Through gazing at my first tv, a 19" Zenith television set, I grew fond of sound and moving images in a way that would change how I see the world from then on. Ways in which my family's zenith changed how I see film today was through watching Disney movies, bonding with my Dad watching cable, and the general atmosphere a TV lends to a living room.
When I was small, living in my parents' El Sobrante duplex, when my parents still lived together, I would watch our Zenith TV a fair amount. A typical day began with me sitting on my Papa's lap in his big leather chair and share an apple with him while watching news or some inappropriate(for a small child) violent film. My mornings were especially important to me because it was the time of day I would watch cable with my father and bond as any father and daughter should. Come evening the same thing would happen, but instead of eating an apple it was generally potato chips or dinner meaning TV had the scent of those things associated with it. Whenever I smell doritos now I think of lounging around watching TV.
Its funny how memory works. I remember recording shows we wanted to watch at a later date and thinking it was pretty awesome. The coolest thing though, was being able to simultaneously tape one show and watch another so you don't miss anything! I felt like I could bend time or be a time traveller like in back to the future or something. Then there were TV parties when my parents had their friends come over with their kids and the whole bunch of us would watch TV or some football game and then switch to a romantic comedy.
The atmosphere of my livingroom reaked of love, fun and family and having a TV blare in the backround of any encounter still gives me a pleasant feeling of induced relaxation that never fails. Whenever I'm home alone for a long period of time and I start to feel lonely, I turn on the TV while I do other activities. This action, understandably, makes me feel less alone and more at peace/frantic/depressed.
Another past time I used to have was to watch disney movies when my parents were busy making dinner or other household things. My favorite was the little mermaid, mostly for the songs. I loved to sing along with everything. And I mean Everything. But I'll get to that in a moment. With the little mermaid, I got obsessed. I watched it on my Zenith everyday, maybe more. Ariel was my life; the world I escaped to whenever I got bored. I adored that VHS. And through my Zenith TV I could imagen I was Ariel. I was born with red hair, despite the fact it fell out and I grew in blonde and it gradually turned brown. But once upon a time I had red hair, just like Ariel. When I was five, that knowledge alone made me feel so special and courageous. That VHS made a huge imact on who I am now. And the only way I could have seen it was through my Zenith TV set. So, that is how my Zenith really changed my world. Of course the other prior mentioned uses did also contribute to how my TV imacted me.
Over time, my Zenith died, but its specific importance wasn't that significant. Just the TV in general was important. My Zenith was the first TV I had. But the concept of the TV is what stayed with me. I loved staring at a screen and immersing yourself in another world. Its almost like reading novels, but this way you see all of it in bright colors and get the sense of texture. Watching shows on nicolodeon as I grew up, and the disney channel at times (regretably) but most of all it was nickolodeon, nick at nite, and abc shows and movies on amc. I can't tell you how much I adore nick at nite the way it used to be. The idea of transforming myself from the here and now into the 50's as in lavern and shirley, happy days and I dream of genie. I miss those shows so much. Now CSI, House, Scrubs and other shows have replaced those. So the love of chapter installments each week in episode form has stayed with me from my childhood. It was and is the TV age. Although, now the internet may take over.
To gather all this to a close, I began with bonding over apples watching early morning TV with my father, moved on to talk about the atmosphere my TV created, and proceeded to talk about how my experience with the concept of the TV has impacted me over time. The age of the TV has impacted my life in a big way and the idea of diving into a different world for a half hour, an hour or two had changed the way I see the world. My imagination was ignited from my experience with my Zenith TV and I'm so glad it was.
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