4th Week - Graphical Representation of Early TV

http://www.wannabeswede.com/dfl_009_Senator_Joe_McCarthy.jpg

I chose the above image to represent my overall feeling about early television for a few different reasons. The main reason is, I feel like McCarthy and his "red list" played such a huge role in the development of early TV programming and the way in which shows were broadcast. I feel like this was very well portrayed through the movie "Good Night, and Good Luck", and the fear felt by Americans around the world was obviously very real, and for good reason. Many actors, actress', set crew, etc. were fired due to McCarthy's false communist accusations, and therefore it couldn't help but not to make a difference in what was shown on TV, and by whom. McCarthy used his reputation, his beliefs, and the manipulation of this grand communication tool to try and force people to conform. Even such popular shows as "I Love Lucy" became threatened due to his allegations of Lucille Ball. It seemed to many I'm sure, that no one, nor any TV program was safe from his opinionated allegations.
I also felt this picture, being in B&W, best portrayed early TV due to filming of early programming being filmed in this manner. I think it also provides a good overall feel of the era through the camera equipment shown being used.