I had two main threads of thought while reading about the impact of early television on women and mothers. Firstly, I considered the notion of time. I was intrigued by how the flow of television was molded to enforce a particular lifestyle. Modleski says that “daytime television plays a part in habituating women to interruption, distraction, and spasmodic toil” (5). And indeed, the endless tasks of the housewife are often driven by impromptu demands, a condition reinforced by commercials breaking the stream of narrative.
When considering the state of modern TV, whether it’s cable or streaming services, it seems to me that we’ve been able to “reclaim time.” The invention of DVRs enabled us to watch shows on our own schedules, and pause and scroll-through as we pleased. Streaming services have expanded this beyond the confines of our televisions, allowing us to take the experience anywhere. And as discussed in our first class session, we tend to watch media to accompany our daily activities (eating, exercising, etc.). Thus, rather than letting TV dictate our time, we let time dictate our TV, choosing a piece of appropriate length to match our existing routines. Or perhaps, we’re still subconsciously influenced by program length, as we may linger to finish an episode after completing a task, or binge the day away (“just one more episode!”) instead of attending to responsibilities.
Secondly, I pondered on the concept of parasociality with TV characters. Lipsitz sets the scene for this in relation to women, stating that early comedies “involved a special emphasis on mothers. Images of long-suffering but loving mothers pervaded these programs,” thereby setting an example of appropriate attitudes towards motherhood (83). But interestingly, it wasn’t carried out via mothers seeing themselves on screen—rather, by seeing those like them. Modleski references Lucy Irigaray’s notion of “nearness” as opposed to identification: “The viewer does not become the characters… but rather relates to them as intimates, as extensions of her world” (3). I personally believe there’s a blurry line between identification and parasociality; oftentimes, we form parasocial relationships with people we identify with. Thus, I’m not sure I follow the argument of close intimacy without identification. However, I do appreciate that Modleski points out the ability of parasociality to affect those outside the primary relationship. Current mainstream discourse on parasocial relationships (which is terribly misguided) treats them as taking place within an isolated bubble, and often discusses their effects only on the two parties involved. But it is certainly important to consider what Modleski and Lipsitz mention: the behaviors modeled by figures on TV motivate us—and at times condition us—to believe in the legitimacy of particular actions over others.
Time was also something I thought about when reading Modleski's writing, and more specifically, I thought about routine. The idea of DVR and streaming allowing us to "reclaim time" is very interesting to me and in reading your blog post I completely agree with the points you brought up. But I also wonder if our ability watch the shows we want on our own schedules has actually given television more control than we think it has. Growing up I had a routine of doing one "fun activity" at night between eating dinner and going to bed, often times it involved watching an episode of television. But I remember many instances of turning the tv on, only to find that "there was nothing good on" and promptly turning it off in favor of another activity. However, now that I subscribe to a streaming service, I always have 24/7 access to the shows I want to watch. There is never an instance where "there's nothing good on," so I never have a reason to turn the tv off in favor of a different "fun activity." So while DVR and streaming has given us free reign to watch television on our own time, I wonder if they have also lead to us adding television into our routine more often because we don't have to wait for something good to come on. Instead of the new episode each week, we can watch a new episode each day or each hour. And as you pointed out, it can be all too easy to binge the day away when every episode of the season is right there at our fingertips.
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