I’ve watched a lot of Law & Order in my day, but I doubt even the most passionate fan of the series could watch all 456 episodes and take 11,000 screenshots for one simple reason: To track the evolution of computer technology. And yet that’s exactly what Jerry Thompson did, screen-grabbing every single instance of a computer on the show.
Why? For art, of course.
There was a lot of change in technology over the course of Law & Order’s run and Thompson’s art exhibit, which will open at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City on February 1st, shows how quickly its use evolved, making the legal procedural a perfect vehicle for demonstrating technological change in America over a two-decade period.
The show’s neatly bracketed 1990-2010 run helps, and its famously “ripped from the headlines” vibe makes it a perfect subject for dissecting change over time. The fact that technology wasn’t (usually) the focus, but rather a routine element of the action that had to be understandably and unobtrusively communicated to a super-mass audience adds another useful wrinkle.
One straightforward example Thompson tracked involves the physical prominence of computers themselves. In the earlier seasons, they are turned off, behind desks, and in corners. “No one ever uses them – it seems like you wouldn’t use a computer while you were talking to another person,” Thompson says. “And you wouldn’t have a big CRT monitor on the front of your desk. It would be blocking human interaction.
“Over the course of the show you see that change,” he continues. The objects become more central, and by 2010 characters are using smartphones constantly.
These nine screenshots alone show that evolution, from computers as background objects to front-and-center smartphones.
I’m guessing that Law & Order would also be a great show to track the evolution in hair styles, too.
You can find out more about the exhibit at Jeff Thompson’s tumblr, Computers and Law & Order.
Source: Yahoo!
