Television

It’s remarkable to think about how much television has changed throughout the last decade. I honestly can’t remember television shows before reality TV and raunchy teenybopper shows. If you consider what we watch nowadays, it is so much dirtier than before. I remember television shows where it was unheard of to cuss or even allude to sex. Not to mention alluding to characters being gay. Now with shows like Glee and Secret Life of an American Teenager discussions of sex and gays are prominent. Even same sex kissing has become a normal occurrence of television shows. Socially, these shows set a very clear example of what is expected in today’s society. We feel that we are encouraged to explore our sexuality and follow it wherever it may lead. What happened to shows that taught ethical and moral values? It makes me scared to have children knowing these are the influences that will teach them wrong morals.

On the other hand, every major television channel isn’t complete without it’s fair share of reality shows. There is a reality show for every genre imaginable. Dating shows like The Bachelor give desperate women a chance to win a guy’s heart. Even MTV has their take on dating where the individuals in the show are given obscure nicknames and use any (and I mean ANY) means necessary to interest the guy. And the competition shows like Survivor and So You Think You Can Dance give individuals a chance to win loads of money. I mean there are so many shows on every channel that I can’t even name them all. Reality television has become so prevalent that it is a bit ridiculous. But somehow society is absorbed in watching other people do silly things. It’s intoxicating, I even found myself having to pick and choose my reality shows so they don’t overlap in airings. Oh, but now with recordable TV, our show choice is almost endless. We can watch one show while we are recording another and watch that one later. And we can fast forward through those pesky commercials that find there way right in the middle of a juicy part of the show. So what do we do with all the television has to offer? 

Seinfeld

Can I say sigh of relief. I can honestly say I was nervous going into this project. I had very little time for extra projects and I had never seen Seinfeld before. Fortunately the other members of the group did a fantastic job communicating via email making sure everyone was informed as to what was going on. I have never been in a group project where all the members communicated so well online (since that was the easiest way to send out information). We had started communicating weeks before the project was due, setting up times to meet to have a group watch of the show. Sadly, I was unable to meet because my work schedule was right in the middle of everyone’s free time. So I watched as much as I could find online (which was no easy task, its as if they don’t want to let you watch the show). We all spent time researching into the deeper meaning of the episodes as well as dig deeper into the theory of the Barker book. We split the topics amongst the group to better lead our discussion in class. Sandy, Jackie and Patriccia did an outstanding job typing up our information and organizing it for everyone. Like I said earlier, this group did a wonderful job communicating and staying on task. I think the presentation went beautifully.

In class we discussed several episodes and their relevance to radical romance. Honestly, all the episodes in all the seasons were oozing with radical romance. It was difficult narrowing it down to just a few. I feel the episode “The Deal” was a great one to present because it dealt with two individuals who created a deal so they could have friendship and sex without effects. In no way does that depict ‘normal’ romance. And then we discussed whether Seinfeld was the “norm” or the “other”. I feel like they are both. At the time when the show aired, I think it would have been perceived as the “other”. The topics of the episodes were so radical that it was the first time sex was brought up in a television series. Seinfeld paved the way for other shows to discuss these new topics. That is why I feel that now the show would be perceived as the “norm”. Our society has become so numb to these topics that we think of it as normal everyday life. It is so interesting how television and mass media has influenced our way of thinking. Just a few years ago, talking about gay people on television was unheard of let along same gender kissing. Now its hard to find a show that doesn’t have individuals portraying themselves as being homosexual.

Materialism and Pop Culture

Materialism is what makes culture, pop-culture. Materialism according to Susan Bordo is simply that we are not satisfied with ourselves. Bordo quotes "...we can 'choose' our own bodies." Either by diet and exercise or by surgical alterations, we can make ourselves into whatever we like. But how does that happen? How do we have such a disgust of ourselves? Culture. The life we live and the things we surround ourselves with tell us how we should be. Television, magazines, movies, and our peers all influence what is perceived as "beautiful." An interesting comment was brought up in class, the student inserted that when perms were all the rage, it seemed as if all the girls with straight hair wanted to perm it so it would be curly and all the girls with curly hair would spend hours straightening it. And it was so true. When I was little, I wanted to perm my hair curly because I thought it was so cool to have curly hair. I didn't end up doing it, and I am so thankful. The culture was telling me that that was what I should do. The American culture has ingrained in us the idea that we need to be dissatisfied with what we have. It has also told us that even if we are dissatisfied with what we have, it's ok because we can buy our way to happiness. It's sad, but it's the truth.