cable Archives - Author K. Williams

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #34

Reality TV – Love it or hate it and why?

A few things tend to send my opiniometer over the edge. This topic is one of them, because I care about the future and I see a nightmare ahead…

The thing about Reality TV is that it isn’t real, and far too many real people buy into it and for all the wrong reasons. Reality TV is just as scripted and planned as all other television, but the focus is on the worst that humanity can put forward. It’s true! The main thing it does is reflect the worst of humanity back out to the rest of humanity. If it’s not doing that, it’s attempting to make the mundane spectacular. There are so many who take delight in watching drama unfold as people gather to embarrass themselves for all time in exchange for notoriety and a bit of cheddar. There is no honor in Reality TV and probably even less in watching it. And no, I don’t agree that for some Reality TV is switching off to have a little fun, it’s emotionally vampiric and does nothing to relax. The purpose is to watch a life implode. That’s what winds me up: how awful (vindictive) humanity has become, or has remained since forever. I also have a Basic Bitch gauge, and automatically reject anything common valued by the plastic set. Am I a hipster rejecting things that are too mainstream? No. Where this comes from is far more than a need to be superior or cool (isn’t Hipster shit really just Basic Bitch shit anyway–with a beard and glasses?)…

I have a problem with how others feed from suffering, whether scripted or not. It’s a sickness. They used to call it voyeurism and it was looked down upon not all that long ago. Remember the James Stewart and Alfred Hitchcock film Rear Window (1954)? It talked about the psychological sickness of a man who couldn’t help himself but spy on others, and the sort of karma he incurs.

Today, they put shameless idiocy and immorality (not just sex) on television. All those films about a dystopian future, a hundred years from whenever, are now coming true. Have you seen Idiocracy (2006)? That’s pretty much where the culture of reality television has already brought humanity. I mean, we face electing one of the stars of reality television to the highest office in the United States. Boy are we in trouble!

The draw, as I see it: Reality TV allows others to feel better about themselves, or justify their awful behavior through the validation of it being aired on television weekly by low grade actors. Ignorance and crassness has become heralded as the new class and intelligence. The intellectuals of the past used to bemoan this penchant for the macabre idiotic play by the masses, but I don’t think they ever had it this severe. I could be wrong, but we are in a time where I am constantly told by others: my opinion should be respected, or, my opinion counts and you can’t dismiss me—this in the face of facts that deny their beliefs. Neither real reality or reams of evidence can sway them. (I’ll point back to the fact the Donald Trump is still a serious contender for President.)

In studying film, I ran into the topic of how television and movies serve as school room for a good majority of the population. It was in the context of taking extra care with the history one presents in their historical fictions. John Ford’s entire canon is responsible for the majority of what American’s believe to be their own history, and sadly they defend it with guns and threats, all the while bemoaning the lies of college classrooms. If you don’t believe me, take a walk around and ask people about historical things and see the answers they give, if they can give any (Jimmy Kimmel loves to do this and it should make you sick and want to cry, not laugh).

In a way, Reality TV makes me think of the blood thirsty hunger with which the masses of Ancient Rome used to watch events in the Colosseum. Today, we think such acts barbaric, but we don’t bat an eye lash at the emotional abuse of others via television for cash and fun.

Sure, I know a lot of people who call Reality TV their guilty pleasure, whether it is Housewives (insert city here) or some other train wreck. They laugh at themselves admitting it’s a horrible habit. The television industry is more than willing to feed that habit like a dealer on the corner with their shills. It’s legal crack. Giggle away at your addiction, seriously just as dangerous as you waste one brain cell at a time for every minute watched (possibly more).

As for Me, I cancelled my cable a couple years ago, because the stations were just putting out gads of crap. Before then, I mostly watched the news, documentary and other highbrow fare. I respect my mind and the usefulness of it. Integrity of my work and even self depend upon me taking a higher road. Of course, I have always been more about filling my mind with useful information, growing my education and expanding myself—instead of bottom feeding. I really do feel that way about it. It’s so very opportunistic and crass to enjoy these programs and allow oneself to be sucked into their slimy streets. Quite frankly, I think it is done to feed an ego’s need to elevate oneself above others–something I have never found necessary in such a vindictive fashion. My pursuits are for the betterment of self and through that the rest of humanity. I unwind in much more interesting ways—and no, I never feel the need to just turn off by way of spectacle.

Let’s see what some of the other authors had to say about Reality TV after my scathing 2 cents! Before you go, check out Stevie Turner, a great author from the UK.

Stevie Turner hails from East Anglia, UK, and attributes the countryside of her home with giving her the inspiration to write. She has found her unique voice writing the kind of novels women like to read. To date she has self-published seven books, mainly dealing with the darker side of relationships and always a bit of humor. You can find details of her books on the website:

http://www.stevie-turner-author.co.uk/

Stevie is married, with two sons and three grandchildren. If she isn’t writing or working, then you’ll find her walking around her pretty country village.

Return to Stevie’s Blog.

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♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #28

Sex – It’s everywhere, television, even the news, in public, in books.

How do you deal with it? How do you feel about it?

Sex is everywhere. It’s like a free-for-all sexy time that puts ancient Rome to shame. Never before has so much titillation been at the fingertips of so many. Pardon the pun.

The sheer number of romance novels and erotica available chokes out all other genres (again with the naughty puns slipping in there…sigh, I just can’t stop). So how do I deal with sex? Pretty much I am passive about it.

As a feminist, I speak out about the unfair objectification of women (which is even reaching into the way we display young girls). If things were fair between all genders, I don’t think I would care. Ultimately, I really do feel it is the choice of the woman posing or acting (or whatever art they’re performing). However, when she makes that choice, she is inadvertently making the same choice for a lot of other women. How is that? Because men become conditioned to expect the behavior from all women. Celebrities are pretty much ambassadors for their gender, race and art, among other things. Young boys as they grow up have the women in their family and the women they see on television and in movies telling them what women are like. So they end up with a confusing mix of this idea called woman. Then they go out into the world, they think dating takes a couple times and the girl if she likes him will deliver—and should! None of this is ever said to them, it is all passively implied by our culture. And among cis male groups, they trade their stories and it doubles down on the message.

The sad part about this is that young men end up so confused because this is not reality and if they can’t adjust to reality, or get women to adjust to what they want, they become angry, maladjusted individuals and that can spell danger for them and the women they encounter.

Climbing down off of my soap box on that…

I believe that sex should be represented far more fairly and I try to do so in my work. I also make it clear that rape is not sex, something media blurs the lines on—a terrible mistake that leads to further confusion, maladjustment and violence. As an author, I feel it is my duty to make sure that these things are clear to my audience, otherwise I am betraying my own. As a survivor of sexual abuse, it is something very important to me. Consent is sexy because it means your partner is really into it and that means you’re going to really enjoy the moment. Communication between partners is also sexy. If you don’t want your partner to speak, then you need a blow up doll or a sock and not a human partner. It’s not funny to dehumanize others. Honestly, doing so makes you less of a person.

I guess I didn’t climb off my soap box. Let’s move along. (But one more thing…you know what I noticed when looking for images to include in this installment? A lack of diversity. The majority of images are white women in various poses and then straight white couples kissing. That is interesting!)

Sex in movies and television has gotten to be as common place as swearing. It’s in nearly every episode of a series and a movie is said not to be saleable to the adult demographic without some soft core scenes included. This is bunk, considering the film industry is suffering from lower attendance and have been for years. It’s not bringing people in. They’re waiting for the DVD or just sticking with TV. I think this is more due to the same reason people want thinner novels: they don’t have time. The rise of Netflix and Hulu and on demand have taken over the need to go anywhere and humanity is mostly patient, and will wait for something to come to them at their convenience. Besides, they’re working two and three jobs to survive in this modern age—who has the time?

The reason that sex isn’t a sale point in books or movies, or even television, is that it can be cheaply accessed at will on the internet through any device at any time. When someone wants to sit down to a book or movie, they are there for a story, not boobs (although your average 15 year old cis boy is game for boobs whenever you want to show them to him). Knowing this, I am not keen to sex up any of my books. For one, an author writes what they like, and, sometimes they have an audience in mind. They want to get their books out to a broad audience and sex limits that audience.

In writing my work, I gauge the inclusion of sex by how appropriate it is for the characters. Writing a book is like putting together a recipe. You have to have the right amount of everything or the end product is going to be terrible. Sex is a pungent spice, and it can easily overwhelm the dish. Take care with how you not only write it but how you use it in the story. It seriously isn’t all that necessary. For example, a reader commented on my book OP-DEC as being one of the sexiest books he’d ever read and there was NO sex in it. The tension between the characters was evocative of foreplay. Any sex expert will tell you that foreplay is the most important part of engaging in sexual activity. It’s what makes the moment and skipping it can ruin everything. The real driver is emotional investment (even though many will say this is neither here nor there to them).

In general, I avoid overt sex scenes in my work. It’s not worth it. They’re very hard to write in order to make them not sound foolish. Look at the blow back against 5o Shades. The most common feedback is how awful the writing is. If your book is all about the romance or eroticism, you will need to learn new ways to describe the various acts of love. Good luck with that and more power to you. I will stick to SciFi, fantasy, thrillers, history and the literature market.

My research is the most important thing and how I wend a story into history, or imagine new technology and worlds. Many readers agree that story is the most important thing, not sex. As I said before, sex is accessible anywhere in many forms. It’s over saturating our world and young people are becoming jaded by intimacy because of it—before they even become intimate with anyone.

Have you seen this? Why have young people in Japan stopped having sex? Our relationship with others is being affected by the saturation of information. There is something to say about keeping things behind closed doors, sex positive or not. It adds to the titillation factor. Should it be available? Absolutely. All of what we have should remain available. But there should be less emphasis in everything and anything. In other words, it has its place. I used to suggest a .sex extension for websites that trade in pornography and other sexually explicit information, so parents can easily block their children and let them be children. Kids are curious by nature, let’s not set them up to be punished for that. It would be nice too, if we could grow up, here in the States, and teach proper sexual education to our children so they can make informed decisions when that time inevitably arrives.

We also should stop objectifying children and women. Not only is the ‘far too young’ grooming of girls a sick idea—it’s ruining their youth. And objectification of women and girls is just as damaging to men. Most of our lives are spent as adults. We get only a few short formative years and there are enough sickos out there trying to mess that up that they don’t need help from retailers and the entertainment industry.

And that is my take on the saturation of our world with sex. Scroll on down to see how some of the other authors answered the question. On your way, check out Stevie Turner’s Books:

Stevie is married, with two sons and three grandchildren. If she isn’t writing or working, then you’ll find her walking around her pretty country village.