Media Ethnography

My friend Paul watched MythBusters last night, and I talked with him briefly during the show and then interviewed him over the phone afterwards regarding his viewing experience. MythBusters happens to be his favorite show, so he was relatively open to talking about it. First, I asked him why he watches TV, and he told me that he primarily watches to “zone.” Last night’s show was actually a rerun that he had seen before, they were testing whether or not it is possible for someone to do a 360 turn on a swing set, and as he was describing to me the various methods that were attempted, his voice escalated with excitement as he built up to the part where they attached a jet engine to a dummy and got it to do a 360 degree spin around the swing set. He was laughing and guffawing as he told me this, and I asked if he laughed out loud as he watched it alone. Yes. This doesn’t surprise me, he is a fairly genial type of guy, and his method of “zoning” is relatively interactive; I’ve seen him watch shows or movies in the past where he laughs louder than everyone else in the room, and he has a habit of looking around the room when he laughs or makes a funny remark to see if other people appreciated what he said. He also mentioned that another reason he watches television is because he is either interested in the content of the show, or is interested in being with the people who he is watching it with.

I asked Paul what he is thinking as he is watching a show like Myth Busters. He told me “I am thinking: Man, those guys have the best job in the world.” He also told me that he would buy MythBusters on DVD. I know that he has a couple of seasons worth of the Simpsons on DVD and asked if he rewatches shows that he has seen before. He told me that he generally doesn’t, but he keeps them in case he is having people over who might want to watch something. What kind of shows does he generally watch? When he has friends over, he said that he usually has some sort of sports on, but he also watches some late night comedians, keeps up with the Simpsons through reruns (he used to tape the Simpsons, because he works when they show the first time), and watches some of the reality traveling shows and Whose Line is it anyway. I asked if he talks through the program or if he prefers to have quiet so he can here, and he said that it totally depends on how interested he is in the show – he might even “shush” people if he is interested in the program, but if it’s something he’s seen it before, he doesn’t mind as much if they talk.

I have known Paul for several years, and I think that it would be safe to say that his responses are fairly accurate. He does not pattern his life around the television; in fact, he has no real regular viewing schedule. He doesn’t seem to be heavily influenced by the marketing strategies, his clothes are not brand name nor do they often fit in with recent trends, and the rest of his shopping is generally off brand or generic. However, he does like to talk about what he has seen on TV and this influences a moderate amount of his conversation in social settings, laughing about the latest myth that was busted, or the irony of a recent Simpson’s episode. Paul works as a youth pastor at a small church, and he uses examples on a somewhat regular basis in some of his Wednesday night messages and seems to find that he can connect with some of the students when he talks about shows that they might also watch.