The higher class within the society is very influential, and is seen as dominating and leading. They use their assets of power and wealth, alongside the various mediums of entertainment networks to affect the lives of varying social classes. The show Kevin Can Wait produced by CBS, have constructed the show in which draws the general audience. The show was purposefully materialized in a way to entice individuals from various backgrounds. Kevin Can Wait, is a sitcom show, therefore, it will be very popular among general audiences and is crafted specifically to viewers whom are curious with the dynamics of the show. The characters within the show are depicted as the affluent middle working-class family, as Kevin is able to achieve early retirement. …show more content…
Various facets are highlighted in the show such as stability, retirement, standard blue-collar jobs, patriarchal families, validation of masculinity, and lazily conceived work.
These depictions are responsible for establishing and shifting the perceptions associated with the working-class within society. For example, in the show Kevin Can Wait, Kevin’s daughter Kendra is planning to quit college to support her fiancé’s aspirations of app-building. Though, Kevin has achieved retirement, he faces uncertainty when Kendra tells him this news as him and his wife were assuming she was going to finish law school. This can ultimately change his life creating the risk of being unable to enjoy his retirement and possibly returning back to work. Though this aspect is valued, the attribute of revenue from the television series is more of a concern to the network. Specific actions are procured to express this view to the audience by utilizing the most cost-effective and profit-driven ideology. The network compromises the quality of the television series through conservation methods of production that are used in entertainment, specifically television programs to avoid risk and save cost of …show more content…
production. The show is classified as a sitcom, which is highly viewed and specifically made for a particular network (Butsch, 2011, p.
103). The network, producer and director have progressed into using various techniques to draw the viewer, which resulted in low risk and maximum profits. For instance, Kevin is the primary character within the show which will lead continuously into subsequent seasons. Future seasons will assist the producers to obtain profits for the succeeding television series. In recent years, network executives have repeated the same images from previous seasons or shows to avoid risk (Butsch, 2011, p. 104). This is seen in the show when Kevin is retired after thirty years in the police force. He plans to spend the rest of his days drinking beer and engaging in puerile activities with his retired police companions. His wife is the typical overly attractive, middle working-class, family oriented partner, who continuously disagrees and tolerates his ill decisions. This concept is repeated in other television series such as Two and a Half Men, Family Guy, The Simpsons, and more. The episode is interwoven with scenarios that reflect American aspects such as drinking beer, jokes reflecting on misogyny, and baseball. Representations of these characteristics are taken by the network since implementing new tactics is risky. According to Butsch (2011), the ability to make right decisions is in the networks control; regardless of a positive or negative decision the network
will have to deal with the repercussions (p.104). Due to this, they stick to tried and tested show concepts, and associate with successful producers of shows whom have repeatedly seen success. The promise for diversity and creativity within program decision-making has subsided, thus limiting the number of buyers to a few firms. Overall, this results in larger audiences, increased profits, evading risk and ultimately lowering the quality of the production. Within the program production of Kevin Can Wait, the repetition of stereotypical portrayals of the middle working-class male is highly seen. The production of the television series needs to be completed and submitted to the network within a given time frame. Due to time constraints and increased pressure on production and organization, multiple episodes are in different stages of production by various members of the creative working team. According to Butsch (2011), the set and cast do not alter between episodes, as the story for situation comedies is kept simple along with the character and general story line (p. 106). As seen in the show, the stage or setting does not alter or drastically change, camera angles are kept very simple and props are constant within the episode. The use of repetition allows reduced production costs and inevitably reduces risk and increase profits. Character descriptions are sent and read by agencies which outsource individuals for the cast, however the descriptions are stereotyped (Butsch, 2011, p. 106). Time constraints and the lack of producers with lived experiences in the working class, causes individuals in the creative cast to rely profoundly on stereotypical images that is produced in the media. Type-casting is seen as a quick process which increases the amount of drama in the show, number of viewers, saves time, costs and reduces risk. Whenever pressure or increased risk is present, it is increasing unproblematic and efficient to remain with familiar scripts than experiment with the unknown. The consistent image of stereotyped characters, the lack of working class representation, and the focus on costs are caused by the organizational constraints within the network and entertainment industry. In conclusion, it can be stated that the network, producers and directors of the television show use multiple deeply rooted techniques that are seen within the entertainment industry to entice the audience and increase profits. The production of situation comedy comprises of the use of drama, exaggeration and repeated images to appeal viewers. These internal factors within the television organization and production decreases the quality of the script, the personalities of the characters, and the overall production value of the show. Overall, creative executives enforce a diffused and convenient image to the audience which is ultimately performed to make money for the network. References Butsch, Richard. (2011). Ralph, Fred, Archie, Homer, and the King of Queens: Why Television Keeps Re-Creating the Male Working-Class Buffoon. In G. Gines & J.M. Humez (Eds.), Gender, Race, and Class in Media: A Critical Reader (pp.101-09). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
The Millers appear to be permissive parents; therefore, the Millers seem to support Kevin in his behavior and his maladaptive ways of coping. Permissive parents are high on warm; subsequently, they are low in setting demands, rules, and guidelines. Kevin is obliviously gifted and talented, and
The media is a powerful tool and has the ability to influence and change one’s overall perspective of the world and the position they play in it. Although Television shows such as Friday Night Lights are seen as entertainment by consumers, its storyline contributes to the social construction of reality about class in the United States.
Younger generations and the more vulnerable in society can be influenced in avoiding peer pressure, but for the individuals filled with wisdom, the shows can reflect based on American modern society. Everybody Loves Raymond and Full House are great shows who faces similar life obstacles a typical person living in the US has today. As a result, most modern family comedy sit-coms are reflecting our society’s generations and the more vulnerable. Based on the success of early family sit coms, American’s adapted to a fast pace lifestyle with the help of modern
Americans love their television, and television loves the American family. Since the 1970’s, the depiction of the American family on television has gone through many changes. In the 70s, the Brady Bunch showed an all-white nuclear family. Today, Modern Family, shows a family of blended races, ages, and sexualities. For thirty years, the sitcom family has reflected the changing society of its time and there is no exception of this for the families in The Brady Bunch and Modern Family. The lifestyle, social aspects, and economics situations of the Bradys and the Pritchett-Dunphys are similar in their attempts to portray the lives of families of their time, but differ drastically in the types of families they represent. The characters in Modern
Since the beginning of time itself, Television has been one the most influential pieces of media that the world has ever encountered. The beginning days of television depicted stereotypical mothers cooking and cleaning their homes for their husbands and children. Yet, as the decades passed, television took a dramatic turn, leaving the days of drama free entertainment as a vast memory. Now a day, however, when one hits the power on button to Bravo, the screen lights expand to ritzy socialites dealing with their everyday lives as “housewives”. Bravo TV’s hit number one reality television show, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, deals with the everyday lives of modern-day housewives. When speaking of these women and their family life, the reality series shows its viewers that family life in modern times is dramatic, full of misrepresentations of how people are perceived, and that fame comes at the cost of family.
Talcott Parsons and Robert Bales, two of the leading figures in sociology, may be considered the founding fathers for the ideas of the “modern family” and the “male-breadwinner family.” Collectively, their work has influenced how Americans analyze families and has sparked new ideas regarding the American family from sociologists such as Stephanie Coontz and Arlie Hochschild. However, when studying the American family, Parsons and Bales fail to understand that the “ideal” family may not be so ideal for everyone. They neglect to consider societal influences and economic changes when discussing patriarchal social norms as the most optimal family structure. Their description of the male-breadwinner family consists of the father being the “instrumental leader” within the home, providing economically for his family based on his occupational earnings. Meanwhile, the mother is considered the manager of the household, providing for her husband and children physically, emotionally, and mentally.
Do you know the guiltiest pleasure of the American public? Two simple words reveal all—reality TV. This new segment of the TV industry began with pioneering shows like MTV’s The Real World and CBS’s Survivor. Switch on primetime television nowadays, and you will become bombarded by and addicted to numerous shows all based on “real” life. There are the heartwarming tales of childbirth on TLC, melodramas of second-rate celebrities on Celebrity Mole, and a look into a completely dysfunctional family on The Osbornes. Yet, out of all these entertaining reality shows arises the newest low for popular culture, a program based on the idea of a rich man or woman in search of the perfect marriage partner. The Bachelor, and its spin-off The Bachelorette, exemplify capitalist ideology founded on the Marxist base-superstructure model and establish the role of an active American audience.
Traditionally Kevin, his Father, Gary Hazen, and his brother, Gary David, all go out on the first hunt together at two in the morning after a breakfast of homemade pancakes, but this year is different. Kevin wants to break free from the life of his family and doesn't want to go on the hunt with his father and brother. He can't comprehend why his father is so set in his ways and Kevin doesn’t want to live his father's life. Gary is a forester and finds it important to work hard to most provide for his family and to conserve nature. Kevin, like most kids, doesn’t understand his fathers way of thinking, and wants to live his own life. A life away from Lost Lake. Kevin attempts to break free of his fathers lifestyle by attending a nearby college, in hopes to eventually become teacher. Gary isn't happy with his son's decision to go to school and Kevin can't understand his fathers views, which causes the two to butt heads throughout the novel. But a tragic accident suddenly leaves Kevin fighting for his and his fathers lives. Having to use the knowledge and skills that his father had taught Kevin suddenly suddenly realizes his dad was right after all.
The average America watches more than 150 hours of television every month, or about five hours each day (“Americans,” 2009). Of the 25 top-rated shows for the week of February 8-14, 2010, six were sitcoms, averaging 5.84 million live viewers each (Seidman, 2010), to say nothing for the millions more who watched later on the Internet or their Digital Video Recorders. The modern sitcom is an undeniable force in America, and its influence extends beyond giving viewers new jokes to repeat at the water cooler the next day: whether Americans realize it or not, the media continues to socialize them, even as adults. It may appear at first glance that sitcoms are a relatively benign force in entertainment. However, the modern sitcom is more than just a compilation of one-liners and running gags. It is an agent of gender socialization, reinforcing age-old stereotypes and sending concrete messages about how, and who, to be. While in reality, people of both sexes have myriad personality traits that do not fall neatly along gender lines, the sitcom spurns this diversity in favor of representing the same characters again and again: sex-crazed, domestically incompetent single men enjoying their lives as wild bachelors, and neurotic, lonely, and insecure single women pining desperately to settle down with Prince Charming and have babies. Sitcoms reinforce our ideas about what it is “normal” to be, and perhaps more importantly feed us inaccurate ideas about the opposite sex: that women are marriage-crazed, high-maintenance, and obsessed with the ticking of their biological clocks, while men are hapless sex addicts whose motives can’t be trusted. The way that singles are portrayed in sitcoms is harmful to viewers’ understanding of themselves...
For a large part of the history of TV sitcoms women have been portrayed as mothers or as having to fulfill the woman's role in the private sphere. Family based sitcoms were one of the forms of sitcom that keep women in these roles, but what is interesting is that even in other forms of sitcoms women do not truly escape these roles. Sitcoms, like Sex and the City and Murphy Brown showcase women whom have seemingly escaped these roles, by showing liberated women, but that does not mean that both do not fall into the gender role showcased in family sitcoms. It draws the similarities between ensemble sitcoms and family sitcoms when it comes down to the role of women. The starring women in both Sex and the City and Murphy Brown, and even the Mary
In Peter Berger's "Invitation to Sociology", the sociological perspective was introduced. Berger asserts that it is important to examine new or emotionally or morally challenging situations from a sociological perspective in order to gain a clearer understanding of their true meanings. This perspective requires a person to observe a situation through objective eyes. It is important to "look beyond" the stereotypical establishments of a society and focus on their true, hidden meanings. Consideration of all the hidden meanings of social customs, norms, deviations and taboos, allow one to establish an objective image about the truth behind it. This method can also be applied to understanding people. This questioning, Berger says, is the root influence of social change and personal understanding of others. To do this well, it involves much intellectual prowess and ability to reason.
become an amazing support system for Kevin. Kevin will always be a story of when things look
Before I started taking the course of sociology I wasn’t really expecting to learn anything, it was just supposed to be an easy online class. However, that was not the case. It challenged my mind. I started to see sociology all around me, starting with family, then friends, and how I see things overall in general. The fact that we have an everyday life in which there are patterns in ways of living is what sets a platform for a sociological breakdown and for being a part in what we do. A better way of understanding ourselves. We use sociology in many ways every day. One central and important study of sociology is the study of everyday social life. Everyday life and sociology are definitely two different words and situations, but they tend to hold a close relationship. While sociology is the study of the human interaction, everyday life consists of everyday human interaction. Everyday life is filled by human beings interacting with one another, ideas, and emotions. Sociology studies the interactions with all of these and shows how mere interaction resulted in things such as ideas. For an example, race and ethnicity are important concepts in the field of sociology and are ones that are studied a great deal. Race plays a large role in everyday human interactions and sociologists want to study how, why, and what the outcomes are of these interactions. Current sociological theories focus mainly on how there are many different factors in our everyday items of life, like movies. We were assigned a final to write a review for a movie in sociological form. The movie that was on the list that also happened to be one of my favorite movies, Toy Story. When we were assigned the assignment, I never thought about how in-depth it was with sociol...
Becker, Anne “Reality Helps: TV Turns to Life-Changing Shows.” Broadcasting and Cable 135.23 (2005): 20. Proquest. Web.24. 24 Nov. 2013.
Kocela, Christopher. “CYNICS ENCOURAGED TO APPLY: THE OFFICE AS REALITY VIEWER TRAINING” Journal of Popular Film & Television 37.4 (2009): 161-167. Web. 18 January. 2014.