Imagine that you're living in America and a new pop boy band emerges and seizes the eyes and ears of the nation. I'm a little out of the loop right now...who do the kids listen to these days? How about them Jonas brothers? They'll do fine.
Ok, so here come the Jonas brothers, full steam ahead. They're doing concerts. But that's only just the start. So you're watching TV (one of two-dozen or so channels that are available to you), and behold - the Jonas brothers are guest starring on a sketch comedy show! SNL? Sure, why not.
Now imagine that they're on SNL every week. Good, good. Oh, look - there're on Oprah, too. And the Price is Right, and Jeopardy. Hell, even Wheel of Fortune. Not only that, but you get to watch them watching Emeril and Rachel Ray cook up a storm. Then you get to actually see them eat that food. But imagine that Emeril only makes pasta, every week (albeit with different types of sauce), and Rachel makes nothing but soup. Great. Next, you watch them watching and reacting to the news.
Now imagine this kind of programming never ends, for weeks, months, or perhaps even years, until the public is finally burned out on the Jonas brothers.
Oh, but it's not so bad. There are a couple dozen other personalities floating around the same shows. Let's say Lady Gaga, Carrot Top, Snooki, Arnold, Bill Nye, anyone else who has some unique or ridiculous look or manner (yes, bow ties count as wacky). No one normal, please. Then throw them together and make a show out of it. Think Hollywood Squares, except this accounts for 90% of what's on TV.
So we have music, and TV...but don't forget that movie the Jonas brothers just made! You know, the romantic comedy. They're so talented, after all - why wouldn't you want to see them on the big screen, too?
Excellent. All that's left is to give them a show that runs for 8 hours straight on New Year's Day. God bless
Same group doing everything everywhere all the time. Mind numbingly boring and that's just my peripheral view.
ReplyDeleteBingo. Thanks dropping a comment!
ReplyDeleteSpot on!
ReplyDeleteBut, but, but... if she's hot, it's alright, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteWell, now you know why our trends are so short-term. Fashion, music, actors...it's pretty much all about promotion. But the good ones end up staying for years :-)
ReplyDeleteJake - Heh...the hot girls don't seem to appear as much, according to my observations. It's the guy pop stars and comedians who are the worst.
ReplyDeleteKaori - Yeah, but a lot of the best seem to be older elements. My favorite Japanese actors are all older and aren't constantly appearing on TV and being over-exposed(not anymore anyway)...Watanabe Ken, Yamazaki Tsutomu, Beat Takeshi...
Sounds like Arashi! haha
ReplyDeleteHeh, could be. I specifically had SMAP in mind, but applies to many idols and singers!
ReplyDeleteahahah well I think I would love that (: In Japan only of course. atleast Japanese celebrities are a pleasure to watch, even at their wackiest, but american celebrities are just trashy in my opinion. a disgrace. :/ especially lady gaga and snooki :/ i'd never want to watch them on anything.
ReplyDeleteHey Emily, thanks for commenting! True - I do think there are more trashy celebrities in America.
ReplyDelete"A pleasure to watch" is relative, though. In a lot of cases pleasures are better in limited doses. Wouldn't want to eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I'm sure they were all over the TV when they were younger. And if not, probably because the TV wasn't the main source for information back then...maybe radios and theater?
ReplyDeletePlus when it comes to SMAP, you need to understand the Johnny's empire. Very powerful dude there.
But great post and I really liked the way you explained it :-)
Yeah, you could be right. I honestly don't know enough to be sure...I just get the feeling Japan has become a lot more about advertising by super-saturation in recent years. I guess it works; just turns me off.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kaori!
It's funny, I've been here for 7 years, but it was only recently that this stuff stopped bothering me.
ReplyDeleteHey Billy, thanks for commenting. Guess I need to stick around another few years to get used to it. =P
ReplyDeleteWow, and I thought temporarity celebrities were overexposed here in the US.
ReplyDeleteI hope the tradeoff is that you're not exposed to constant celebrity "news" shows giving every detail- real or imagined -of the flavor of the month's personal lives? (I base this on nothing but hope- it's the only thing I can imagine making that kind of media blitz livable...)