Fourth Core Post

While reading the chapter TV While You Wait this week I was reminded of a particularly horrifying experience in LAX where I had to wait over two hours in line to go through immigration (the reasons why were unclear, as they tend to be, and non-naturalized US citizens were particularly upset about the circumstances). During this seemingly unending amount of time, there were several television screens playing a short video welcoming us into the United States, and California specifically. The video showed families enjoying outdoor activities, scenic locations from around the state, and popular tourist attractions in LA. I also noticed similar videos when I flew into Mexico City, where the screens both in immigration and on any transportation within the airport played a loop of different government sponsored content, which showcased how state agencies had helped Mexico recover from the recent earthquakes.

McCarthy tells us, while discussing Planet Hollywood, that “the presence of the screen can also serve a variety of disciplinary agendas, demonstrating the institutional conception of TV as a highly flexible instrument for the management of the public and it’s time” (216) She also makes a note of looping video, such as that found in waiting rooms, is “heightening, rather than diminishing, awareness of the duration of the wait for those who sit in its presence” (209). Knowing this, the content of these screens function as both a way for the government/nation to advertise itself, managing not just the time of the visitors, but also the way in which the country is perceived, as well as existing in direct contradiction to the circumstances of the public watching. It is hard to believe your government is working smoothly when you have spent 2+ hours waiting to enter, or when you can still see broken walls and buildings from the window of your airport bus. I mentioned the disgruntled non-naturalized US citizens because they clearly noticed (and loudly expressed) their dissatisfaction at having to wait for a process they had expected to be easy and fast (this also goes back to McCarthy’s opening arguments about who has to wait, and for what, and how that question usually falls along socio-economic lines). What I find interesting about waiting in these spaces is that they are among a few where we experience the state addressing its visitors and citizens directly, as well as recreating the respective nation in an simple and digestible manner. It would be interesting to also explore what footage exactly these videos choose to show as reflective of the construction of the nation’s identity. Thus, I wonder what new questions about spectatorship, power, and socio-cultural affects these spaces offer.