The Huxtables used tough love to encourage them to watch the choices they make. Before I begin with a particular episode of The Cosby Show, I just have to say how the Huxtables handled their middle daughter Vanessa with her traveling to Baltimore, Maryland and not telling her parents. I know my mother would have been very mad with me, because I did not tell her where I was going. As well as lying to her about what I was going to be doing. I know I would definitely get into a lot of trouble with my mother if I ever did such a thing like what Vanessa did. I would not even want to face my mom, if I had lied to her and disobeyed her rules and blatantly disrespect her. Vanessa decided to ran away to Baltimore, Maryland with her friends to see a …show more content…
band called, “The Wretched”. She told them she was going over a friend’s house. While her parents were waiting for her to come back. They got a call from a bus station where Vanessa was at, and it was not a pretty sight when she got home. According to the YouTube video Vanessa explained to her parents what happened in Baltimore. “We gave our tickets to a man who said he was with the band; and he wasn’t and he stole them. Someone stole Janet’s wallet, we ran away and we bumped into this guy, Freddie Screwy; a friend of Janet’s brother who gave us bus fare.” Clair says, “You were lucky to find someone to get your little sorry selves and take pity on you.” Vanessa says, “Mom I’m sorry. I’m sorry it’ll never happen again. Can I please just have my punishment?” Clair says, “Vanessa please your father and I have been through too much this evening to be sitting up here thinking of a punishment for you.” Vanessa says, “But I’d like my punishment before I go to bed.” Clair lunges toward Vanessa and Cliff has to pull her back from actually hurting their daughter. Clair says to Vanessa, “Vanessa there is just one more thing I have to say to you. You have proved to us that you cannot be trusted. It’s going to be a very long time before we think about trusting you again.” Vanessa says, “Mom. I said I was sorry. This is not going to happen again.” Clair says, “For all I know you are lying right now GO TO BED!”(YOUTUBE VIDEO CITATION) According to the book, “The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture Considering Mediated Texts” the author, Deanna D. Sellnow explains what an economic metaphor means. “…to include anything (e.g., Images, language, objects, events, practices) that signifies (sheds light on) something about the culture’s ideas, norms, values, and practices regarding wealth and empowerment.” (2014, P. 118) This shows how the economic metaphor goes well with this particular scene in The Cosby Show. They are teaching Vanessa there is not going to be an easy way out of this situation. She is going to have to work quite hard to earn her parents trust back. This scene also shows how some parents discipline their children by teaching them they cannot go behind their parents back and do as they please and think it is okay. This scene also explains how The Cosby Show is a well-rounded family oriented show, but also showcased their children growing up and by the Huxtables using great parenting skills to raise their children. Clair Huxtable was a very valuable character in The Cosby Show. She played such a strong woman on the show; I even idolized her in a way. Clair was very classy, smart, a successful lawyer, and she was the mold that held the family together. Clair Huxtable played by the very talented Phylicia Rashad; showed how important having family values are and how to be a classy woman in society. According to the book, “The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture Considering Mediated Texts”, the author Deanna D. Sellnow goes in a little deeper with what neo-Marxist materialism means. “…today posits that all ideas, rules, laws, norms, customs, and social practices of a given society come to be based on real, concrete, observable objects, conditions, and practices related to material possessions and wealth.” (2014, P. 118) In a particular episode of The Cosby Show Vanessa gets into a fight at school because her friends called her a “Rich Girl”.
Members of the pep squad at her school came over and she showed them the $11,000 dollar painting her parents bought. Vanessa really wanted these girls to like her, so she told them how much her parents spent on the painting. Mrs. Huxtable told Vanessa what it really means to be rich. According to the video, “Vanessa’s Rich”, Clair says, “Rich is when your money works for you, not when you work for the money, and we work hard for the money. But I mean it’s okay, we’re proud of what we have and we’re happy to share it with our children.” She also says to Vanessa, “And Vanessa I hate to be the one to tell you this, but yes you are rich. Not because of things, but because you have a family who loves you.” (YOUTUBE VIDEO CITATION) She really wanted to show Vanessa how there is more to her than what she has materialistically. Vanessa learned from her mother, money doesn’t make you who you are, it’s the values you have within yourself, and your personality which attracts people to you. In this particular scene Vanessa’s friends believes Vanessa displays hegemony. Deanna D. Sellnow explains, “…hegemony is the privileging of a dominated group’s ideology over that of other groups.” (2014, P. 117) From judging how the Huxtables raise their children, Vanessa doesn’t believe she is, “above” anyone else at the school she goes too. The girls who Vanessa goes to school with are the ones who have the issue, not Vanessa. The Huxtables teach their children many valuable lessons, and the show as a whole showcased African-Americans in a different light than how some African-Americans are viewed. Clair Huxtable showed how African-American are not always loud, ghetto, have no sense of home training, or not even modest. Instead she showed how African-American women can be classy, the head of the household, smart, successful, and be well dressed. Clair took the
typically stereotype of African-American women and changed it which benefited African-American women. As being the rhetorical scholar, I have grown to become. I began watching The Cosby Show with my mother when I was about 10 years old; I saw how the children were being raised and how the Huxtables were raising their children, and it reminded me of how my mother raised me. She raised me with morals, and values in which I still hold today. To go back to what the Neo-Marxist Perspective it states, “…helps to expose how material conditions and economic practices shape dominant ideology regarding take-for-granted assumptions about who “ought to be” and “ought not to be” empowered.” (Sellnow, D. Deanna, The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture Considering Mediated Texts, 2014, P. 115) This show demonstrated how African-Americans could break the stereotype of always accepting a hand out from others. The Cosby Show is significant in 2016, because it showed how African-American people could get out of the neighborhood where they once lived in. They could raise their children to be young scholars similar to them. The Huxtables resemble Barack and Michelle Obama. They are both classy people, who are very smart and work hard for everything they had and share it with their children. This show was one that really touched many families over the years. This show was a perfect example of the Neo-Marxism perspective because it not only was the family show of its time period, but it will also be a show in which motivates future of African America families to come.
Growing up, Jeannette and her siblings never seemed to be jealous of the wealthy. They weren’t
(Lorna Simpson) majority of Simpson 's work uses the black woman’s body and embraces every part of it, from her skin tone, to her hair, and every one of her facial features. Lorna Simpson does not care that people are offended by her artwork because it is not intended for them, she makes it clear that if you are taking umbrage to her work than it is simply not intended for you. (Lorna Simpson) Lorna Simpson’s message to little black girls is beyond powerful because representation is very important, Lorna has a young daughter and she said that she never wants her daughter to feel like she is not important. We live in a society that sees black kids as both less innocent and older than white children, not so much with little girls but also with young black males. A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that “black boys can be seen as responsible for their actions at an age when white boys still benefit from the assumption that children are essentially innocent. The U.S. Department of Education revealed in a report that black children face discrimination as early as preschool.” (Naadeyah Haseeb 1) black kids need people to look up to for how to live and feel confident just as adults do and that is why Lorna Simpson does not care about people criticizing her work and not appreciating it because she is appealing to an audience that needs her work as
Raven Symone has been a popular black entertainer since her days in the Bill Cosby Show, however, in recent years she told Oprah that she does not want to be identity as black and gay because she is tired of labels (Merhl 2016). Indeed, American culture loves to label everything, however, to reject one’s own intersectionality is rejecting the very existence of the injustice people of color have suffered. Symone, refusing her blackness, had conformed completely to whiteness since she knows by doing so, she can make an income. This can be seen when The Hunger Games casted black actresses to play some roles of characters: Rue, Thresh and Cinna. Although, Cinna’s skin was not mentioned, Rue and Thresh characters had dark or brown skin in the novel and yet people were upset that black people were casted in those roles in the movie (Stewart 2012). From a financial perspective, The Hunger Games movie was lucky that it was based off of a popular book series for it make the amount of money it made at the box office. In contrast, if the movie was not based off a popular book, the movie box office gross income would had been a flopped. Of course, Symone one of the many people of color who chose to still believe racism does not
The only type of media left out of Loewen’s article is social media and the younger generations are major consumers in the twenty first century. Watkins article uses the specific social media platforms Facebook and Myspace. Facebook typically had white users that were considered middle class. However, Myspace users were usually Black or Latino and came from the working class. People use social media to interact and trends of social stratification are apparent. TV is not interactive so the division of classes should not be as obvious, but “Poor people are more likely to watch TV.” (Loewen, 204). Hooks feels that “Television shows and films bring the message home that no one can truly feel good about themselves if they are poor.” (Hooks, 434). He uses Pretty Woman as evidence for this and says that the show portrays the ruling class or rich as “generous, eager to share, and as unattached to their wealth in their interactions with folks who are not materially privileged.” This sends a stronger message than interacting with others of a social media because it is not reality. TV can really send the wrong message to the poor or the rich. The privileged may get the idea that they have to take care of the poor, when the poor are hardworking people with values and morals just like the rich. From this the poor may see themselves as not as competent in society. Hooks mentions that self-esteem issues
Bill Cosby was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 12, 1937. He was the oldest of four boys. He had three brothers, and their names were: James, Russell, and Robert. His father ran away near Christmas time when he was very young and he had to get a job to help support the family.
This quote provided by Braxton is an example, “The show depicts an African American family trying to exist and survive in this world.” This quote tells of how even in a show they’re trying to survive to the next day, and this is the case for many African American families who live in dangerous cities today. Braxton appeals to the emotions of audience members that are facing this problem today, and that money is the root of all problems that determines a family’s socioeconomic status, and people with no money turn to
Marcus’s family is poor. His mother is a single parent. She is working long hours as a seamstress to provide for Marcus and her daughter, Sabrina, after her husband left the family. They live in a public housing estate referred to as the projects. Eddie has two parents that are both in jobs. They have a better economy than Marcus’s family, but Eddie doesn’t get as much money as he’d like to. They live in a private house in the same area of Queens as Marcus lives in. It is the beginning of the final term in high school, and parties and trips are coming up. The boys have saved up money to cover the expenses for a long time. But then, Nike comes out with a brand new pair of shoes in the basketball team’s colors, maroon and powder blue. Everyone on the team is getting a pair, and everyone will notice if the stars of the team haven’t got them as well. The boys consider themselves as too good for jobs, so th...
The words goth and emo while extremely similar are very different. The word goth is short for the full word of gothic and today means somebody who dresses in dark colors mostly black. The word emo is short for emotional and most commonly used to refer to teenagers that will dress in dark colors and is usually associated with depression for that group. The differences usually appear in the age groups, clothing style, and history in various media
My parents were pretty strict because all they asked for was respect, manners, and good grades, when we came home. Being raised in this family was just as crazy as hearing the neighborhood stories of “Agua Dulce” and like it was we always had our good days. My home on the other hand wasn’t quite good looking but I found pride and joy from living there all these years. Living in that house was always a war or a battle to fight for something that got us something special or fun in return or fight to get a spanking later on. Especially if you’re one of the little ones fighting for a big seat, but we all worked together sometimes. It was all fun even when my brother and I would go out to play football and
This is what will start to shape their values. To start of, in "Abuela Invents the Zero", Constancia has to take her grandmother to church even though she absolutely does not want to. At the church Connie is again embarrassed with her grandmother. One might say that she is inconsiderate and does not value family for who they are. "I keep my head down like I’m praying so as not to see or be seen." This is in the story, and she does these things to not be embarrassed by her grandmother. This would probably hurt her grandmother's feelings, knowing that her granddaughter does not value the way that she feels. Later on in the story an event takes place that changes Constancia values on other people and their feelings. Moving to the next part in Little Women ,Mary and her sisters go to eat their Christmas breakfast with all of the good food, but they are asked to make a self sacrificing decision. Their mother asks them to give up their delicious Christmas breakfast even though they were very hungry, and give it to a poor immigrant family that really needs it, and instead accepting gruel as their Christmas meal. "Not far away from here lies a poor woman with a little newborn baby. Six children are huddled into one bed to keep from freezing, for they have no fire. There is nothing to eat over there, and the oldest boy came to
In the show Jane the Virgin, we get to meet Jane Gloria Villanueva, a Latina from Miami. Jane is portrayed by Puerto Rican actress, Gina Rodriguez. Throughout the show, we get to meet this young ambitious girl that never gives up on her dreams despite how impossible they may seem. It is important to realize, that at the beginning of the show Jane is a full-time student at the University of Miami and works full time. Not to mentation, we see the daily struggles Jane faces with, for example, not having her own transpiration, family problems, and economic status that makes it nearly impossible for her to keep pursuing her education. Despite all the obstacles, she manages to get her Bachelor’s degree in education, and becomes valedictorian of her class. As a Latina, I would say it is heartwarming to see on television an encouraging Latina that demonstrates the daily struggles that most Latinas can relate to. Not to mention, Gina’s character does not dress in tight close compared to Sofia’s character. Unlike Gloria, Jane dresses in flowy clothes, to be more exact in flowy sun dresses, or just pants and a regular blouse. Vanity Fair states that Gina Rodriguez, “breaks down the ugly ethnic and gender stereotypes.” Gina Rodriguez tells Vanity Fair, “Latinos are not just our nanny’s and our landscape artist, although both of those jobs are very admirable and pay a lot of money, but that’s not all we do.” (Buckner). Overall, one can agree with Gina since Latinos are capable of doing so much more. Gina also mentions that we have come to the era where television is finally noticing that we too are doctors, lawyers, and even
The mother has written her own cookbook and has five children and one grandchild. They have two children in college at the moment doing well, and one is beauty pageant queen. The idea of the show portrays a family who lives under the fist of a very strict father because of the society that we live in he is very protective of his family's life some would even say controlling. The father Todd is a very strict father and just wants what's best for his children so he sets up many rules for his teenage children that always come with severe punishments when the children fail to follow. I can really relate to this program growing up as the only girl in my family with very strict parents, I sometimes see myself in Todd’s daughter situation. The way the show is portrayed in a comedic way and makes light of strict parenting, however
advice throughout my whole life by my family members. On not building up bad behavior
With the mentioning of Oprah we [the reader] see how race and even in some ways class inequalities...
...f any obstacles that they might face along the way. By showing that she can have the brains as well as the looks, she encourages young women to try harder to attend high class schools and to understand that with a little bit of extra work they can make it to the top of their area of work. Many women can see this as a trend that can help them achieve anything that they put their minds to. She can increase the amount of women applying for universities and jobs by inspiring them to do more than stay at home as housewives. And though the targeted audience knows that looks aren’t everything, they also know that the image they portray is extremely important in the work environment. Everyone knows that when you look good, you feel good, and having a positive state of mind is always helpful to better your chances of finding a healthy balance in all areas of your life.