Article search redux

April 25, 2010 4:08 PM

Asking for a friend. She's looking for an article she read a few months ago online - possibly in the New Yorker or Atlantic. It talked about how television has replaced books/literature as the medium for social/cultural commentary.

The author argued that the meaning of being well-versed and cultured is not about what's on your bookshelf but about whether you watch the Wire, etc. It might have had a photo of bookshelves accompanying it.

posted by anonymous78 to Media & Arts (2 answers total)

"Twilight of the Books by Caleb Crain is a bit different than what you talk about, I think, but it at least touches on that theme and is super interesting.

"Such a shift would change the texture of society. If one person decides to watch “The Sopranos” rather than to read Leonardo Sciascia’s novella “To Each His Own,” the culture goes on largely as before—both viewer and reader are entertaining themselves while learning something about the Mafia in the bargain. But if, over time, many people choose television over books, then a nation’s conversation with itself is likely to change. A reader learns about the world and imagines it differently from the way a viewer does; according to some experimental psychologists, a reader and a viewer even think differently. If the eclipse of reading continues, the alteration is likely to matter in ways that aren’t foreseeable."
posted by papayaninja at 5:10 PM on April 25, 2010

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but your question reminded me of "When TV Became Art" in New York Magazine last December.
posted by rockstar at 6:18 PM on April 25, 2010