December  2009

1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebews 12: 1 & 2

The Holy Bible

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people.

...The criticism of religion disillusions man, so that he will think, act, and fashion his reality like a man who has discarded his illusions and regained his senses, so that he will move around himself as his own true Sun. Religion is only the illusory Sun which revolves around man as long as he does not revolve around himself.

Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right   Karl Marx

As the title of this experimental ethnography suggests, this project asks the viewer to consider what television cannot say... indeed, what television is unable to say. 

In this sports video we discover a U.S. football game in progress.  The protagonist is University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, arguably the best and most recognized football player in U.S. collegiate sports history.  But this is far from the entire story.  In return, Tim asks us to also consider yet another subtext.

During games, Tebow wears eye patches that he regularly inscribes with biblical references; in this instance from the Book of Hebrews 12, verses 1 and 2.  In this final home game, Tebow is well aware of the national TV exposure his message carries and communicates.  He openly proselytizes his Christian faith on his face, as public acknowledgement of his faith.  This, of course, is not new.  Others have done as much in other venues. 

What did, however, strike me as important is the way TV so eagerly and explicitly helps Tebow broadcast this message.  The final fifteen minutes of the game are in effect a celebration of Tebow’s cult-of-personality.  Tebow is invoked in almost every sentence of narration.  Both his family and their beliefs are repeatedly showcased.  Announcers read on-air his selected bible passages, correct  their mistake and read more still.  Tebow is held up as a singular model, an exemplar, of all that must be represented during this event.  Tebow ensures Christian God is a co-pilot to every reference and visual close-up.

...NOW.... consider this.  What if Tim Tebow had inscribed something else on his eye patches?  What if witchcraft pentagrams had been inscribed instead?  Or maybe an anti-semitic slogan?  Or a corporate logo?  Or his personal website address?  Or simply the words “Karl Marx”?  What would be the reaction of Tebow’s teammates, the fans, the announcers, or CBS?  Would there be continuous close-up shots of Tebow’s face?  Would network staffers quickly ‘google’ quotes from Karl Marx for the announcers to read aloud?  Could TV unquestioningly produce these alternative subtext stories, too?  Would we allow our TV to do so?

No.  Television by its very nature can only tell certain kinds of stories, because we humans make our TV that way.  Sponsorship allows only particular narratives.  Technological production makes particular pictures.  Fans and viewers are more likely to swallow heros who are constructed in particular flavors, through particular means.  Money, power, and ratings flow mostly toward particular viral memes that adhere to particular agendas. 

But there is no exact formula.  For instance, we love to love “Pilot Sully’s” heroics in the Hudson RIver as much as we love to hate Tiger Woods’ infidelities.  Madonna could provocatively wear a Bible verse on TV to agitate for fame, but Sinead O’Conner must never rip a photo of the Pope.... at least until that is proven to be commercially effective.  Basketball player, Dennis Rodman, can narcissistically tattoo his entire body to agitate for lucrative TV recognition... but we’ve long forgotten Smith and Carlos’ political visual-protest witnessed globally from Mexico City in 1968. 

TV voraciously consumes, prioritizes, and then regurgitates certain kinds of stories over others.  Imagine if President Obama had actually run for election as a Muslim on TV?  It is as impossible as imagining an over-weight, unattractive socialist with a lisp as president.  It is as impossible as imagining  “Karl Marx” eye patches.  American television is both unwilling and unable to tell certain stories.  On the other hand, Tim Tebow’s story is perfectly delicious to the idea of TV.  People just like us (actors, producers, and audience) make it this way.

Thus, in this video, I simply ‘photoshopped’ Tebow’s eye patches, and then I overlaid the actual late-game broadcast alongside typical TV commercials randomly ordered.  Why?  For contemplation, because all three of these videos combine to tell very similar stories.  Marketing, consumption, celebrity, technology, religion, etc., all eagerly conflate and conspire within the production of television.  The better our stories align themselves to TV’s construct, the easier these stories tell themselves to us.  Tebow’s technique and agenda are a perfect fit for broadcast television.  Maybe critical media ethnography can help us to see our own doings.

Other stories, those counter to this tacit agenda, can never be told.  Indeed, some stories simply are unable to be told on TV.   We can’t allow them to be made.   Sorry, Karl.

TV SPORTS STORIES