Class Dismissed, a movie presented in class about how TV frames the working class, shows many different television families and their struggles being part of the working class. What class you are in is decided on the income that your household makes per year. There are three different types of class: economic, political, and cultural. 62% of Americans are working class, made up of white and blue collar. The working class is racially and gender segmented, and often not spoke about. Class doesn't make you who you are, but it does frame you sometimes. We spoke in class if we believe that if you are born into one class, can you move up to another. I believe that this is possible. Even though you are born into a working class family that isn't rich, I think that you have the possibility of moving higher to the upperclass by what you accomplish in life. However, I do believe that you always have your roots in your "original" class.
Some TV shows that will be listed below are some that were listed in the movie as television families that are working class.
I Love Lucy: about a woman and her husband, who is a singer and bandleader. They are typical working class couple working hard for their money. They live in a house that they rent from their landlord friend. They strive to be better than what they are, but are stuck with what they got.
Good Times: A show of a working class black family who live in the ghetto. They are working hard to move up in life and try to move out of the projects. In the last episode, they do so.
Jefferson's: One of the most famous African American families that are trying to " move on up to the east side." They don't want to live on welfare, so they make it on what they have. They are trying to gain access to a better life.
Cosby Show: They are a family who are content with what they have. They are not trying to move up in life.
Will and Grace: This is a series based around gay friends who are working class. They are trying to make it big and wirking to be better and rich,
Gilmore Girls: A single mother and daughter duo who are constantly working just to get by. They daughter wants to move up and is trying to make better for herself by going to school and doing better stuf then the mom.
Roseann: This is one of the rare shows that shows a woman who works for the family. She is always ripped apart for being so rude and loud mouthed. She is a hard worker who is trying to get by for her family.
King of Queens: about a married couple who are trying to better their lives. He is a typical jokester who works for a shipping company.
In class one day, we viewed a video called Game Over. This video was about violent videos games and how the affect people who play them. 90% of American households have video games, to which people play about 2 hours per day. Throughout the movie, there were different sections in which video games were broken down in. Video games have began to be more and more interactive emotionally and psychologically, by allowing people to actually become the character. Realism is the holy ground of video games, and what draws people in to the violent ones. Video games tend to be very true to life, in the sense that you are the character fullfilling each and every mission sent to accomplish. They are very violent and explicit, showing off the anger that the characters hold in the game.
The characters in the game are another issue that video games have. They give children and even adults a warped sense of what people should look like. Men tend to be hyper masculine, who are large, mean, muscular, loud, and rude. Men are viewed as violent in many of the video games that people choose to play. They force other characters to give them what they want. In wrestling games, the character taunts and bullies the other players, forcing them to give in to their demands through intimidation.
^ The character abover, from Call of Duty: Black Ops is a typical character from a war game. He is hypermasculine, with large muscles, tattoos all over, angry, and violent. (Retrieved from Google Image)
Women on the other hand, in video games, are depicted at the damsel in distress, typically. They tend to be of white ethnicity with large breasts, small waist, pretty faces, and skimpy clothes. It is rare that a female is the main character in a game, however, there are some that have them. Laura Croft Tomb Raider is one of the rare games that has a lead woman character. She is very energetic in the game, and has the common women features that games give off. Women are often sexual objects in video games, which carries out to the real world.
^Above is a picture of Laura Croft Tomb Raider. She is small, with large breasts, a pretty face, and a little waist.
^The woman above is from Grand Theft Auto she is the typical slutty character with large breats, a pretty face, and little clothing.
Race in video games is generally stereotypical. Black men are often looked at as gangsters and bad guys, and whites as the main characters and heros.
Violent video games are negatively affecting young men and women. Through the characters and missions that they are sent on, they learn how to become more violent in life. They are taught through games that violence is normal and that it is accepted. They are rewarded with each person that they kill and taught that stereotyping people is ok. However, even though video games are mostly negative, they do have there positive roles too. F.A.T or fire arm training, is used to train men and women in the military. It is set up just like a video game, where they take on the role of the shooter. However, they are the good people and are shooting the enemies. They are punised if they shoot the wrong player, and they are rewarded for good. This allows them to become part of war and train to see what it is "like."
Images were retrieved from Google images. Information gathered from Game Over.
On November 16th, 2011, Parkside's LGBTQ organization came and spoke to our Communication class in regards to how LGBTQ is being represented in the media today and how it is changing over the years. Ana Guerriero, the director of LGBTQ, first spoke to us about how the LGBTQ community is portrayed in the media, now. She spoke about how shows that are some of the most watched are ones that have the best understanding of gays. Some of the main shows that have characters that are gay are: The Ellen Show, Glee, and Modern Family.
Shown below is a song from Glee that is performed by the character Santanna. Santanna is a "closet gay" who has feelings for her best friend Britney. Britney and Santanna have had sexual tension throughout the whole show. Although they have had several boyfriends throughout the seasons, it is known that they are gay. However, while Britney excepts her sexuality, Santanna does not. She feels as though she won't be looked at the same if she comes out. In the video below, you will see how she thinks she will change, and how she does have feelings for Britney but wants to make sure that they stay concelled.
(this video was taken from YouTube)
Glee is one of the top shows on TV now. This show is one that tends to push the limits on the "norms" of television. While it is one that everyone tends to enjoy, it is also the one that has some of the deepest messages that it is trying to portray.
Another show that the LGBTQ group talked about was Modern Family. Modern Family is a new show that has a great rating on TV. It is about a family who is all connected through each smaller part of the groups. One of the families includes 2 gay fathers who care for their adopted daughter. While they do tend to face many difficulties of being gay, the 2 gentleman mostly have normal lives. The one man is the "man in the relationship." He is the one who goes to work everyday and makes sure that everything is taken care of. Cam on the otherhand, the other gay man, tends to be the woman in the relationship in the sense that he stays home with their daughter and takes on most of the woman roles. Below is another video...this one from Modern Family, which shows the two men interacting about how Cam takes on the "woman" in the relationship. While he believes he doesn't, all the mothers that they family hangs out with, reassure him that he does.
On a more serious note during the presentation, the members of the LGBTQ club opened up and shared their own coming out experiences. Some were very touching, making the atmosphere in the room quite tense. I really enjoyed hearing each and every one of the experiences that they shared, because this topic is very close to me. My sister is gay and she recently came out a few years back. I find it hard for people to talk about, because these are some of the most hard times in their lives. My sister used to be teased about certain issues, and I know that that made it much more difficult for her.
While reading throught the book from class, Gender, Race, and Class in the Media, I found many of the short articles to be very fitting to the topic of homosexuality. In Chaper 37. The Limitations of the Discourse of Norms, there is a section in which people sugest that gays should be "quietly gay" and not flaunt it to the world. They believe that the parades that are held during "gay pride week" are too much for many people to face. In another chapter within the book "Resisting, Reiterating, and Dancing Through" Ellen DeGeneres is the main topic of writing. Ellen is a famous talk show host who is openly gay. However, in this chapter there is a section that basically questions why she isn't someone who flaunts during the show that she is gay. Guinevere Turner, a famous lesbian actress states, "How could you dance like that and not be gay? That's a way of saying with every opening representation, I'm Gay!"
While I do believe that people should be able to speak openly about being gay, I do have to agree that there are other ways of showing it. I find it interesting, because there are many people who are in the media who are gay, and we know it without them even having to say so. This is the difference that the book shows. The TV shows like Glee and Modern Family do a great job of depicting gays, through their actions, words, and feelings...They don't have them stating every 5 minuteds that they are indeed, gay.
Works Cited
Clarkson, J. (2011). The Limitations of the Discourse of Norms. In. G. Dines & J. Humez (Eds.), Gender, Race, and Class in Media (pp 335-340). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, INC.
Moore, C. (2011). Resisting, Reiterating, and Dancing Through. In. G. Dines & J. Humez (Eds.), Gender, Race, and Class in Media (pp 531-540). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, INC.
