As members of a multicultural society we are exposed to our peers’ various values and customs on a daily basis. While it may be true that some characteristics may seem unfamiliar at first glance, the media inherently relies on oversimplified stereotypes in order to get the audience to connect with minorities. Even shows that deal with diversity as subject matter fall victims to the trope of using stereotypes as a humor device. Take Modern Family, a sitcom that airs on ABC, as an example. The show challenges the notion of a traditional family but it constantly depicts the characters as parodies of what they are supposed to represent. Gloria Pritchett played by Sofia Vergara is often overly sexualized and given a short-tempered demeanor. Vergara…
Creating emotional bonds and forming loving relationships are tough skills to learn for most human beings, but are a necessity for stability and happiness in our lives. Andrew Sullivan reflects in his essay “The M-Word: Why it Matters to Me” on the difficulty of building relationships while growing up in a Catholic, conservative home in a middle-class neighborhood. Sullivan reveals his adolescent years to be isolating - causing depression, neuroticism, and thoughts of suicide. Powerless to share with friends and family members about his homosexuality, Sullivan retreats to his studies, isolating himself even further. Now, an openly gay man, Sullivan continues to divulge his views on civil marriage licenses and the use of euphemisms such as “gay marriage.” Sullivan firmly states that any descriptive term identifying a marriage as a homosexual one is an offensive euphemism that builds walls between gay people and their…
This conversational article written by Karen Holland is one that gives an opinion based piece that describes the relationships of a specific T.V. sitcom and how we can learn from that sitcom as well as others. The specific sitcom specified is titled Modern Family, I which the author particularly likes. Though Holland does not describe Modern Family relationships in detail, she generalizes the relationships of sitcoms as a whole. She does this by describing the characteristics of the relationships such as the fact that the couples accept each other’s flaws completely and all conflicts are resolved in thirty minutes or less. By the end of the piece Holland says we should rewrite out own relationship “scripts” to make our…
“It seems today, all you see, is violence and sex on TV.” We’ve all heard that line that comes at the opening of Family Guy. The popular satire show that divides opinion, even among people who seem to like the same things. Some call it an amazing illustration of our society, while others may deem it downright disgusting and offensive. While the general consensus agrees that the show itself has fallen off quite a bit in terms of its humor and context, there are still a good number of viewers who watch very avidly. Do these people ignore its shortcomings, or do other people merely act too sensitive when it comes to this show.…
If straight, white males make up around 20 percent of the population in America, how is it that they are the face of American television, on and off screen? Minorities, such as women and African Americans, are under-represented in media, especially television. The lack of diversity is evident, and unfair to minorities, and it is necessary to introduce variety in television.…
With drama-series like The Fosters, Orange Is The New Black, Game of Thrones, Glee, True Blood, The Modern Family, and Sense8, among others, queer characters have begun to slowly gain prominence outside the borders of the stereotypical white gay male. Slowly, representation is being found, and the blanket hiding difficult subjects from sight is carefully being pulled back. In True Blood, gay cook and man of color Lafayette Reynolds confronts a white man when the man declines to eat his burger, claiming it might have aids. In Sense8, Amanita, a queer woman of color, defends her trans girlfriend from the rude remarks made by transphobic friends. Shows like these are providing characters that queer people can relate to on some level, and they are knocking on the ice wall of the heterosexual, cisgender binary. Documentaries like I Am Jazz, I Am Cait, and The T Word showcase lives of transgender individuals and what it is like to be trans, providing both a source of information and a real-life look at what goes on in the world around a transgender…
I will be discussing the media’s portrayal of sexuality in various ways which are as follows; I the positive and negative effects that the media involvement has played in adolescent’s lives as well as how all this has affected my own personal life also.…
When All in the Family came out in 1971, it caught an impressive amount of attention. The CBS sitcom ventured into the dangerously taboo ideas and viewpoints held by conservative individuals in the early 1970s and brought them into the public dialogue through the loud, uncensored mouth of Archie Bunker. Like it or not, this show proudly displayed the inner racist, sexist, and otherwise bigoted monologue of many Americans. This is an impressive change as compared to the insult-minimal days of the Leave it to Beaver show in the 1950s. Instead of Beaver failing a test, this show dealt with substantial and current problems such as racism, sexism, and politics; however, this is only one reason why All in the Family was so hotly discussed and debated over at the time of its release.…
Many television shows portray the lives of typical American families; both African American and European American. I have chosen to compare and contrast two television shows: Family Matters and Home Improvement. The two shows are surprisingly similar in many aspects, but there are a few differences in the communication styles and other aspects of the two families. Communication theories can be used to help show and analyze the communication between each family. These theories include interactional, dialectics, speech community, and cultivation. Do prime time television shows really represent and portray the differences and stereotypes between African American and European American families?…
Media often reflects the ideas society has about certain minorities, such as transgender individuals. This is a significant motive to analyze the treatment of transgender in such communications in order to reveal society’s true assumptions and judgments about this marginalized group. The lack of involvement of the LGBTQ community in media and the stereotypical depictions of queer sexuality leads us to believe media has become a negative platform. This matter is perceived in the episode “Lesbian Request Denied” from the television series Orange Is The New Black as it captures Lavern Cox’s struggle in prison as a transgender individual. As I considered the impact of cultural gender definitions on transgender people, I further wanted to discover…
Our country, founded on the premise that we are all created equal, endowed by our creator, with certain unalienable rights isn’t holding true to its declaration. In a recent study conducted by The University of Virginia, almost one in four Americans polled do not believe that all men are created equal. Equality in this country has been an issue long debated and dates back to the beginning of our founding, starting with women’s rights. Recently, the virus of inequality has spread to the gay community. Discrimination against homosexuals is wrong. As quoted by Harvey Milk “It takes no compromise to give people freedom. It takes no survey to remove repression.” As the land of the free, majority of us have the right to marry and reproduce without judgment. Unfortunately 1.7 million Americans are not granted that right due to the inequality and discrimination against them. Macklemore’s “Same Love” and “Marriage = Biology” addresses inequality, discrimination and gay rights differently. Though “Marriage = Biology” presents its argument for assimilation in an effective, strategic and structured manner, “Same Love” utilizes ethos, style and pathos to establish the idea to influence the reader’s viewpoints on gay rights.…
In sociology, the term deviance refers to behaviors or attitudes which go against certain cultural norms. It is evident that deviance is a fascinating topic not only for sociologist, but for television industry and its viewers, as well. In recent years, increasing number of shows begun to feature individuals violating every kind of social norm from folkways to taboos. The Secret Life of the American Teenager, an American television series on the ABC Family television network, is one of the many contemporary shows that portray deviant behaviors on national television. It’s intended for the target audience of teens and their families who are trying to cope in a culture where teen girls and boys are sexually active.…
Eyal, K., & Finnerty, K. (2009). The Portrayal of Sexual Intercourse on Television: How, Who, and With What Consequence? Mass Communication and Society, 143-170.…
to their own opinion on race and sexuality, but it is becoming a part of our world whether we are…
While people watch television or movies, they are being fed false information. Such as, one must be rich and attractive to be accepted into society. It is highly likely that the audience may have learned more than the moral message of the story. Americans have learned new information like behaviors that are now tolerable, people they should not converse with, and that their lifestyles are not good enough. What Americans are watching on the screen is what is being pushed into their heads. Unfortunately, television and film has now changed into a way that promotes negative behaviors, limitations among who one can be seen with, and self- insecurities. Television and film is a very serious issue that Americans should be aware of and should also reconsider what they have been…