David Lancaster

The Matter of Images: Essays on Representations (review)

Doherty’s point, in short, is that early television was more multifaceted than supposed and that, rather than hurting the quality of public debate, it encouraged the exchange of ideas. It helped the burgeoning civil rights movement, partly by unmasking injustices, and by exposing to the camera lens racial stereotypes that could not stand visual scrutiny. For example, Amos ‘n’ Andy, a popular comic radio show with exaggerated black characters, folded on TV. At the same time, shows attacking Communism, such as I Led Three Lives, were often complex, presenting Communists as well-read, prepared to listen to their opponents, as opposed to members of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, often shown browbeating witnesses. Doherty points out, too, that the blacklist issue was more complex than has been suggested. Insidious as the practice was in blighting careers, it was never fully effective or efficiently implemented. Some performers, who took the smears head-on, won. The most famous examples were Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez, who were too popular and powerful as media personalities to be reached by the blacklisters. Liberace, too, survived and prospered in an era when anti-Communism blended easily into slurs on homosexuals (weren’t they all effete intellectuals?) and an excessively low neckline might consign a female show host to oblivion as fast as having voted Red in her youth. The ultimate conclusion to be reached is perhaps not a cheering one for the present time. The progress of television has not shown an optimistic Darwinian-style evolution from crude beginnings to a sophisticated, mature product. Rather, early TV may have nourished more worthwhile debate, perhaps because it had to rely so heavily on live shows featuring journalists and other public figures that had not yet made lifelong careers of surviving on the box, with its slavish adherence to ratings, official network stances, and sponsor demands. Is it possible that today only a show like Bill Moyers’ Now on PBS echoes the solid intellectual fiber of the early shows? In the end, the exposure of McCarthy’s personality and message to the scrutiny of the camera and his TV critics went a long way towards destroying him. The right thing happened. But the disquieting issue we are left with is what happens when a medium so all-pervasive in its cultural power fails to ask the right questions? When, for example, TV reporters only repeat official press releases without critical analysis, does the medium still contribute to the public good or has it become simply a propaganda tool, in thrall to a specific point of view? This might be the subject for a companion study to Cold War, Cool Medium. Michael C. C. Adams Northern Kentucky University adamsm@NKU.EDU Richard Dyer The Matter of Images: Essays on Representations. Second edition. Routledge, 2003. 183 pages;

Product Placement in Hollywood Films: A History (review)

75.00.