Season 3, Episode 2: Idiot Box History
Zombies, and Kaijus, and Gingerbread houses, oh my. Frank heads back to Geppi’s to look at what we watch, and read in a whole different way…a historical way.
Frank's Thoughts
Years and years ago, when I was a bright-eyed freshmen in college, I took a class that changed how I looked at entertainment forever. It was a class that focused on how you can look at entertainment as a way of tracking cultural history.
We looked at horror novels from the past, as well as horror films from the present, to see that we, as a culture, put our fears into the creative work we make. From that class on, I always look at our television shows, our movies, as a way of tracking history.
This was only reenforced when I stepped into Geppi’s. I got to see entertainment dating back a century or more. I was able to look at these artifacts and discern what was the hopes and fears of the time period. I looked at entertainment…movies, television, comics…in a whole new light.
It’s kind of amazing that sometimes something that is considered an idiot box might be smarter than originally considered…something that might be history.
Related links
- Geppi's Entertainment Museum web site
- Wikipedia article on Geppi's Entertainment Museum
- Geppi's Entertainment Museum on Yelp
- Wikipedia article on "Godzilla"
- Wikipedia article on "Dawn of the Dead"
- Wikipedia article on "Grimms' Fairy Tales"
- "Zombiemania: 80 Movies to Die for" by Arnold Blumberg and Andrew Hershberger
- Wikipedia: "George A. Romero"
- Wikipedia: "Lucio Fulci"
- What Culture: "Lucio Fulci: His 10 Best Films"
- Complete interview with Andy Hershberger