Rizzo’s article is based on flow and how the emergence of the playlist has “radically changed” the notion of flow. Rizzo writes this article to primarily raise the idea that the introduction of the playlist has given the viewer control over the media.
However, first, I think it is necessary to understand the initial concept of ‘flow’ which is demonstrated in Williams’ ideas of ‘flow’. Williams’ sequences of programming and flow are an example of how broadcast television was first visualized in society. Williams refers to watching television as a ‘sequence of programming’ where the viewer only watches a specific television show at a specific time and a specific organized way but then it progresses to a ‘sequence of flow’ where the viewer watches a number of television programs for a random period of time, without any inclination to a specified time he/she would stop viewing. Williams further elaborates on this flow by explaining the “sensation that is designed to keep viewers watching”. Williams mentions that even the ad-breaks in and between programs are designed for specific times to be viewed by the audience so the audience is drawn in to keep watching to maintain a ‘flow’. I know that when I’m at home watching television, I don’t watch my favorite TV show and stop watching. I ‘view’ television. I watch an ‘evening’ of television.
I agree with Rizzo’s statement that Williams’ idea of flow does not fit well with the “new digital forms of television” but at the same time, should not be rejected outright. Digital television does follow a “sequence of flow” but rather has created its own unique flow. This is where Deleuze and Guattari come into the equation. I rather think that Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of flow is an extension of Williams’. While Williams suggests that flow is the product of “organization by broadcasters”, Deleuze and Guattari extend this idea into the notion of flow “occurs[ing] when different kinds of ‘machines’ form connections”. While Williams sees ‘interruptions’ as negative and a way of ‘losing’ the viewer’s attention, on the contrary, Deleuze and Guattari positively acknowledge these ‘interruptions’. This is shown through Rizzo’s example of the internet where constant interruptions such as hyperlinks where the user ‘breaks’ the connection between one particular space, in this case, a website; but instead of breaking the flow, the user is advancing the flow by creating a new connection with another website. Deleuze and Guattari recognize flow as interaction between the viewer and the media which goes back to the idea of the playlist where advancements of technology such as digital television (Foxtel), have allowed us to create our own playlist of television shows and view them in our own subjective, experiential time. I think this relates back to Scannell’s topic of “Daliness” where the development and domestication of media in our everyday lives has allowed us to no longer experience objective time. The typical broadcast flow is replaced by the viewer’s active participation of using the remote control to watch selectively. A new flow is established. I know that from personal experience of having Foxtel at home, I have the ability to record a television show and watch another program at the same time without having to flick between channels or choose what program I want to watch. I have Gossip Girl on series link where every week it’s recorded and I can view it anytime I want. Same with my i-Pod. I don’t have to listen to the radio, now I can listen to my ‘type’ of music whenever I want, wherever I want. Relating this to this week’s topic of networks, I think in a way, you now have the ability to create your own network but yet still be a part of the bigger network around you. Networks are essential in our social way of being. They have allowed us to interact with people universally without having to travel physically. On YouTube for example, I can create my own playlist of favorite videos and ‘most viewed’. I have created a network within my own space, and at the same time, other people from the other side of the world can view my network, thus creating a network within a network. This leads to my conclusion that the concept of flow is not diminished, but changed. It no longer involves the “unity of tone, image and feeling”, rather it allows the unity of networks due to the difference and singular product of tone image and feeling.