her analysis of post-war television’s role with this quote because it echoes well with what Spigel is trying to convey in the variety of popular discourses on television and domestic space. Through examine those different “points-clues, signs” that a number of institutions also noticed including popular books, magazines, ads and comedies, we can see the disruptive effect on visual pleasure in domestic space which is the “reality” in the quote.
ReplyDeleteSpigel describe her historical approach as through the seemingly inconsequential traces to reveal the most significant patterns pf past experiences. The types of “traces” she examines in this essay include the domestic reception context and the discursive refiguring of the home as a theatre, the representational strategies used in domestic’s sit-coms, and also the domestics spaces at home after installing the TV set and the changes of either the physical or psychological spaces that people have with TV. In specifics, she mentioned how TV reflects the social relations; how it affect private/public spaces as well as women’s domestic isolation and integration of the social life and how magazines; ads help to establish standard to achieve pleasure caused by TV; how it influence the middle class interior design and architecture; and how it changes people’s daily life. I really agree with her approach to history since through examine those clues, you can get the image of the big history and the reality.
She might have included the quote from Ginzburg because comprehending the way television is today can helped be explained with the past. Spigel went further than the economics and politics of the past and placed a focus on the role it in the domestic setting. For figuring out the role television played in the home, she consulted different discourses of the time relating to television and the domestic setting. She examined different “traces,” including advertisements, print, and episodes that explained how social roles were affecting how television’s content and role. Spigel used them to build on the point that television, which rose to popularity quickly, played with the roles of women and men in the house. For example, advertisements like the one in Ladies’ Home Journal show how women had to almost compete for attention from men. This again appeared in an episode of I Love Lucy, where Lucy and Ethel are shooed away by the power of their husbands as the men prefer to watch the television rather than interact with their wives. I agreed with her approach to history, noticing some of the smaller examples, because together it revealed how the television changed or emphasized patterns in the home.
ReplyDeleteThe inclusion of the quote reiterated the fact that television was becoming a socially ideological "quilt" in a way, where networks were forming different elements together in order to attract consumers and viewers. Looking at television now, the same methods are still experimented on and executed. The "traces" meaning the elements that constituted a broadcast (ads, news, sitcoms, etc.) were pieced together as a way to establish a new, influential entertainment medium. The networks had total creative control and tested out methods of persuasion, whether it was apparent or not. Early television was not very controversial, it was censored. Looking back and looking closely at the "points-clues" of the various elements involved in broadcast, one is able to see how the network execs were able to sway viewers and how they were designing methods and programs to do so.
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