Based on what I understood of Longinus’ text, the following are the five main principles of the sublime: a grand conception or idea, powerful and inspired emotion (these two being most important), great imagery, good diction, and “elevated” word arrangement. Now, when Longinus wrote his words, there was no concept of television. So the question I pose is, could Longinus find the sublime in today’s television programming? Much is frequently made of how television is ruining America’s youth, but the fact remains, we are obviously completely enthralled by it, so something about it must be sublime. It would probably be easy to set a case for any show that at some point in its history has won an Emmy award that it is truly sublime. But what about a show that is less than award worthy? Perhaps the most reviled television show genre, reality TV? Can the sublime be found in reality, aka everyday life, real people, supposedly writer-less television?
Let’s look at one of the most popular of the entire reality genre, “American Idol.” First, does it contain a grand conception? Let’s be honest, it’s a nation-wide talent show. Grand and inventive concept? Not really, but Longinus does argue that the more simple the nature of the literature, the more the sublime is present. Is there any simpler event than a person singing without accompaniment for an audience, such as the opening “audition” episodes? I would argue it is hard to find a more basic performance. Inspired emotion? Well, it does frequently feature sobbing contestants, both happy and sad, and sobbing audience members. So grand emotion must definitely be present, even if it is only felt by a large majority of the audience, and not necessarily all of the audience. As for Longinus’ final three concepts, imagery, diction, and word arrangement, one only needs to watch the opening few minutes of any episode to see city skyline grazing camera angles and hordes of ravenous fans accompanied by host Ryan Seacrest’s scripted voice over proclaiming “This is American Idol” to experience all of the most sublime feelings that mere reality TV is able to capture.
