The “Shaquille O’Neal Motors” episode from the series “Fresh off the Boat” shows an immigrant family and how they’ve come to live and adapt to living in America. Fresh off the Boat depicts an Asian-American family with 3 kids. The mother and father seem to be careful with what they spend their money on. The kids seem to be happy with each other however they do want expensive items they’re parents can’t get them such as the slip and slide hotdog. The mother and father are happy with each other but it is clear that the mother likes to save her money and count her pennies. This is done clearly to make fun of the fact how immigrant families tend to be more frugal. There are other incidents where these parodies of immigrant families are made, such
After viewing an episode of I Love Lucy, positive aspects of family and financial issues can be clearly seen in the 1950s. The Ricardo's are middle class, Ricky works as a club band leader and Lucy stays home and `poured all her energies into their nuclear family.' (37) This is a positive side of the 1950s because compared to a few decades before, `women quit their jobs as soon as they became pregnant,' (36) and concentrated more on raising children. These families were much more stable and made almost `60 percent of kids were born into male breadwinner-female homemaker families,' (37) which is a important factor for children to have a good childhood.
Two families, the Stanleys and the Neumanns, are chosen to be documented and videotaped over a period of 20 years. Over this time between 1991 to 2011, these two american families go through what is supposed to be the american dream. This documentary is called “Two American Families.”
Nelson Johnson, author of “Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times and Corruption of Atlantic City”, is a native of Hammonton, New Jersey. Johnson graduated Villanova Law School in 1974, after receiving his Bachelor’s degree in 1970 from St John’s University in New York, majoring in political science. Johnson began his political career in 1975: being elected to Atlantic County’s Board of Chosen Freeholders, where he served until 1985. Johnson had a successful private practice culminating in appointment to be a Superior Court Judge in 2005. It is interesting to note that Gromley, who nominated Johnson to Superior Court, is featured in his book. Of further interest is that Johnson served on Atlantic City’s Planning Board at the conception of casinos.
Different Strokes, which was first televised November 3, 1978, was one of the better, most influential shows of that time. This show was a perfect example of how minorities were portrayed to be unable to support themselves. The African American family characterized in this show was a single mother family, leading to the belief that most African American children were without a father in their lives. In agreement with the stereotypes of the time, their income was also low because the mother was a housekeeper. The audience may presume that she had no other skills than housekeeping which leads to the negative belief that African Americans have no job skills. In addition to these family problems and income issues, the children spoke slang and were even referred to as ghetto.
All towns, cities, and areas have their own specific traits. Small towns tend to be more like a family, while big cities tend to be more passive. Then there are the small areas where people do not make much money and struggle to get by. These areas tend to be more violent and more influenced by drugs and alcohol. This is the area that Andre Dubus III grew up in, in his memoir Townie. His parents were divorced and neither of them made much money so he and his two sisters and brother ended up moving from one small crummy neighborhood to another. In these neighborhoods he would get involved in the wrong crowds and end up doing drugs, drinking, and fighting. This became a way to show power. The most powerful people were strong and always came out on top in fights, had all the drugs and alcohol, and therefore all the power. This drove many people to fight so that they could move up this chain of command. No one wanted to be the bottom because that was the position of the most abused people of the neighborhood. This need and fear is what drove Andre to fight and the understanding of this fear is what drove him away from fighting.
I think that the narrator of "Looking for Work" is attracted to the kind of family life portrayed on American television because he also wants to have a family like those, he wants to be rich and be liked by white people.
The Frontline documentary “Two American Families” produced by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), portrays the life of two typical middle class families living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Frontline Video, 2013). This follows the life of the Neumann family and the Stanley family as they pursue the ideal type of life, The American Dream, from 1991 through 2011 (Frontline Video, 2013). However, the pursuit of their fantasy quickly turned into a fight for economic struggle (Frontline Video, 2013). These struggles were all brought about by the new shaping economy (Frontline Video, 2013). At the beginning of the documentary, the Neumann family seemed well put together (Frontline Video, 2013).
The film Cadillac Records is a biopic that retells the story of a few major R&B artists during the 1950s and 1960s. The film mainly focuses on the characters Muddy Waters and the Leonard Chess. The film later includes other famous artists such as Chuck Berry, Etta James, and Little Walter. It also briefly shows Mick Jagger, from The Rolling Stones near the end of the film, and occasionally Howlin Wolf and Hubert Sumlin make an appearance.
The novel “The Color of Family Ties”, by Naomi Gerstel and Natalia Sarkisian, through their research they found out that the ratio of disorganized family for Black and Latino/a families are higher than White families. That white families are more nuclear, which means a couple with their dependent children. In contrast, Black and Latino/a families has a high ratio that they often live with their extended families (Naomi and Sarkisian 47). This novel ties in to the “Looking for Work” novel because Gerstel and Sarkisian shows a research regarding how Latino families are disorganized, and the way how Mexican families lives are just like Gary’s family, the extended family. We know that Gary’s family are disorganized, but nevertheless, Gary has extended families members who he lives together with. Gary’s family showed solidarity love by just help each other out and spending time together. “We ran home for my bike and when my sister found out that we were going swimming, she started to cry because she didn’t have fifteen cents but only an empty Coke bottle”(24 Soto). This is Gary’s cousin Debra who needs fifteen cents to go to the swimming pool, of course Gary and his friend helped Debra out. Other time that showed Gary’s family love is that Gary’s mother always let Gary’s play with his friends outside, not because she does not love Gary is because
Since television came into existence, it has evolved into a useful tool to spread ideas, both social and political, and has had a great effect on the generations growing up with these heavily influential shows. To these younger generations, television has taken the role of a teacher, with the task of creating a social construction by which many of us base our personal beliefs and judgments on. This power allows television shows take the opportunity to address problems in a manner that many audiences can take to heart. Many television shows present controversial topics in a comical matter, in some ways to soften the blow of hard-hitting reality at the same time bringing attention to the issue being addressed. In the television show, Everybody Hates Chris, season one, episode four entitled “Everybody Hates Sausage”, the stereotypes that continue to fuel racism are examined in a satirical motif, and class is presented in a comical way, but carries serious undertones which present a somewhat realistic view of the different social strata within the United States.
It is true that “The George Lopez Show” does not stoop to the usual levels of stereotyping Hispanics as lazy or gang members (Morales, 2002). For the most part the show does a good job in portraying Hispanics in a non stereotypical way, however, the way that certain characters on the show talk, such as the mother and the brother, are very much the stereotypical Mexican dialect. Also, Lopez’s children are extremely lazy, which is stereotypical of the Hispanic culture, although its also very abundant in teenage culture too (Morales, 2002).
The family goes through struggles, such as their son having dyslexia, their daughter joining private school, and George trying to find his biological father. Many of the statements and visuals portrayed are those that negatively illustrate how Mexicans and Cubans act.... ... middle of paper ... ... Social Cognition (2008): 314-332. Browne. "
Suga Boom Boom (Chasing Dragons) was written and sung by D. L. Downer a.k.a. James Williams and his 16-year-old niece Laleazy. It is a rap and hip-hop song that was released on October 26, 2014. It was produced as a single by MajorEpic music label and is two minutes and fifty-five seconds long. This song is a metaphor for James Williams’ life and it is about a man who was working and living his life like everyone else when he was led to try heroin for the first time. This caused him to lose his job because he was not going to work. One day when he was going through severe withdrawals, he decided to attack and rob a man, even though he was in clear view of the cops because he wanted more heroin. Suga Boom Boom is like a metaphor for James Williams’
shows an African-American family struggling to get out of the poverty line, which is stopping them
People with a lower socioeconomic status convey the impression that they rely on their culture to help them with the world or their lives. Which, in turn, shapes what they value. For example, in “Everyday Use”, the mother states, “I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of style” (SB page 64). The mother has a low economic status and she believed that the quilts could help Dee but Dee, who has a higher socioeconomic status thinks the complete opposite. This shows that people with less attachment with money will decide to rely and value on cultural items (quilts specifically in “Everyday use”) to aid them in life. Another example, in “My mother pieced quilts”,