All in the Family Comparison

The 1970’s hit television series All in the Family sparked controversy for its time in its third episode entitled “Judging Books by Covers”.  For this particular episode, this title is describing Archie’s discrimination of Roger, a friend of Mike’s who exemplifies a homosexual but is actually straight, and Archie’s close comrade and drinking buddy Steve, who is a burly, buff, retired baseball player who unknowingly to Archie, has been a homosexual throughout their entire friendship.

            In comparison to today’s typical family-based TV situation comedies, the extreme emphasis put solely on the issue of homosexuality displayed in the All in the Family episode is not as controversial as it would be in the present.  Archie demonstrates publicly to both Roger and Steve his disapproving stance on the issue of homosexuality. In the 1970’s, the issue of homosexuality was more foreign and abrasive than in the present. Homosexuals were more brutally scrutinized then than they are now due to several homosexuality movements.

            While there are several aspects in All in the Family that are dramatically different than present day family-based TV situation comedies, there are some similarities as well.  The typical gender roles are still somewhat enforced, having the women be the homemakers and the males being portrayed as the main source of income for the family who go out for drinks for “guy time”.  There is more family dispute in family-based sitcoms these days; however, All in the Family portrayed a functional yet not utopian family like family-based sitcoms in previous decades.

The current issues that are dealt with in our day-to-day lives are more directly addressed than they were in the 1970’s. This episode All in the Family dealt with the issues of homosexuality and sexism. The concept of publically and directly discussing such issues was unheard of at the time, thus All in the Family took a major risk addressing such issues.  While these issues prevail today, they are not as epic and controversial as they were in the 1970’s.  The lines between gay and straight and the stereotypical gender roles are more blurred.  Today’s family-based sitcoms constantly address issues such as teen pregnancy, poverty, crime, the financial crisis, as well as other present day issues.

            

The Radio Industry

Without belief and public support in a product, it is difficult to promote, publicize, and create demand for any product.  While several factors influenced the creation and rise of popularity of the radio in the 1920’s, I believe the most influential factor to be industrial interest.

The radio in 1920’s America became the central medium in households for many reasons.  The Effectiveness of Marconi’s wireless telegraph during the tragic titanic calamity sparked interest of the use of radio waves and their possibilities. The great potential available with the radio raised industries interest in the plethora of opportunities it had to offer.   The patent pool in 1920, which allowed several companies to make functioning radio transmitters and receivers, gave several companies the opportunity to establish successful broadcast stations.

With the increasing interest from industries came the popularity of the radio. The radio could provide entertainment with soap operas, suspense, sports, or detective dramas, leisure with a variety of music, and current events with local, national and international news. As Americans became better informed on issues involving not only their small communities but also nation wide issues, their sense of belonging to a nation grew stronger.  AT&T, who had the first station with advertisements, boosted the popularity of companies to buy airtime, making for the rise to a more lucrative radio industry.

 1920's radio equipment

Stereotyping

Isn’t it interesting how many people would confidently say that the media had no influence on their life? The only way this would ever be possible is if you were contained in a room for your entire life.  Regardless of your belief of the direct hypodermic needle theory or the multistep flow theory, the media constantly integrates into everyone’s personal lives and influences its consumers thoughts and actions. I believe that the media instigated and reinforces stereotyping so much that it has encroached on its consumers lives and to an extent the media dictates everyone’s day-to-day lives.

            Throughout the past few decades, the images and behaviors in the media have become more and more extreme. Some examples of this are the increasingly larger sizes of men’s bodies and muscles and the decreasing size of women’s waistlines. The media reiterates these images enough to have an influence to persuade consumers to live and act as the flawless “idealistic” stereotypical roles.  Not only do these images contort peoples minds to think that this is the perfect way of life, the actions portrayed through films and television shows are thought out to be normal. As the films Tough Guise and Killing us Softly show, the influences caused by the media can be so extreme as to convincing that killing people is okay (from possible influences of violent videogames or films) or instilling that pre marital sex and teenage pregnancy are not issues worth concern. The media has created many stereotypes that infringe on society and eventually shape the roles of different genders, age groups, races, and other groups.

            Even as varied race representation in the media is very persistent and even exceeds their representation in society, the roles are still stereotyped. Examples of this can be seen in Maid in Manhattan, Gossip Girl, Spanglish, and The Secret Life of Bees, all of which have maids from a variety of races except for white. Marisa Ventura (Jennifer Lopez) portrays a Puerto Rican from the Bronx, Dorota Kishlovsky (Zuzanna Szadkowski) is Polish, Flor Moreno (Paz Vega) is Mexican, and Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson) is black.  In each of these examples have their own stereotype as well. The Puerto Rican is a poor single mother in need of money to raise her child.  The polish maid is extremely loyal and has partially raised the child of the family she works for. The Mexican solely speaks Spanish, is a single mother, and has a close network of family and friends that she highly values. Lastly, the black maid is the rock and caretaker of the child of the family she works for and shows a lot of attitude. The media create many stereotypes that are reflected into our society and shape our culture and our perspective of the way things “should” be.

Post #2

Applying the idea of hegemony to previous media I have “received” has made me more aware of the discriminatory views of women and men in our everyday lives.  As reflected in the movie “Grease” with Olivia John Newton and John Travolta, women are commonly classified as inferior to men.

            In the film industry, it is most common to find women as vulnerable and oblivious housewives that cater to their husbands or lovers. Because this stereotype of women as the inferior gender is reiterated to the public through all forms of media, it is reflected and perceived as “natural”.  The public is naïve to the influences of the media that contort and somewhat control the roles of gender in our society.

            The portrayal of the subordination of women to men is exemplified in the movie Grease. In the clip provided below, is one of the closing scenes to the film. Sandy has traded her conservative good girl attire of saddle oxfords and poodle skirts for a rebellious revealing outfit of red high heels, tight black leather pants and a cigarette hanging from her lips.  While Danny has also traded out his t-bird leather jacket for a light blue more conventional sweater, he quickly throws it off with excitement to see Sandy’s new look.  The shots now focus more on Sandy’s butt and curves more than they have the entire film.  Sandy is accommodating to Danny’s needs to satisfy him and to prove to him and his friends that she’s good enough for them. This example provides evidence that women are regarded as vulnerable and inferior to men, suggesting that they should alter themselves to serve and pleasure men for happiness. 

Grease "You're the One that I Want"