Page 88 - Cultural Change and Ordinary Life

Capitals and the use of time 79

With respect to more interactive TV technologies, video-recording
machines were regularly used and time shifting of programmes played a role
in the development of routines that were structured by the respondents
rather than being determined by the scheduling decisions of the television
companies. A range of uses had developed, for example, ‘by cutting too-
long programmes into handy chunks, for “caching” information which they
needed, for storing video “cuttings” on items of importance to them, for estab-
lishing international friendships, and for shifting and checking material to
protect children’ (Gauntlett and Hill 1999: 171). Some people had developed
video collections and these tended to be ‘cult TV’ for younger people and
‘quality’ TV for older people. Most people were optimistic about the future
development of television technologies, though there were concerns about
new technologies in terms of ‘cost, aesthetics and available time’ (p. 171).
One of the many strengths of the research that Gauntlett and Hill report
on was that it produced some detailed findings on the retired and elderly – a
group of relatively heavy television viewers. It is important to recognize, as
Gauntlett and Hill do, that this is a diverse group and that there are a range of
different responses to retirement. Some older people reported to being self-
conscious about watching TV, and this ‘stems partly from having grown up in
a world where television was not part of everyday life’ (p. 207). As people get
older they tend to spend more time with TV and this may be caused by finan-
cial and physical restrictions, but older people also thought that TV enabled
them to keep in touch with the world. Their tastes varied but they tended to
prefer ‘gentle’ and ‘pleasant’ TV.
Gauntlett and Hill illuminate some significant findings with respect to
gender and TV. In so doing they comment on some earlier influential research
on this topic. Particularly important in this respect has been the work of Morley
(1986). They report that many people rejected the idea that men and women
have different tastes in TV programmes. Moreover, that many men reported
their enjoyment of soap operas on TV. This goes against much conventional
academic and lay wisdom. Some women felt that the range of women repre-
sented on TV should be extended. A minority of respondents objected to
the depiction of gay and lesbian lifestyles and this was combined in some
cases with expressions of racism. In households with at least one adult man
and woman, decisions about what to watch are made, in the main, jointly,
although in a small minority of cases men made such decisions. In these
households with a male and female adult the man normally retained posses-
sion of the remote control for the television, but this did not mean that he
actually controlled the viewing.
Dealing with one of the ‘classic’ debates with respect to TV viewing,
Gauntlett and Hill address the vexed issue of violence on TV (see also, for an
excellent ‘debunking’ of a number of conventional arguments, Barker and
Brooks 1998). They show that viewers distinguish between fictional and fac-
tual violence and that they are more concerned about fictional violence than
other forms of material that are often seen as controversial. Respondents
believe that children should be protected and they are in favour of the televi-
sion watershed, which prevents the screening of such material before 9 pm in
the evening. However, there was disagreement among respondents about what