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The role of the media in politics
Influence of media politics
The impact of the media on political life
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Recommended: The role of the media in politics
We see politics everywhere, we are bombarded in our everyday lives with politics. Politics start at home with hierarchies of the house, then follow us to the office or place of employment, our communities, governments, and even world politics. Truly there is no getting away from it, even our entertainment is filled with politics. We see it all the time in movies like Forrest Gump, or series like Bomb Girls, sitcoms such as All in the Family, Roseanne and countless others; even the music to our ears is fueled with political messages. This poses the question why would we navigate freely to politics in entertainment? Simply put it is funny, entertaining, and it can even prove educational. Finding, and presenting the humor in politics is both challenging, and potentially risky, but when done right it is pure genius. The majority of the population is drawn to entertainment that they can relate to, and understand. Often times historical events are played out in various avenues of entertainment in such a way that is easily understood, where it may otherwise be overlooked or not understood at all. Entertainment can also make light of a situation that is in fact very serious, it also allows people to see the error of their ways in a non-confrontational manner, which promotes progress and change for a better world.
Throughout the 70's we witnessed an uprising of African Americans, and feminists through the programming of our televisions. “All in the Family”,“The Jefferson’s”, “ Good Times”, “Maude”, “Mary Tyler Moore Show”, and “Rhoda” all can be attributed to the apparent transitions of our political times.
For example, let's take a look at the long-running sitcom “All in the Family”. “All in the Family” aired on a pr...
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Today's entertainment is at its most liberal and open-minded state, this can be seen as both good and bad. Some of the programming available is questionable at best, it seems that we have reached a point of no longer having a filter. A point where anything goes, no subject untouchable, of course there are exceptions to this rule. We do still see the occasional outrage at the mention of topics not meant for discussion by those not ready, or willing to address them. It is truly in the eye of the beholder whether we have gone to far or not. The die-hard conservative may shudder at the mention of today's entertainment, and its values. The liberal may smile, and contemplate at the accomplishments that have been made, and the feminist may say, “we have only just begun”. It all boils down to the politically ideology of each and everyone.
During the 1950‘s suburbs such as Levitown were springing up all across the country, and the so-called American dream was easier to achieve for everyday Americans than ever before. They had just come out of two decades dominated by The Great Depression and World War Two, and finally prosperity was in sight. The need for women to work out of the home that was present during the war was no more, and women were overwhelmingly relegated to female-dominated professions like nursing, secretaries, and teachers, if they worked at all. Televisions became very popular, and quickly became part of the American cultural canon of entertainment. Leave It To Beaver is a classic American television show, encompassing values such as respect, responsibility and learning from your mistakes. But, at least in the episode used for this essay, it is also shockingly sexist to a modern viewer. This begs the question, what does the episode The Blind Date Committee1 say about the gender expectations of the 1950’s?
I chose to analyze the sitcom That 70’s Show, a show that follows the lives of a group of teenage friends: Jackie, Donna, Hyde, Kelso, Eric, and Fez. The show addresses several social issues of the 1970s, including: sexism, sexual attitudes, drug use, politics, and the recession. I selected certain episodes from Season One based on their titles and descriptions; ones I thought may deal with sexism more in-depth than other episodes.
Popular culture is the artistic and creative expression in entertainment and style that appeals to society as whole. It includes music, film, sports, painting, sculpture, and even photography. It can be diffused in many ways, but one of the most powerful and effective ways to address society is through film and television. Broadcasting, radio and television are the primary means by which information and entertainment are delivered to the public in virtually every nation around the world, and they have become a crucial instrument of modern social and political organization. Most of today’s television programming genres are derived from earlier media such as stage, cinema and radio. In the area of comedy, sitcoms have proven the most durable and popular of American broadcasting genres. The sitcom’s success depends on the audience’s familiarity with the habitual characters and the situations
The classic network era is one of the most easily recognizable and distinct eras in television history. Both Bewitched and I Love Lucy were huge sitcoms that took up issues of gender representation and patriarchy in their programs through the representations of the main male and female characters of their respective series. While both of these series pushed boundaries when it came to the representation of women, in the end, the costuming of these men and women, how the main characters are introduced, and the domestic environment that the atmosphere takes place in, all serve to reinforce traditional gender norms and reveals that patriarchy is dependent on maintaining dominant ideas about masculinity and femininity.
Through time, the roles of women in television have changed drastically. Now they have started to get more prominent roles compared to the early television programs. An example of a television program that depicts the women’s liberation movement is The Brady Bunch. The Brady Bunch is a television program about a blended family. Mike and Carol, the parents,
Since its start, the television industry has been criticized for perpetuating myths and stereotypes about African-Americans through characterizations, story lines, and plots. The situation comedy has been the area that has seemed to draw the most criticism, analysis, and disapproval for stereotyping. From Sanford and Son and The Jefferson’s in the 1970s to The Cosby Show (1984) and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the 1990s, sitcoms featuring black casts and characters have always been controversial. However, their significance upon our American culture cannot be disregarded. During the 1950s and 1960s, 97% of the families were Caucasian. In the first five years of the 1990s, nearly 14% of the television families were African-American (Bryant 2001). These statistics obviously show the substantial impact our American culture has had on African-American television families.
On September 20, 1984 a show aired that changed the way we view gender roles on television. Television still perpetuates traditional gender stereotypes and in reflecting them TV reinforces them by presenting them as the norm (Chandler, 1). The Cosby Show, challenged the typical gender stereotyping of television, daring to go against the dominant social values of its time period. In its challenge of the dominant social view, the show redefined the portrayal of male and female roles in television. It redefined the gender role in the work place, in social expectations, and in household responsibilities. The Cosby Show supported Freidan in her view of “castigating the phony happy housewife heroine of the women’s magazines” (Douglas 136).
In American culture today, women continue the struggle of identifying what their roles in society are supposed to be. Our culture has been sending mixed messages to the modern day female, creating a sense of uneasiness to an already confusing and stressful world. Although women today are encouraged more than ever to be independent, educated, and successful, they are often times shamed for having done just that. Career driven females are frequently at risk of being labeled as bossy, unfeminine, or selfish for competing in many career paths that were once dominated by men. A popular medium in our culture such as television continues to have significant influences as to how people should aspire to live their lives. Viewers develop connections with relatable characters and to relationship dynamics displayed within their favorite shows. Fictional characters and relationships can ultimately influence a viewer’s fashion sense, social and political opinion, and attitude towards gender norms. Since the days of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeanie, where women were commonly portrayed as being the endearing mischievous housewife, television shows have evolved in order to reflect real life women who were becoming increasingly more independent, educated, and career oriented throughout the subsequent decades. New genres of television are introduced, such as the workplace comedy, where women are not only career oriented, but eventually transition into positions of power.
Marlon T. Riggs’ video, Color Adjustment, offers the viewer an exciting trip though the history of television, focusing on the representation, or lack thereof, of African-Americans. A perfectly chosen combination of television producers, actors, sociologists, and cultural critics join forces to offer insight and professional opinion about the status of African-Americans in television since the inception of television itself. As Color Adjustment traces the history of television shows from Amos n’ Andy and Julia to "ghetto sitcoms" and The Cosby Show, the cast of television professionals and cultural critics discuss the impacts those representations have on both the African-American community and our society as a whole. Color Adjustment continually asks the question: "Are these images positive?" This video raises the viewer’s awareness about issues of positive images for African-Americans on television.
The era of I love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver and Father knows Best, brought about a time where family values were necessary, family life was wonderful and no one was worrying about politics and the Cold War. These families had the molds of women constrained in the home, men bringing home the bacon and all in the homes of white middle class families. Women in the 1950s were often depicted as dependent on men and were encouraged to get married young. (Bloom and Breines, 6) It took large media input from movie stars like Marilyn Monroe, to influence many women to join the workforce and reject the “traditional feminine roles”. (Bloom and Breines 6) This mold would be challenged by the introduction of the Birth Control pill in 1954 and the growing unhappiness of women who would seek to break the walls that trapped their mothers. (Bloom and Breines, 5) More women would venture out of the homes and into the workplace between the two decades, “from 25 percent in 1950to 32 percent in 1960”. (Bloom and Breines, 5) The introduction of the Birth Control pill allowed for women to avoid unwanted pregnancies or even marriages and encouraged the sexual liberation that would be seen in the sixties.
But when the “Women’s Movement,” is referred to, one would most likely think about the strides taken during the 1960’s for equal treatment of women. The sixties started off with a bang for women, as the Food and Drug Administration approved birth control pills, President John F. Kennedy established the President's Commission on the Status of Women and appointed Eleanor Roosevelt as chairwoman, and Betty Friedan published her famous and groundbreaking book, “The Feminine Mystique” (Imbornoni). The Women’s Movement of the 1960’s was a ground-breaking part of American history because along with African-Americans another minority group stood up for equality, women were finished with being complacent, and it changed women’s lives today.
Gloria Steinem’s “Living the Revolution” commencement speech highlights the hardships and stereotypes placed on women and men of all ethnicities in general society of the 1970’s decade, and suggests a necessary change is needed in the way we view people in general. Steinem goes on to support her ideas with numerous pieces of evidence. Foremost, she calls attention to the past and present stereotypes and prejudices and suggests that these ideas are “imbedded so deeply in our thinking” that we don’t often realize they are there (5). Secondly, she points out our society’s lack of female and African American role models and that the traditional white male leader is outdated and overdue for an upgrade (12-16). Steinem also puts for...
In America women have gone through so many social norms that has affected them throughout a lifetime. Since then with the changes, mass media got involved in this type of movement. American culture shifted where women where becoming professionals in the work force, more independent and less likely to marry. As a result, television networks created a series of shows to expose and associate the female audience to the TV shows. From Charlies Angels to Sex in the City and for our present time Nashville show, incorporate feminism to be shown in the small screen, in every decade shows exhibited the 3 feminist movement waves. For instance, during the 90s the 3rd wave of feminism was represented through Television by revealing female sexuality
1) The representation of African American’s in television has increased greatly since the early 1950’s. Through the years that television has progressed, the view of ethnic and racial groups have improved. From their beginnings as stereotypical roles to primary characters in television, the representation of African Americans have transformed in almost every genre in television. Tracing the development of African Americans through television history helps us to understand the different ways a group of people are represented and how that representation changes as the years go by.
To ensure that women would have the same opportunities as men in jobs, education, and political participation, the National Organization for women was formed in 1966 (Foner 944). The sixties also marked the beginning of a public campaign to repeal state laws that banned abortion or left the decision to terminate a pregnancy to physicians instead of the woman (Foner 945). Although the sixties were a decade in which the United States became a more open, more tolerant, and a freer country, in some ways it became less of a thing. During the sixties, America intervened in other nations and efforts were made to stop the progress of the civil rights movement. Because of America’s foreign policy and Americans fighting against the civil rights movement, it is clear that the sixties in America were not purely a decade of openness, tolerance, and freedom in the United States.