Week 7 Discussion: TV as Art
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
- Textbook: Chapter 13, 14
- Minimum of 1 primary or scholarly source (from actor/director or critic – either will count as your scholarly source requirement for discussions)
Initial Post Instructions
Many people would say that the 1999 premier of The Sopranos was a turning point in the development of television as an art form. Choose a television or streaming show that you feel perpetuates the idea that television is indeed a form of art. For the initial post, address the following:
- Include the name of the show and the director.
- Explain why you think this program is art.
- What impact does the example have on viewers’ lives?
- What were some influences of this work?
- Include a statement from an actor, director, or critic of the program that supports your points.
Follow-Up Post Instructions
Respond to at least one peer. Respond to one peer who chose an option different from yours. Further the dialogue by providing more information and clarification.
Follow up post:
Dora
Hello Class and Professor,
I am going to be the stereotypical nursing student here by talking about Grey’s Anatomy. This television show has been airing for 17 seasons. Many shows struggle to maintain approval for further seasons and episodes while this is one that has done so without difficulty. This show proves itself as an art form as it emotionally moves its viewers: as Martin and Jacobus state, “The power of the image to excite a viewer, combined with music and sound, is more and more becoming an intense experience as the technology of the medium develops” (2019, pp. 331). The show emotionally draw’s many in as it expresses a multitude of issues such as health problems, addiction, death of loved ones, racial inequalities.
This show has impacted viewers’ lives as it provides a relation to such issues and shows people they are not alone in their struggles. They advocate for change and improvement in healthcare and overall in public issues. One professor from the University of Illinois performed a study on the impact of Grey’s Anatomy and stated, “the more episodes viewers watched, the more likely they were to perceive the show as credible, and then the more likely they were to perceive the show as credible, the more likely they were to perceive real world doctors as their doctors to be courageous, which that led to patient satisfaction” (2020). The show recently had its focal point for season 17 set on COVID-19 and I myself found the episodes highly realistic. I saw personal protective equipment shortages, healthcare workers struggling with burnout, healthcare workers emotionally processing the constant deaths of their patients: all of these I had dealt with during the COVID outbreak and it moved me. This moved me to know that someone was shining a light on the difficulties we faced every day when we clocked in.
Grey’s Anatomy has been influenced by many real life diseases and occurrences for episodes. The show has shown real diseases ranging anywhere from cancer to Kawasaki’s disease. Some may be rare and some are ever so common. The show has been a major influence for further medical shows to go on and have a fan base to continue seasons. The show has realistic outcomes and not every episode is a happy ending which furthers the connection viewer’s have with the show. When the creator and executive producer was asked about how the show relates to real world diversity, Shonda Rhimes states, “It’s who is telling the stories,” she says, “because the people telling the stories are the people deciding who you see onscreen, they’re the people who are deciding who are in the writers rooms, they’re the people deciding on the crew” (Shonda Rhimes on Raising the Next Generation of TV Producers, 2021).