We had a brief discussion today about a ‘media moment’ we’d experienced the last week. I didn’t get a chance to talk about mine, so here I go.
I, like many others around the world, watched the latest instalment of Game of Thrones on Monday. Now, a certain tragic something happened to a certain beloved character, which was immediately picked up by media outlets and newspapers who had nothing better to do.
My dad, who does not watch the show, read about the incident on the Herald Sun and engaged me in conversation about how dumb he thought the whole thing was. With my feels still recovering, I informed him that if he’d watched the episode itself he would’ve felt very differently.
However, I thought this was a good example of how consuming something through different forms of media can mean very different experiences. In the context of a television show in its 6th season, the incident was very touching and significant. Yet, conveyed by a reporter and read briefly on a website before moving on to the next story, it has as very different effect.