Post-Identity Television: An Analysis

The inaccurate or lacking representations of LGBTQ people in media results in misconceptions about the community. Media, such as literature, television, and music, particularly those targeted towards middle

Saved by the Bell was a fictional show about high school students. “The writers of Saved by the Bell always seemed to suggest that most adolescents are exactly the same and exist solely as props for the popular kids, which was probably true at most American high schools.” (140) What happens when one looks at culture that is ultimately not real as being representative of

As the years have gone by, you can see the change of how gays and lesbians are widely seen in mostly every tv show or movie in today’s society. This is something most of our own parents didn’t even grow up seeing gays throughout the media. Living in today’s time period, you’re able to see how the influence has changed the way people see gays and lesbians. The nation has become more accepting of the gay and lesbian culture verses back in the days of when our parents and even grandparents were our age. Not only was is rare to see homosexuals on television, it was portrayed negatively, and now you can see it portrayed positively.

There are countless television shows in today’s media. The content of some shows is extremely poor and low in value it is arduous to find congenial content. Television shows are filled with violence, sex, or drugs, making it arduous to find a clean show that families can enjoy. A television show that has commendable moral values and overall positive content value is “Boy Meets World”. Corey Matthews (the main character) from “Boy meets World” serves as a positive role model for Millennials due to the fact that the show tackles real day to day issues such as drugs, that teenagers face and he is always able to do the ethical solution.

Deviance is a behavior, trait, belief, or other characteristic that violates a norm and causes a negative reaction (Ferris & Stein 154). The television Jane The Virgin embodies this sociological theory and is intended for an audience of young and older adults. Types of deviance that is featured is that Jane Villanueva who has hopes of being a teacher and author goes to the doctors for a routine physical examination. However, while there she accidentally gets artificially inseminated. The intended specimen was intended for a patient in the next room, the situation becomes even more shocking. In fact, the donor is Jane’s boss Rafael Solano whom she had a crush on a few years prior.

Similar to Sontag’s “Notes On Camp”, which “proposes a comic vision of the world” (Sontag 288), Ryan Murphy’s “Scream Queens” utilizes comedy to portray issues prevalent in society today. By “dethroning the serious” (Sontag 288) and being “playful” (Sontag 288) and “anti-serious” (Sontag 288), “Scream Queens” effectively accomplishes this feat. The TV series “Scream Queens”, deals with numerous social issues in society such as homosexuality, racism and eating disorders. However, through its comedy and lack of seriousness, this series is able to provide a sense of bluntness and harsh reality of these issues. By adopting this unique approach, this TV series’ use of comedy works, as it depicts these social issues in its true light, which many believe are non-existent, subsequently leading to society’s ability to tackle these issues directly and ‘head on’.

MTV, formally known as Music Television, is one of the most viewed networks on television today. Roughly thirty-three years old, it has changed the American culture drastically in more than just one way. Specifically targeting teens and young adults, the MTV network provides all of the most up to date gossip on celebrities, highlights the latest fashion trends, promotes versified lifestyles, and defines the music industry of our generation. However, this so-called “idolized network” has not always been this way. The American culture has been affected by MTV through the creation of the network, the transformation from simply just music television to inappropriate reality shows, and the promotion of inappropriate content.

One of the most evident changes in Disney entertainment products in the post-Walt era is the introduction of homosexual characters. Conservative Christian groups continue to argue that LGBTQ activists have a secret plan to advance homosexual lifestyles, thus destroying ‘traditional’ marriage ideas. This ‘Gay Agenda,’ according to groups such as the Southern Baptist Convention, is ‘apparent in Disney releases.’ For example, in Tangled, Flynn and Rapunzel visit a tavern that is filled with men with dreams associated with homosexuality, such as an interior designer and a pastry chef. Disney television shows have also presented homosexual characters and storylines, with Ellen Degeneres’ ‘coming out’ episode being the most infamous of the bunch. Recently, on Disney’s hit television show, Good Luck Charlie, two women were introduced to the cast as the homosexual parents of Charlie’s best friend, Taylor. However, even with the debut of these characters in the post-Walt era, the “basic American virtues and values” are still found in

Identity; Romance; Segregation; Beauty; Friendship; Within the film industry’s classic interpretation of female adolescents, these elements of teen culture are typically represented. A film’s demonstration of themes such as relationship tensions or social status struggles are that which attracts the popular viewership of female adolescents, for they are personally dealing with similar experiences. Furthermore, in continually representing the aforementioned traditional elements of teen culture, the film industry seems to make it so films’ story-lines and characterizations adapt to and directly reflect the era in which the film is set. This adaptation is significantly demonstrated in the popular teen films The Breakfast Club (1985), Clueless (1995), and Mean Girls (2004) as they each clearly and diversely characterize young women based on the distinct time period and the cultural attitude towards teen girls of that time. The Breakfast Club (1985) details five high school students in Illinois, a nerd, a jock, a bad boy, a weirdo, and a

In sociology, the term deviance refers to behaviors or attitudes which go against certain cultural norms. It is evident that deviance is a fascinating topic not only for sociologist, but for television industry and its viewers, as well. In recent years, increasing number of shows begun to feature individuals violating every kind of social norm from folkways to taboos. The Secret Life of the American Teenager, an American television series on the ABC Family television network, is one of the many contemporary shows that portray deviant behaviors on national television. It’s intended for the target audience of teens and their families who are trying to cope in a culture where teen girls and boys are sexually active.

The project I chose was project 3a.: Social Psychology on TV and the purpose of it was to evaluate a clip of a TV show and demonstrate how it illustrates social psychological concepts. I took an episode of a TV show named “The Big Bang Theory”, season 6 episode 4, and then evaluated a 4-minute clip in which the protagonist, Sheldon, is showing 2 social psychological concepts: prototypes and priming. I originally expected the outcome to be those concepts because I believed the actions in which Sheldon were participating in was in correlation to what the concepts are and because “The Big Bang Theory” is a show in which intellectual individuals interact with each other meaning for some interesting and awkward situations.

Nosedive is an episode in the British sci-fi series called Black Mirror. The meaning of a “Black Mirror” is the inevitable truth that once our computers and cell phones shut off, we have a dark reflection of what the advancement of technology has done to humanity and what’s left is a shell. This shell is all that remains of what society and technology has drilled into our minds, telling us we absolutely need the latest iPhone or video game. The driven main character Lacey is trying to boost her social ratings so that she can live a life of lavish and prosperity, but everything doesn’t turn out the way she hoped. This episode is a great way to show Identity, Conformity, and Society.

I chose the first episode of the very popular television program The Event. I viewed the first episode on Netflix, October 20, 2011. This program originally aired on NBC, September 10, 2010, and is titled “I Haven’t Told You Everything”. This program has a total of twenty two series to date and is classified as an action-adventure drama. After viewing a picture of the main characters with the synopsis of this program, I noticed immediately that this was a male dominated show. The picture shows seven people standing together and merely two of the seven are female. The premise of the story is about a man searching for his missing fiancé. The story line was a prime example of the gender male

The presence of dissociative identity disorder in the media is more common than one may presume. In the media, the portrayal of the disorder is very negative. The way the media shows the disorder only builds on the stigmatization already made for the disorder which is harmful and negative towards the people diagnosed with the disorder. Some of these portrayals include the movie Split and the television show Criminal Minds. Both of these and many other films show negative portrayals of people diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder.

The uprising of gay and lesbian entertainment in shows such as “Will & Grace,” Showtime series “Queer As Folk” and “The L Word,” has overthrown the former cookie cutter husband and wife TV series. Gay and lesbian affairs in the media emerged quickly after the coming out of Ellen Degeneres in her hit sitcom, “Ellen.” The comedian now has her own daytime talk show, achieving mainstream popularity for obvious reasons: she’s funny, down-to-earth, and openly gay. In earlier decades homosexuality was previously limited to a closet of taboos, where no one knew about it, and no one admitted to it. Primetime programming would never house a show in which gay men and lesbian women openly discussed their sex lives and sexual preferences, nor a show that based its entire plotline on gay and lesbian couples.