Wednesday, August 18, 2010

A Nation of Fat People, reassured:

I'm not sure how we got here, but an awful lot of Americans (including myself) are distinctly overweight. There seem to be many causes of our overconsumption of food, and many subtle incentives that encourage us to stay that way. I think I have uncovered yet another societal "device" that makes us comfortable with overweight, and I'm not happy about it. I refer to Wide Screen TV sets.

It's great to have a TV that can display an extremely clear high resolution movie. The wide screen lets you see the whole picture (I hope your DVD really has the whole picture); at last, the true movie experience comes home.

But what happens when those fancy TVs display a good old-fashioned NTSC signal?

A standard TV image is a little wider than it is tall. Modern TVs should "letterbox" these images, with a black swath on each side. But generally, they're not shown that way. Instead, the TV (or maybe even the broadcasting station, I don't know) str-e--e-tch-es the image to fit the high-def screen. I see this a lot in TVs at motels and in public places. All the people on the screen look extra fat, fat-faced, chubby, portly, plump. Even the athletes look fat.

Surrounded by all these fat and famous people, why shouldn't I keep the extra weight on? I look like all those desireable people.

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