DearDiary Logo
Public DiariesHomeLogin

D'vorahDavida
Yetzirah

Open Letter To The Flashers
Sat Jul 24 2004


This is an official announcement from a disgruntled female viewer.

To all movie, and television producers on planet Earth:

I've had it with you people.

Somewhere in your midst you are harboring a madman who is telling you that what you really need to be doing to get our attention as viewers, is to flash as many images on the screen as you can, in the least amount of time possible. This same person must be convincing you that if you don't change camera angles and perspectives often enough, we will get bored and go get a real life somewhere far from the tube, or the screen as the case may be.

I just wanted you to know that this technique causes me to do the very thing you are in fear of. I close my eyes. Therefore I do not even SEE all the lovely pictures you so laboriously poured over to try to make your point, whatever your point was. I don't GET your point because my brain, (which is a fairly good specimen of a human brain, if I do say so myself) cannot process that much information in the given time frame.

(However, if you are actually marketing to say.... Commander Data of the Star Ship Enterprise, please excuse my error. He would be able to "get" what you are displaying and the message behind it without much trouble. If that is the case, ignore this rant.)

But if humans are your intended audience, you sure as heck better slow it down or I am going to pull the plug. If this is a trend you intend to pursue, I will tune in to TBS where I can watch old movies in black and white, where the camera used to lovingly gaze at the perfection of Ingrid Bergman until even I could fall in love with her.

I'm not going to fall in love with your ...car, candy, dishsoap, insurance company, new tv series, peanut butter, or cell phone, if all you do is assault me with 40 images of it in 5 seconds.... or whatever your "image to time frame" ratio is at the moment.

Wise up bozos. And I mean it. The last thing you want is an audience who turns on you. We can be a nasty brutal bunch when you get us riled up. You may find yourself having to reinvent the visual media wheel if you are not careful. Because I am [] this close to pulling the plug on you.

Just thought you'd like to know.

12 Comments
  • From:
    Enchantedbutterfly (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Jul 23 2004
    I hear ya!

    You know I never watch tv really. Perhaps it is because I am to busy here! LOL

    But sometimes I have to shut my eyes, because I get a headache of all the flashing images and color changes. TV mostly aggrivates me. I flip it off during campaign season and only turn it on for breif moments on favorite shows.

    So is Yetriah starting a national boycott on tv producers? If so, I am standing in line with ya!

    Butterfly
  • From:
    Gazelle (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Jul 23 2004
    Hey, I like your rant! I hate being bombarded with images as well, so I recently pulled the plug on TV, and started to actually live! And I surprisingly don't miss it much at all.
    -Gazelle
  • From:
    AeolianSolo (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Jul 23 2004
    There was a British TV show called "Max Headroom" set "20 minutes into the future..." where the post-apocalyptic-type world was run by TV networks and instead of political power, everyone was in search of ratings. One network developed a rapid-bombardment advertising technique where hundreds of images flash past you in a few seconds and you more or less subconsciously absorb them. Problem was, couch potatoes, their brains overloaded, kept literally exploding, and it was the protagonist's job to uncover the story that "Blip-Verts" were to blame.

    I feel sometimes that someone in advertising thought Blip-Verts were a good idea. I, too, flip the channel or turn off the set-- or pop in a movie-- when I've had enough. I rarely remember what the advertisers are trying to sell me anyway. As on the Internet, I've learned to tune that crap out. If only marketers would treat us with a little respect.

    --Solo
  • From:
    Pragmatist (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Jul 23 2004
    HEAR! HEAR! Bravo, kudos, and all sorts of agreements on your rant!

    I've gotten to the point that I mute (especially car ads) and read something, or go to the bathroom, or tease the cat, or whatever, until the commercial is done.

    Maybe if we had a wholesale "pull the plug" week, someone might take notice.

    Shalom
  • From:
    BattleAxe (Unauthenticated) (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Jul 23 2004
    I wonder how much we would each have to chip in to cover the cost of “free” tv in order to eliminate the commercials… HMMMM
  • From:
    RealmOfRachel (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Jul 23 2004
    Right on- if there's a petition I'll sign it here and now!

    R xxx
  • From:
    PredatorEd (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Jul 23 2004
    I'm glad you enjoyed the quiz. I've posted another entry with some descriptions of each thinking style.

    You know, I don't even have a television anymore, and when I do watch it, I am also completely disturbed by the rapidity of the images which are flashed before our eyes. I mean, talk about insidious sub-conscious programming! I can't even watch most commercials or advertisements for films for this very reason...it's far too fast to really interpret and is specifically designed, like you said, to get us riled up. I'll do that on my own, thank you! Great entry..I hope more people speak out as you have.
  • From:
    MagicWhiskey (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Jul 23 2004
    I don't think there's any combination of pictures that could make like dish washing liquid even if they slow down the pace of commercials.
  • From:
    Ichandra (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Jul 23 2004
    mon petit gateau
    you were wondering exactly where your funny bone is located ichandra cant tell that without scanning your xrays which i dont have at this point all i can say is that it is functioning with finely tuned performance producing the most refined giggles which is why i return endlessly
    i love all kinds of music which is my gift to humanity or humanitys gift to me i am not sure anyway i watch much music and that is the most visually assaulting program of all i am thinking of wearing my shades the next time i watch the program
  • From:
    Bookworm (Legacy)
    On:
    Sat Jul 24 2004
    Great rant. Well, you know how I feel about TV, especially commercial TV. It's one of the reasons I hardly watch it. ;-)
  • From:
    InStitches (Legacy)
    On:
    Sat Jul 24 2004
    I'm guessing these same yoyos like strobe lights too. :)
  • From:
    Bogomils (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Jul 25 2004
    How about adding another note to that petition of yours? Don't dump good shows for garbage shows. Hubby and I refuse to watch new shows out of fear of them disappearing into the pilot show failure shelf in some studio. It is heartbreaking to see a perfectly good story line disappear for some stupid soap opera with poor actors but great bodies walking around nude.

    I am seriously considering dumping the tv and just pay for high speed internet. It isn't worth the money.

    Bright Blessings..... Bogo