Chapter 41 Summary

In Chapter 41, Television is A Dramatic Medium by Martin Esslin, he discuss the amount of TV the average American watches and why we are attracted to the television over movies and plays in theaters. Esslin says that the average man watches over 21 hours a week and a woman will watch over 25 hours of television in one week. We as a society are more attracted to the television because it is more intimate then other communication media. The theater and movies are shown in a public area away from the audience. Television on the other hand is intimate with the viewer, people sometime watches it by themselves and the actors are right by the viewer. Also the intimate dramatics of the TV shows goes with the narration principle that was discussed in chapter 40.