For my junior theme, I am reading a book called Glued to the Set by Steven D. Stark. Its about television shows from the forties, by century, all the way up to the nineties. What I found interesting while reading this book, is to compare eras. For example, "The Dick Van Dyke Show" was a television show that came out in 1961. It was about a very successful suburban couple with an upscale life. It was an all white family, with one son. The show consisted of nights out with friends, bar mitzvahs, etc. An issue on the show was marriage counseling. Nothing much out of the box. Now look at "All in the Family," a show that came out in 1971, ten years after Dick Van Dyke. All in the Family is a sitcom displaying a downscale, lower-middle class lifestyle. Issues like racism, homosexuality, rape, miscarriage, abortion, and war all played a significant role in the show. Now lets look a bit more modern, to "Roseanne" which aired from 1988-1997. This show revolved around a working class family, struggling to get by. A portly mother (Roseanne) and father, two daughters, a son, a crazy aunt, all encompassed the show. Issues such as poverty, alchoholism, teenage pregnancy, race, social class, domestic violence, were all a reality for the family.
It is amazing to me to see such change in television over the years. Yesterday I was talking to a specialist from Columbia College downtown and she strongly believed media reflects a truthful image of our society today. Yet also she said, media has a positive impact on us and the realm of television is the absolute best place for such issues to be discussed. What do you think television says about us? Does media portray the reality of our society?
Sarah-
ReplyDeleteIt's really interesting that as the shows got more modern the issues presented in them got heavier and more serious. I don't think you could say that there were less race issues or teenage pregnancies or domestic violence instances in the 60's than in the 90's (although I don't know for sure), but I do think the media was accurately reflecting society. People were less likely to expose and talk about their issues in the 60's than in the 90's, so it makes sense that the TV shows in each era would reflect the level of privacy and openness of the times.