South Park is widely regarded as a contentious television program, but the season thirteen episode “The F Word” “was remarkable for breaking with the usual satirical format and proposing serious arguments for reconstructing the language we use to describe homosexuality” (Schulzke, 2012, p. 24). In his article on South Park, Schulzke argues that one of the show’s few unambiguous social positions is its stance on equal treatment for homosexuals, and that this specific episode makes a credible case to change how the word “fag” is defined and used. Many examples across multiple seasons, starting in the fourth episode, are explored to show the position that the program has taken on equality of rights and treatment for homosexuals. Later, when discussing “The F Word”, he suggests that although the writers may not have known it, they use multiple concepts, such as “meaning as use” and “social construction of meaning” (Schulzke, 2012, p.28) in an attempt to look at and redefine the hate word, and then acknowledge that the final value of a word comes from the linguistic community. Also suggested is the strength of the message inside of the episode, namely, that the multiple repetitions of the theme, whether blatantly stated by the characters or shown more subtly through different segments should more than suffice to display the message of the episode to a large majority of viewers. …show more content…
30).
Roseanne was a hit sitcom that debuted in the late 80s and continued into the late 90s. It was one of the most watched shows of its time despite the controversy that surrounded it. The series still airs on popular television networks today but, because it functionally paved the way, it is not considered questionable in today’s society. Although the show had its share of controversial issues and what was then thought to be “inappropriate” dialogue, the America population continued to tune-in to Roseanne and empathized with the weekly problems the Conner’s would face. The show depicted life much like people actually experienced it (and still do) and therefore captured the hearts of America, which translated to a better acceptance of the material folks found inappropriate or unacceptable. Over time, as people were more often exposed to the matters that Roseanne felt were pertinent, the disputes became fewer and the issues surrounding them became irrelevant. Dealing with issues such as sex, homosexuality, and a not so functional family, Roseanne proved to be very functional to society as a whole.
In the article “Dude You’re a Fag: Adolescent Homophobia” the author uses pathos and logos to convey the audience the main point of her article. Rhetorical modes such as exemplification and description are used. C.J. Pascoe is trying to argue that the word “fag” or “faggot is not mainly used as a homophobic slur within high school boys, but more commonly used to describe unmasculinity.
Everybody Loves Raymond Everybody Loves Raymond is a family sit com television show about a married father of 3 children residing across the street from his parent’s house, therefore, his family are constantly interrupted by the kids, his brother, and parents. Season 1 episode 1 starts off with Raymond and his wife struggling to balance life with kids, work, and family. Since his wife is a stay at home mother of infant twins and a 3 year old girl, Raymond allows his wife to take a day off with her girlfriends and to enjoy herself without the supervision of his parents, inviting them without permission or an advance notice. As a result, Raymond’s failure to satisfy his family by lying soon gets caught. The scene allows him the perfect opportunity to voice out his feelings about the privacy of his own house.
Maddie Brown of Sister Wives is already engaged, but this hasn't all aired on the show yet. Us Magazine shared a preview of the upcoming season of Sister Wives where Maddie Brown will tell the family all about her big engagement. In this preview, the family is all at Janelle's house so they can hear this great news from Maddie. Kody explains that Madison has been visiting Caleb and just got back.
“Everybody Loves Raymond” is a television show that only few people today can actually say they had not seen this sitcom. It was one of the highest rated show during it run on CBS television network but has anyone ever noticed how much of a gender stereotype bonanza this show was? Most sitcoms follow the same pattern with the primary goal to make us laugh that, we tend to ignore the obvious and just assume this was the expected behavior for men, women even children in our society. I watched the first two episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond, the show was about a stay at home mother Debra and her husband Raymond who goes to work, while her in-laws who lives across the street are always barging in to her home without a thought about what
The main characters are Kenny, Kyle, Stan, and Eric. Kenny speaks in a muffled and indiscernible voice, he is from a poor family and is usually killed in every episode, which is always followed by Stan saying, “Oh my God! They killed Kenny”. Stan is considered “a normal, average, American, mixed-up kid”. Kyle is considered the most intelligent with the highest morals and is Jewish. Eric is aggressive, prejudiced, and emotionally unstable usually complaining when he does not get what he wants. South Park uses humor and satire to show social problems and issues in society. For example in a recent episode a police officer shoots a six year old Latino boy in the arm and results in the town not wanting the police’s assistance. In the show Randy the father of Stan says, “We’ve only had a Whole Foods for a month, and we already no longer need cops.” Then when the public requires the assistance the police deny them it since they are going to a luau and too busy to do any real police work. He also reminds the town of their constant harassment of the police. Dan Caffrey a writer for A.V Club says, “It’s not until Officer Barbrady’s (police officer who is considered unintelligent) mistake that everyone develops a real problem with the cops, and even then, it’s not because of genuine concern for the little boy or potential (albeit nonexistent) racist motivations of the act; it’s just another case of them jumping on a bandwagon that has PC Principal (principal who takes political correctness to an extreme) at the yoke.” Caffrey means that no one in the town cares about the child or even the racist cops but rather join the charade because of PC Principal. Much like how society is today with people hoping onto the bandwagon just because for some reason they cannot think for themselves. Which is a common trend in South Park. South Park uses it setting and characters
Jeffery Weinstock asserts in his book Taking South Park Seriously that South Park “intrepidly wades into the American ideological fray” (14). The episode Manbearpig utilizes a simple monster story to address an important ideological issue facing America. Much like stories about werewolves arose from fears regarding feudal society, and how the story of Godzilla arose from fears about nuclear warfare, the story of Manbearpig arises from issue of global warming.
NBC network’s The Office is definitely a show that a lot of youth watch nowadays or well, used to at the least. Some people are amused by the show’s style of humour, however many are not so entertained. Personally, I find that the style of humour in this particular show is used to depict hegemonic relationships and stereotypes that exist in modern culture. Thus, for this specific reason, I will attempt to apply and analyze the theme of cultural hegemony to The Office.
The twelfth and thirteenth episodes of South Park’s tenth season, “Go God Go” and “Go God Go XII”, work as pieces of comedy because they effectively uses humorous triangular formats. Both episodes satirize extremist behavior involving religion and atheism. The episodes usually show situations that involve the audience watching a humorous exchange between two parties. On occasion, the audience watches one character being made fun of, but overall the jokes involve the audience observing an exchange between two parties. The creator’s also use the characters to demonstrate their own beliefs and criticisms.
In “Dude, You’re a Fag,” multiple boys that were interviewed said they “didn’t like gay people” and were disgusted by gay men but lesbians were “good” (Pascoe). These boys only viewed female homosexuality as “good” because of its place in the heterosexual male fantasy and not because they approved of homosexuality as a legitimate and accepted sexuality (Pascoe). The binary gender system creates a male dominated society that allows for only female homosexuality to exist because even through it goes against the strict normative heterosexuality it can still be a source of pleasure for men. Male homosexuality, however, is not accepted because in a male dominated world it is associated with not being masculine. Through the use of the slur “fag,” people demean and emasculate boys and men (Pascoe). The use of “fag” against someone does not imply that they are homosexual; instead, Pascoe’s study and interview of high school age boys shows that it is used to say that a person is not masculine and therefore not conforming to their gender roles. Even though women can be sexually fluid and have intimate relationships with other women, it is not viewed as legitimate sex because there is no penis involved. Women are allowed by society to have sex with whomever they want, as long as they are still able to perform their gender role as wives and birth givers. In contrast, in
...,1994:246-247. Geraci, Joseph and DonaldH. Mader. "Pedophillia." Encyclopedia of Homosexuality Ed. Wayne R Dynes. Garland Publishing, Inc , New York, 1990: v2, 964-970. Hamill, Pete. "Confessions of a Heterosexual." The Aims of Argument. A Rhetoric and Reader. 2nd Ed. Timothy W. Crusius and Carolyn E. Chanell: Mayfield Publishing, Mountain View, California,1998: 531-536. Mohr, Richard D. "Gay Basics: Some Questions, Facts, and Values." Taking sides: Clashing Views on controversial Issues. Moral Issues. 4th Ed. Stephen Satris: The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc, Guilford,1994:186-194. Nickel, Jeffrey. "Everybody’s Threatened by Homophobia." The Aims of Argument. A Rhetoric and Reader.2nd Ed. Timothy W. Crusius and Carolyn E. Chanell: Mayfield Publishing, Mountain View, California, 1998:527-530. Schuklenk,Udo and Tony Riley. "Homosexuality, Social Attitudes Toward." Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics. Editor-in -Chief Ruth Chadwick. Academic Press: San Diego, 1998: v2, 597-603. Ulanowsky, Carole. "The Family." Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics. Editor-in-Chief Ruth Chadwick. Academic Press: San Diego, 1998: v2,
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.
The show South Park was first aired in August of 1997, and was similar to shows like Family Guy or The Simpsons in terms of pushing the limits of acceptable television to gain their audience. Since its creation the show is still infamous for its crude humor, vulgar language, and suggestive dialogue. Episode 2 of season 19 is the perfect example of the creators mixing satire and irony to give the audience a clear yet humorous view on immigration in America today.
For many people comedy simply means getting a laugh out of something, but in reality, comedy can be used for more than that. Due to its volatility, stand-up comedy tends to draw criticism for being offensive and for spreading negative stereotypes. This, however, is a sign of social progress because it means that comedians are pushing social boundaries. Stories and expressions that are normally unacceptable are met with laughter and agreement when they are told on stage (Cohen 2). The fact that the content is sugar-coated in humor makes it easier to digest matters that are often looked at as being taboo. When the audience laughs at such taboo subjects it leads them to seek out and explore those subjects. When thinking about a comedian that talk about controversial topics, one comedian stands out the most in my mind and that is Dave Chappelle. Chappelle used his voice to challenge audiences to see the world from his perspective and discuss the institutional racism that African Americans faced in American society. The Chappelle Show served as a channel for his audience to navigate racism and racial
Before analyzing the comedic content in question, it is important when drawing on a variety of sentiments from comedians to understand that many performers use a character or parody for their humor. Others choose to voice opinions and views contrary to their own, in the hopes of receiving a certain reaction from a specific audience. In referring to the material of writers and comedians, one must respond to the beliefs they promote (which can be known), rather than those they espouse, which cannot.