Television and Advertisement

Many people have forgotten what the world was like before TV. But today it has become an integral part of our lives. No medium can compare with TV as a means of information, entertainment & education. TV now plays such an important role in so many people's lives that it is essential for us to try to decide whether it is bad or good.

On the first place TV is not only a convenient source of entertainment, but also a comparatively cheap one. For a family of 4, for example, it is more convenient as well as cheaper to sit comfortably at home than to go out. They don't have to pay for expensive tickets. All they have to do is to turn on TV and they can see films, political discussions and the latest exciting football matches. Some people say that this is fist where the danger lies. The TV viewers need do nothing: they make no choices, they're completely passive & don't even use their legs.

TV, people often say, informs about current events and the latest developments in science and politics. A lot of good films, music programs have appeared recently on TV. Yet here again there is a danger. We get to like watching TV so much that it begins to dominate our lives. A friend of mine told me that when his TV set broke he & his family suddenly found that they had much more time to do things.

The most important thing which is really criticizing is poor quality of the programs and its harmful effect on children. For example the film "Natural Born Killers" teaches children to kill and there was one accident in France when a group of teenagers kill their parents.

There are many arguments for and against TV. I think we must understand that TV in itself is neither good nor bad. TV is as good or as bad as we make it.

Walt Disney and his heroes

Walt Disney was born in Chicago, his father being Irish Canadian, his mother of German-American origin. He revealed a talent for drawing and an interest in photography early on and after service with the American Red Cross in the First World War. In 1923 he left with his brother Roy for Hollywood and for some years struggled against poverty while producing a series of cartoon films. In 1927 he had some success with the series called "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit", but it was not until September 1928, when "Steamboat Willie" appeared, the first "Mickey Mouse" with sound, that he achieved lasting success. Mickey Mouse became a household word together with such companions as Minnie, Pluto, and — perhaps the favourite of them all — Donald Duck. 

"The Three Little Pigs" and " Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", with their still familiar songs by Frank Cherchill, immediately spring to mind. After the Second World War Disney turned his attention to real-life nature studies and non-cartoon films with living actors. After a rather unsuccessful feature cartoon "The Sleeping Beauty", he made a triumphant come-back with the very successful "Mary Poppins". In 1955 he branched out into a different enterprise —"Disney-land", a huge amusement park in southern California. 

Disneyland is situated 27 miles south of Los Angeles, at Ana-heim. Of all the show-places none is as famous as Disneyland. This superb kingdom of fantasy linked to technology was created by Walt Disney. The park is divided into six themes and there is so much to see and do in each that no one would attempt to see all of them in one visit. For extended visits, there are hotels nearby. Walt Disney died in California at the age of 65. His works have given so much pleasure for many years to many people, young and old, in many countries.