We don't have the TV on when the kids are around. They only watch videos/DVDs. But at 6:30pm every night Doraemon is on. For those who don't know, it's the story of a robot cat (used to be called Ding-dong Cat in Taiwan but now just by its Japanese name) and his friends. This Japanese cartoon has been popular since before my time, and the graphics are pretty cute. So some days we let them watch the half an hour cartoon.
The program is not objectionable, the problem is what follows: we actually have to watch carefully for when it ends, and, holding the remote read in hand, jump to turn it off! You cannot wait for even one more second, for you are 99% likely to watch some really really atrocious news headline before you can do anything about it. Crazy mother hanging a 4-year-old and beating her to death, boss raping an intern and posting pictures on the web, toddler left unattended in a car and accidentally started it, ended up being hit by a truck flying by.... Trust me, you don't want to hear these stories, or see images of them, much less have your children see them!
I have been outraged not so much by the craziness in the soceity (社會亂象）(as I am sure it's not unique to Taiwan), but the way the media compete to use these sensational events to get the audience's attention. This is Jerry Springer X 10!! And we are talking about 7pm news, immediately following a children's cartoon! What are these people thinking? Don't they have children? Or are they so used to it that they have become completely immune to its graphic and obscene nature? It always leaves me a gruesome memory and horrible feeling for the rest of the evening.
What to do? Knowning how much television is part of many people's lives (both in US and in Taiwan), I am even more scared of the collective impact it leaves on the society.
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1 comment:
hi sylvia,
Have been reading your writing periodically, but did not have the time to respond until now.
Regarding the graphic style of Taiwanese-TV, I could not agree more. Sometimes I think tthe TV stations do it purposely, just to attract viewers.
Although it is sad to say, I feel the people in Taiwana are already used to the style. The bolder /gramphic the program, the better the rating. It seems like there is no censorship.
Leland and Alyssa mostly watch dvds. It is much easier to 'control.' TV is not safe anymore-Jenny Pama
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