In switching TV service providers there occurred a gap, during which my selection of channels seemed to be limited to about half a dozen -- the Prayer Channel, Home Shopping Network, The News in Urdu, that sort of thing.
I happened across Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. It was at least WATCHABLE.
True, the values were rudimentary -- good versus evil -- and as easy as it is to watch such a Manichaean story, that's not the way the universe is structured, is it. It doesn't get past Kohlberg's Level 2 stage of moral development, in which you either obey the rules or you don't.
Still, it's reassuring to see the distinction played out in a fictional story. It's ritualized, a fixed point in a changing and disappointing world, like a religious service.
I used to listen to the program on the radio -- I'm pretty old and we were pretty poor. (The house was always full of winter snow regardless of season and we had to pounce on mice for a meal.) The characters and the trajectory of the story were no longer familiar.
What struck me was the sound, the voices, and the musical score. "On, King, ON, YOU HUSKIES!" And the theme music, which I haven't heard for more than half a century. I found myself able to hum along with the theme.
The human mind is a very strange thing, even compared to the relationship between Sergeant Preston and his faithful dog King.
I happened across Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. It was at least WATCHABLE.
True, the values were rudimentary -- good versus evil -- and as easy as it is to watch such a Manichaean story, that's not the way the universe is structured, is it. It doesn't get past Kohlberg's Level 2 stage of moral development, in which you either obey the rules or you don't.
Still, it's reassuring to see the distinction played out in a fictional story. It's ritualized, a fixed point in a changing and disappointing world, like a religious service.
I used to listen to the program on the radio -- I'm pretty old and we were pretty poor. (The house was always full of winter snow regardless of season and we had to pounce on mice for a meal.) The characters and the trajectory of the story were no longer familiar.
What struck me was the sound, the voices, and the musical score. "On, King, ON, YOU HUSKIES!" And the theme music, which I haven't heard for more than half a century. I found myself able to hum along with the theme.
The human mind is a very strange thing, even compared to the relationship between Sergeant Preston and his faithful dog King.