I'm reading a book titled Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter by Steven Johnson. It is interesting...But I especially like how it is so current. Here is the part that struck me the most:
"A contemporary drama like The West Wing, on the other hand, constantly embeds mysteries into the present-tense events: you see characters performing actions or discussing events about which crucial information has been deliberately withheld. Appropriately enough, the extended opening sequences of the West Wing pilot revolved around precisely this technique: you're introduced to all the major characters (Toby, Josh, CJ) away from the office, as they each receive the enigmatic message that "POTUS has fallen from a bicycle." West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin - who amazingly enough managed to write every single episode through season four - deliberately withholds the information that all these people work at the White House, and that POTUS stands for "President of the United States," until the very last second before the opening credits run. Granted, a viewer tuning in to a show called The West Wing probably suspected that there was going to be some kind of White House connextion, and a few political ficionados might have already been familiar with the acronym POTUS. But that opening sequence established a structure that Sorkin used in every subsequent episode, usually decorated with deliberately opaque information. The open question posed by these sequences is not: How will this turn out in the end? The question is: What's happening now?
...
Sorkin's shows, on the other hand, are the narratice equivalent of fog machines. You're supposed to be in the dark. Anyone who has warched more than a handful of West Wing episodes closely will know the feeling; scene after scene refers to some clearly crucial piece of information - the cast members will ask each other if the saw "the interview" last night, or they'll make enigmatic allusions to the McCarver case - and after the sixth reference, you'll find yourself wishing you could rewind the tape to figure out what they're talking about, assuming you've missed something. And they you realize that you're supposed to be confused.
...
The dialogue on shows like The West Wing and ER, on the other hand, doesn't talk down to its audience. It rushes by, the words accelerating in syn with the high-speed tracking shots that glide through the corridors and operating rooms. The characters talk faster in these shows, but the truly remarkable thing about the dialogue is not purely a matter of speed, it's the willingness to immerse the audience in information that most viewers won't understand. (p75-80)"
Huh. Mike and I love The West Wing and I think that explains a lot of it. It does make you think, and guess, and try and figure out what the heck they are talking about. Thanks for writing about our favorite show, Steven Johnson!
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
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