The least apparent symbol on our project was the arrangement of boxes itself. We arranged our 4 boxes into the shape of a television, and each box contained a different aspect of television and society. The arrangement of the four boxes is similar to that of the infamous show The Brady Bunch. In the show The Brady Bunch, the opening theme show depicted an arrangement of 9 squares, each with a different member of the family.
We also put the characters of Sesame Street in order to symbolize the importance of educational television for children. Shows that were also educational included Scooby-Doo, which was another stuffed animal that we put on our box. These two shows, among many others, including Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, were considered to be educational. While watching the many adventures that occured in these shows, a "lesson" was presented in each episode that would emphasize the importance of a certain topic. For example, Sesame Street decided to promote health, so they made Cookie Monster go on a diet. These shows were important in shaping the ideals of children in the 1970's-1990's.
We put a clock in one of the boxes in order to symbolize 60 Minutes, which was an influential and important news program. Television was one of the primary sources of news for people as society began to move at a quicker pace and people wanted information fast. 60 Minutes was origninally showed during prime time, beginning at 7 o'clock, which is when most families were home and watching TV. Another popular prime time show was Wheel of Fortune, which was a game show that families watched and participated in together. On our box we put a mini Wheel of Fortune game consule to represent the popularity of this show.
Other items on the box included an old TV remote, and old VHS tape, as well as a pair of antennae. These two items were used to symbolize our society's progress in technology. The difference between the remote from the 1970's and the ones that we see today is very prominent. Also, we rarely see television sets that have antennae anymore. Now we have plasma screen TV sets with satellite technology in order to recieve television channels. The level of sophistication is astounding, and it really makes you think and feel greatful for the technology and level of intelligence that we have today in society.
In addition to the items mentioned, we put clothing as the backdrop of our box in order to represent the influence of TV on fashion as well. People were influenced by what the TV celebreties were wearing and as TV fashion evolved, so did the fashion in society. The placement of the clothings, in the back of the box, also symbolizes how the influence and change was noticible, but it wasn't very prominent. Fashion slowly evolved in order to fit in with the trends that television portrayed, thus we placed the clothing in the backdrop of the box.
We also placed two quotes on our box that symbolized the media's influence on society. The 1970's was a time for change. People's traditional ideals about religion, race, gender issues, and family were evolving, and television was no exception to the trend. The famous black comedian Bill Cosby was a prominent entertainer during the time, and his fame showed society's change in attitude towards race issues. Mr. Cosby said "It isn't a matter of black is beautiful as much as it is white is not all that's beautiful. " This showed that people were becoming more open and accepting of new ideas, and Mr. Cosby's case in specific, they were becoming more accepting of racial differences. Our second quote was a quote from the Sesame Street Workshop, which showed the influence of educational TV on the ideals of society. The quote explained their decision to promote health, thus leading to Cookie Monster's decision to go on a diet. These two quotes show the great change that TV brought upon society.
In order to find our found art, we had to search in the old dusty boxes that are stacked deep within our houses. Many of the items that we found were came upon by pure chance. We talked to our parents and went to our parent's work places to find the objects. For example, the TV antennae/rabbit ears were lent to us by one of our parent's co-workers.
For next year's class, I strongly recomment doing an abundant amount of research about a variety of themes before choosing a topic. Finding the items is not an easy task, and inquiring about borrowing items takes a long time. My advice would be to find your items in advance so you can find items that are meaningful and important to your topic.
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