Royal wedding mystery: In TiVo era, why do Americans want to watch it live?
| Los Angeles
Among the many curiosities that surround the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton Friday is a marvel of the current digital age: The world wants to watch it live.
鈥淥ne thing I think is very interesting to me about all this is that everyone has DVRs and TiVos and recording devices of every kind, and yet they are all going to get up at four in the morning to watch this just as it happens,鈥� says Marcia Seligson, author of "Eternal Bliss Machine: America鈥檚 Way of Wedding."
She then confesses: 鈥淚鈥檓 going to do the same thing. And I don鈥檛 know why鈥�. Why is that?鈥�
Gordon Coonfield, a media expert at Villanova University, has an answer.
鈥淧eople are really craving the shared experience of a communal ritual event,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here aren鈥檛 that many universal or relatively universal cultural rituals anymore 鈥� and here is one where everyone will stop whatever they are doing, and make sure they are watching as it happens. They鈥檒l get out of bed, pull out their cell phone, turn on the TV, find it on their computer 鈥� anything.鈥�
From London to Los Angeles, restaurants and caterers are banking on the power of that collective experience, planning live themed viewing events such as wedding parties, brunches, high-teas, and royal dinners.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not something that happens every day now is it?鈥� says Andrew Perkins, manager of The Cat & Fiddle British Pub in Los Angeles. His pub is offering 鈥渂ig screens, drink specials, and a proper British spread鈥� that includes bangers and mash, shepherd鈥檚 pie, fish and chips and Welsh rarebit (that鈥檚 double Gloucester cheese melted on toast with grilled tomato, for the uninitiated).
鈥淭he British royal family is quite revered everywhere, and we do pomp and circumstance better than anyone it the world," he adds. "We鈥檙e expecting quite a crowd.鈥�
New York City鈥檚 Joanna Dreifus has been waiting for this moment for years and will be gathered around the TV with as many friends as she can.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the biggest show of them all,鈥� says the founder of , who considers herself a serious royal watcher and expert. She has blogged about her June 1997 meeting with her lifelong obsession, Princess Diana, outside an auction at Christie's in New York. 鈥�William and Kate's wedding will bring me full circle, since my own interest in the royal family began almost exactly 30 years ago.鈥�
Ms. Seligson, the author, agrees that perhaps some events become so big and talked about that another layer of people become involved so as not to be left out, regardless of their own personal feelings of the event.
鈥淵eah, even though you鈥檝e TiVoed it and can watch it the next day in the afternoon, it somehow just isn鈥檛 the same thing,鈥� says Seligson. 鈥淵ou need to know firsthand what everyone is talking about.鈥�
