On television

A week ago today, Duke English professor Tom Ferraro gave a talk to a small circle of roughly 30 students on the subject of Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film “Pulp Fiction.” Embarking on an all-encompassing explanation of the film, Ferraro first ventured into the racial and sexual overtones of the work, as well as their roots in earlier cinema. He then dissected entirely the varying layers of interaction between all of the seemingly unconnected characters present. He even succeeded in creating something of a literary triangle between “Pulp Fiction,” the television series “The Sopranos” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel “The Scarlet Letter.” In short, Ferraro left no stone unturned.

However, the most interesting, not to mention pertinent, point that Ferraro made had little to do with “Pulp Fiction” itself. In an extended aside concerning “The Sopranos,” the “aficionado of the great American stuff,” he hinted that the most riveting thing going on in art today, and perhaps in the history of the arts, is the modern television series.

At first, such an assertion might seem preposterous. Having grown up being reprimanded for watching too much TV and hearing terms like “couch potato” employed to tear us away from the television, such a paradigm shift is not a simple one. However, a little time spent thinking over the examples helps to prove the professor’s point. It’s also important to keep in mind that Ferraro is most likely excluding a large portion of mindless television programming from this position of esteem.

Perhaps the most obvious example of a running television show that opens itself up to this type of analytical scrutiny would be ABC’s “Lost.” Although the show is able to stand simply on its compelling storyline, one would be hard pressed to argue that there is a lack of substance existing below the surface here. In fact, there is such an overabundance of characters bearing the names of historically significant figures that it seems, at times, almost arbitrary. Whether it is or is not actually proves to be irrelevant. The point is that the show places such an intense focus on allusions, as well as motifs, that its viewing feels more like an evening with a good book than time spent in front of the tube. Any English section here on campus could spend a considerable amount of time excavating all there is to be unearthed here, and could call it time well spent.

But English class analysis isn’t a prerequisite for all of the great television going on right now. Take, for instance, the “Friday Night Lights” series spun off of the 2004 movie. The show leaves out a lot of intellectualism and allusion in order to devote more time to character development, making it a little bit more accessible and appreciable to the lesser-read audience. What results is something of a modern Middle American epic, an in-depth exploration of the themes of everyday life and redemption as they appear to a large portion of the country. For fans of works like Bruce Springsteen’s song “Jungleland,” also touched on by Ferraro, there is much to be found here.

The list, of course, goes on to include many more than these two semi-opposing programs. There’s “Mad Men” and “Huff,” “Weeds” and “Hung,” “Six Feet Under” and “Arrested Development,” and that’s not even anywhere close to all of them. Basically, there’s something good out there for everybody, no matter what you’re looking to get out of it. The important thing, though, is that we are in the heat of the movement and we should appreciate it as such. It won’t be too long before some of us are in Tom Ferraro’s shoes, speaking to students about the intricacies of whatever’s airing on Showtime right now.

Which brings us full circle and right back to the professor’s talk. Before moving away from the subject of television and back into the veritable world of “Pulp Fiction,” Ferraro raised his most resonating question of the night. He told us that many years ago, people wrote novels. At least that’s what they did if they were keeping current. After that, the movers and shakers made music, and, when we were young, they made movies. Now, as we’ve just seen, people are making television shows. Having piqued our interest in television and put into each of our heads daydreams about how we’d play with the genre, Ferraro pulled the rug right out from under us. He told us that our generation wouldn’t just make more television, but would make something else entirely. Exactly what, however, he didn’t say. That’s just something we’ll have to figure out for ourselves.

Chris Bassil is a Trinity sophomore. His column runs every other Wednesday.