“This Is Us” is a very popular TV show filled with drama and twists and turns in the narrative. It does something that you rarely see. The program shows the viewer what is going on now, then takes you back to what characters were like in a former life when one of the main characters, Jack, is seen as a young father, and then takes you back even further to when Jack himself was a young person before his marriage. They don’t stop there but show the viewer what the family is like in the future as well.
Some episodes focus on the two stages of life of the characters before bringing you up to the present. You are challenged to figure out where you are in what part of the narrative. Most TV program flashbacks just cover present and past and are easier to follow. Sometimes I feel I am not smart enough to follow the pattern in “This Is Us”, until finally I can identify where we are in the narrative.
I saw one of the advertisements for CNN which said, “CNN was made for this war in Ukraine.” It does make you feel that you are right in the trenches with the terrible atrocities that are occurring to the people in this war as well as the high drama. CNN also shows us those who are fleeing the land and are literally taking everything that they have in suitcases or on their backs as they make the courageous trip to the West. Just like “This Is Us” the news people focus on making important connections with the people who are enduring life in Ukraine now.
The reporters who are based in the war zones are courageous people, but they and the people back home in the studios seem too excited about their coverage. They compete to see who can make the war come alive for the TV audience. Wolf Blitzer’s common line is, “Stay with us. Breaking news to follow.” I am using CNN as an example realizing that the other news stations with the exception of the BBC are doing the same thing. Fox builds their viewer numbers with outrageous claims by the likes of Tucker Carlson.
My concern is that the drive for ratings seems to me to be creating a kind of voyeurism for those who watch their coverage. Some of the questions that are asked of the Ukrainian people are cringe worthy, “How do you feel about what is happening in the Ukraine?” “How do you feel that you may not see your husband again?” Some of their reporters’ questions make me uncomfortable for the person interviewed. They are intrusive to get the story.
They didn’t invent this trend. Edward R. Morrow did years ago with his TV program, “See It Now” which was first broadcast on TV on November 18, 1951.
I recall on one occasion when a friend of mine moved to Beirut to be part of a school there where there was a good deal of civil arrest going on. I was watching CNN to see what was happening on the ground as they depicted the terror of this unsettled part of the world. I emailed my friend and asked him how he and his wife were doing in light of everything that was occurring in their current location in Beirut. In a short period of time, I got an email back from him where he wrote, “Jim, thanks for the email, but I just got home from playing 18 holes of golf.” CNN was shaping the narrative to keep their viewers glued to the TV.
You don’t have to do any fancy editing to know that the Ukrainian people as a whole are suffering. There is no reason to focus on any area because most areas are a terrible place. But here is my ethical question. “Will we hear from Lester Holt on NBC Nightly News and CNN in a few weeks or years from now to see what the rebuilding looks like in Ukraine?” Remember the focus on the communities that were destroyed by tornados. What Is happening there now? Recall the focus of the news on the pandemic. The virus hasn’t gone away. What is happening now?
CNN and the NBC evening news need to be instruments of a new form of hope that is more enduring if they are going to emotionally impact their viewers. The answer is not to double down on the catastrophe but to show us what “rebuilding” looks like. Certainly, we see the grit of the people, but will we see how they have recovered in the future? NBC has this nice upbeat story at the end of their news to “lift our spirits” as Lester Holt introduces something that “will inspire you.” It is not enough!
Back to “This Is Us.” What keeps viewers glued to the screen is the three-tier flashback, past, present, and flash forward approach. You see the devastation to the family when Jack dies in a fire, but you see how the family manages to go on in the flash back and flash forward mode. It is gripping and has a great number of viewers. I think that people including me watch it because it doesn’t dwell only in the now, but shows you where the family was and where they are today as well as what their future holds.
This approach is the essence of all religious experience. We don’t dwell on Christ on the cross to the exclusion of the whole story. We live our days with His resurrection abiding in our soul. We are empowered by the results from the Gospel message and how it relates to our life now. The same would be true for Judaism where we wouldn’t stay in the Sinai for forty years but we focus on the promised land. In Islam, we don’t stay with Mohammed’s death. We look to see how the Koran empowers people today.
We don’t forget the cross, the desert, or the death of a leader, but we are given a vision of what life can be now by following those religious moments to empower us today. We constantly flash back to those seminal moments in the past, and draw our inspiration from them for our hope right now and in the future. We operate from a three-tier thought system of flashbacks, the now, and hope for the future.
I am afraid that if CNN and other media were covering these three religions, they would just focus on what was happening now and forget those definitive moments in the past and the hope that there is in the future by flashback, the present, and flash forward. Jesus, Moses, and Mohammed, past, present, and future assist us in seeing the whole picture. This is the true inspiration that has kept the hopes of the world inspired and alive to this very moment.
I believe that one of the central questions in life is, “How did I get here from there?” That’s what “This Is Us” does that makes for a powerful story of how a family rebuilds their lives. Whether it is a pandemic, war, or tornado, TV news could give us inspiration by showing us the power of rebuilding our lives from the “crush of the ashes” of despair. Media should remember why religion is still the most powerful way to be a source of inspiration and hope. That is something that the writers of “This Is Us” know. It is not a news cycle approach. It is showing us where and how people have rebuilt their lives as an example of inspiration and hope. Focus on the now certainly, but do as religions have done by seeing our source of power in the past and converting it to living lives that help one another today and the possibility in the future. It will assist us with that important question, “How do I get here from there.”
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