How is information sent to and interpreted by computer monitors?

I've been wandering about the protocol or method by which computer monitors receive and interpret information it is sent. Can the information be send down a single wire in a series of pulses? Say for example, you had a monitor that could interpret the following string of code: 1111 1010 1010 1000 1000 1010 0000. The first initial 1111 would tell the monitor that the following string of information would be the start of the information required to determine which pixels would be on or off. The 10 in the beginning of each subsequent group of 4 bits would indicate that a 1 or 0 immediately following would determine whether the current pixel is on or off respectively. Finally, 0 at the end of the group of 4 bits could either be a marker telling the monitor to proceed onto the next pixel or it could just be a place holder with no real value. I guess I'm asking if it would, in theory, be this easy to tell a monitor or some display device how to paint the screen. I know this example code was in no way optimized or perhaps practical but could it be done with a simple continuous string of binary code? Thanks for your replies.