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Studies in Media Topics (298-0-20)

Topic

TV Objects

Instructors

Benjamin Thomas Riggs

Meeting Info

555 Clark 230: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

When you talk about TV, what is the "TV" that you're talking about? Rather than television's content or programming, this course is about the materiality of TV, or the "stuff" that makes television possible. TV is and has many objects, and while we grow attached to some (e.g., the television set from your childhood home), many others remain resolutely hidden from us (e.g., the vast array of TV satellites still encircling the globe). In this course, we will examine television's objecthood from a variety of vantage points, including how TV is produced and the technical equipment used on-set, as well as how television is received, via an assortment of touchable screens in a range of physical places. We'll also consider the infrastructure necessary to reliably deliver television to you, including satellites, antennas, and cables, and deal with questions of ephemerality and nostalgia as related to TV by examining props, costumes, and other memorabilia. Taking our cue from the era of television's technological beginnings, when TV was more likely to be found in science laboratories than living rooms, a portion of each week's class will be devoted "lab" time. Here we will examine, first-hand, various television objects, from toys to user's manuals to museum exhibits. These hands-on endeavors will be supplemented by a variety of theoretical readings which will help us develop tools and techniques for analyzing TV objects. You will be assessed through short weekly reflections, or a "TV diary" in which you record your own encounters with television's various objects, and a larger research project, culminating in a final "show-and-tell" showcase.