GLUED TO THE TELLY (1995) [Feature]

Australia (MIFF1995,Documentaries)
Director: Jo Laws

Ahhh Television! This very funny film goes where no television documentary has ever gone before, into the innermost sanctum of the Australian home-the lounge room. Glued To The Telly explores the act of watching and the impact of the television set on Australians. The excite­ment, the hype and the humour of telly's forma­tive years in Australia are shown in candid interviews, drama segments and some extraordi­nary archival footage.

Whether television arrived in the window of a nearby store or was proudly delivered to the door, the 1957 Olympic Games launched into our lives and changed them forever The furni­ture was rearranged, the family hearth was shift­ed, the evening meal was redefined and children's jaws were under threat of displace­ment. Father would want to stay home with his family instead of going to the pub, and Mother would need even more time to clean this new piece of furniture and entertain around it.

Topics such as "What do you wear to watch television?" "The perfect TV snack", "Has the remote control set back gender politics twenty years?", are explored with great humour. TV-watching etiquette, and the very contemporary issue of new technology's bid for our leisuretsme are revealed and put under the microscope. Or is that microchip?

This cleverly structured documentary follows and almost mocks the "television hour" format that has infiltrated our lives along with the cul­ture that has evolved and changed with televi­sion over the years.

Select Festival

Search the film archive