Controversial plays highlight the manipulation of fan perceptions. Different views and story lines for different audiences and loyalties. A lot of power in the hands of editors and commentators. An inherent feature of television is its capacity to exploit and manipulate viewer perceptions for its own purposes. We may not always view television presentations as fictional manipulation. But, what it presents is far from a clear, accurate, or fair accounting of events.
A few years ago, the NFL show chose to cast Richard Sherman as a villain during the Sherman/Crabtree series. It was a time when Crabtree's legacy team was beyond reproach. Unfortunately, it resulted in the marking of Richard Sherman as a villain for the duration of his NFL career. In many ways he has excepted his fate and endeavored to have fun with it along the way. Manipulative editors are so accustom to using Sherman as a villain, they pounce on any opportunity to shape the next dastardly episode for the NFL nation at large. To that ends, they edit as they please to project the image their script demands. The deciding Julio Jones - Richard Sherman play, where the hand/slap to the face and head of Sherman was edited out of the beginning of a (NFL network) replay and patched with a passive release by Jones copied from another play is a prime example of viewer manipulation. It spotlights what NFL networks are capable of toward manipulating perceptions. It is well known that television audiences respond to good guys verses bad guys shows. NFL films and NFL networks actively engage in toying with that phenomenon.
The photo Field Gulls posted last week regarding whether a receiver got two feet down or not should have been instructive for anyone unfamiliar with the soda straw effect. I'm not sure everyone picked up on that example of edit manipulation. It was a soda straw spoof that enlarged a photographed foot of a receiver and a foot of a defender. It was accompanied with a question of as to if the receiver got both feet down for a touchdown. Cropping and enlarging an isolated portion of a photo is a means of manipulation that anyone anywhere can participate in. That was the message from that Field Gulls post and exercise.
The NFL show we are presented with and the action on the field is not one in the same. Compounding that disparity for the fan is a similar disparity among officials. What officials on the field see and what monitors back in New York see are from different vantage points. Too often, the monitors in New York have become the game day editors of NFL field officials ..... acting out a similar function like that of editors/directors working in network television trailers and studios. IMO, officials in New York often add to the problem of game manipulation and outcome. More pointedly, they add to fan confusion and frustration.
The reality is that Richard Sherman is among those who have been cast as a villain by the NFL show. He is saddled with that role for the balance of his NFL career. Fortunately, Richard has a coach and mentor with a lot of experience with how to handle being tagged and cast in the role of a villain. So.... Richard is in a good place. As a Seahawk fan, I can also ignore the constant noise. And when opportunity presents itself, chose to have a little fun with it ..... or not. That's something each of us can control.
Although recent success has gone a long way toward masking it, Seattle remains the Red Hair Step Child of the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks are not the preferred marquee of the NFL. NFL New York and the networks do have a vested interest in herding toward a preferred landscape. It is incumbent on all red hair step children to understand that there is no such thing as reality television. It's a myth. All packaged television is manipulated and edited for the pleasure of it's proprietors. That doesn't include us.
The bottom line is ..... all red hair step children need to learn how to deflect and ignore the noise. Fortunately, we have outstanding role models and examples in Pete Carroll and others.
Go Hawks!
A few years ago, the NFL show chose to cast Richard Sherman as a villain during the Sherman/Crabtree series. It was a time when Crabtree's legacy team was beyond reproach. Unfortunately, it resulted in the marking of Richard Sherman as a villain for the duration of his NFL career. In many ways he has excepted his fate and endeavored to have fun with it along the way. Manipulative editors are so accustom to using Sherman as a villain, they pounce on any opportunity to shape the next dastardly episode for the NFL nation at large. To that ends, they edit as they please to project the image their script demands. The deciding Julio Jones - Richard Sherman play, where the hand/slap to the face and head of Sherman was edited out of the beginning of a (NFL network) replay and patched with a passive release by Jones copied from another play is a prime example of viewer manipulation. It spotlights what NFL networks are capable of toward manipulating perceptions. It is well known that television audiences respond to good guys verses bad guys shows. NFL films and NFL networks actively engage in toying with that phenomenon.
The photo Field Gulls posted last week regarding whether a receiver got two feet down or not should have been instructive for anyone unfamiliar with the soda straw effect. I'm not sure everyone picked up on that example of edit manipulation. It was a soda straw spoof that enlarged a photographed foot of a receiver and a foot of a defender. It was accompanied with a question of as to if the receiver got both feet down for a touchdown. Cropping and enlarging an isolated portion of a photo is a means of manipulation that anyone anywhere can participate in. That was the message from that Field Gulls post and exercise.
The NFL show we are presented with and the action on the field is not one in the same. Compounding that disparity for the fan is a similar disparity among officials. What officials on the field see and what monitors back in New York see are from different vantage points. Too often, the monitors in New York have become the game day editors of NFL field officials ..... acting out a similar function like that of editors/directors working in network television trailers and studios. IMO, officials in New York often add to the problem of game manipulation and outcome. More pointedly, they add to fan confusion and frustration.
The reality is that Richard Sherman is among those who have been cast as a villain by the NFL show. He is saddled with that role for the balance of his NFL career. Fortunately, Richard has a coach and mentor with a lot of experience with how to handle being tagged and cast in the role of a villain. So.... Richard is in a good place. As a Seahawk fan, I can also ignore the constant noise. And when opportunity presents itself, chose to have a little fun with it ..... or not. That's something each of us can control.
Although recent success has gone a long way toward masking it, Seattle remains the Red Hair Step Child of the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks are not the preferred marquee of the NFL. NFL New York and the networks do have a vested interest in herding toward a preferred landscape. It is incumbent on all red hair step children to understand that there is no such thing as reality television. It's a myth. All packaged television is manipulated and edited for the pleasure of it's proprietors. That doesn't include us.
The bottom line is ..... all red hair step children need to learn how to deflect and ignore the noise. Fortunately, we have outstanding role models and examples in Pete Carroll and others.
Go Hawks!
