Relationship Portrayal Of Television : Displaying Maintenance Behaviors

Numerous studies have concluded that the content and amount of television programming watched by individuals – especially by children - has a direct result on the behavior of that individual. The behavior affected by television viewing can be anything from a desire for a certain food or material good to violent distemper (Zuckerman 1985.) Recently, more and more woman have given up their traditional role of raising their children opting instead to work during the day and leave their children to take care of themselves. Unfortunately, many children find that spending countless hours in front of the television to be a worthwhile way to entertain themselves. Most parents tell their children never to talk to strangers, but what they fail to realize is that every day their children are subject to the messages and ideas of strangers on the television. In fact, a study concluded that an average American by the age of 18 has spent more time watching television than they have spent in school; this study also went on the state that children spend more time watching television than any other activity besides sleeping. This may explain why an additional study revealed that if a child was told something by his or her parents and then viewed on television something that contradicted what the parents had said, four times out of five the child opted to believe the

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.

Watching television is such a common part of contemporary society, that most Americans adopted it as a part of their daily routine and watch television for at least an hour a day. Stanley Crouch, a poet, music and cultural critic, writes: “Whenever people pretentiously and proudly announce, “I don’t watch television,” they should follow it up with “I don’t look at America either”” (Masciotra 79). Television has become a part of many people’s lives. When the mass population watches the same television shows, movies, etc. they can all relate to each other, and thus unite them as an American. We look to TV shows to see how other people like us act on-screen. Aaron Morales, the author of American Mashup: A Popular Culture Reader states: “We watch movies, visit websites, and scour online profiles, all in an effort to glean from a variety of sources those traits that we feel best suit how we identify ourselves” (Morales 65). Movie characters can change the personalities and point of views in our society. Movies can inspire and motivate a society to change its social norms. For example, The Harry Potter Series is a well-known book that is popularized over the years through television advertisements. The reason Harry Potter is special is because he is like everyone else, but he is dealing with different problems. People can relate to the aspect of the characters and

Television networks are continually expanding their programming slates, and many in the past have switched to a year-round programming schedule that makes the phrase “summer return” basically absolute. On every channel, in every magazine, every darken theater, we see the way pop culture limits women’s role- girlfriends, victims, hookers, corpses, sex bombs, and “teases,” but why? Television, for most women, was the first place where they were able to visually see themselves represented. And for quite a while, they didn’t see much besides the loving wife, the dutiful daughter, gossiping girlfriends, fashion models, and the occasional maid, granny, or nanny. In Where the Girls Are: Growing Up

* For teens, television is a major source of information about sex. A survey conducted in 1997 by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 61 per cent of young teens, ages 13-15, rated entertainment media as their top source of information on sexuality and sex health. This should concern parents because although two-thirds of TV shows contain sexual content, only one in ten includes any reference to safe sex or the consequences of unprotected sex.

Most relationships, whether they are romantic or not, usually start off harmoniously. Then as time passes conflicts arise. When these conflicts arise, one feels and expresses a variety of emotions that result in positive or negative relationship behaviors. When negative behaviors erupt, the relationship becomes threatened if positive behaviors do not form. This was the situation between Leonard and Penny on The Big Band Theory. I will discuss the conflict, how they began to handle it, how they ended up handling the conflict, and my opinions of

Stronger bonds of affection and shared interests would form whenever the family gathered around the television sets. Media Historian Lynn Spigel states that,” Not only was it shown to restore faith in family togetherness,” Spigel notes, but TV did it “in splendors of consumer capitalism.” (Edgerton, p. 92) Postwar television promoters pushed the new “family togetherness” that TV viewing would generate within the family. The era of viewing TV in public setting did influence stations' early programming decisions and civic discourse about the new medium and its audience but it was brief. As stated by Edgerton, “By 1950, 45 percent of families who lived in those areas in which TV was available had purchased television sets. The camaraderie of watching in a bar was outweighed for many men by the convenience of watching it at home.” (Edgerton, p. 97) This supplements the social change of family togetherness in the early period of

The average American teenager watches three hours of television a day. Scientist Rebecca Collins conducted a study to see if watching sexual behavior on TV influenced teenagers’ own behavior. In her results, she found that watching shows with sexual content has a considerable

Watch the classical film Grease and one can understand how relationships function in Western Society. The film tells a story of a boy (Danny) and a girl (Sandy) who falls in love. Through a series of misunderstandings they break up, but still somehow care for each other. Through ballads such as Summer Night’s that are still popular today, the film shows how differently males and females view relationships. Films like Grease are like a mirror, reflecting societal values and how it socializes its members. It makes it clear that in relationships, males are socialized to view relationships as mostly a physical, sexual endeavor, while females view it as a perpetual bond –a deeper connection between the two individuals within a relationship.

Research has greatly indicated and proven that media exposure has an impact on the normative perceptions of substance use and relationship behaviors among adolescents. Studies have shown that media content and patterns of usage are considerably related to adolescent perception of gender roles, romantic relationships, and sexual behavior. Repeated contact or subjection to sexualize subject matter on television or different forms of media has been related to individuals perceived normative gender roles (Herrett- Skjellum & Allen, 1996). Negative and socially impaired beliefs about relationships, for example such as ‘‘fate brings soul-mates together, disagreement is destructive to a relationship, partners should be able to sense each other’s thoughts and feelings’’ (Holmes, 2007). Also with persistent disclosure to sexually explicit content related with more positive attitudes or norms toward “uncommitted sexual exploration” as well (Brown and Bobkowski, 2011).

In Growing Up With Television: Cultivation Process, Morgan, Shanahan and Signorielli assert that “long-term exposure to television tends to cultivate the image of a relatively mean and dangerous world (Morgan et al., 2009).” Rooted in the amount of time spent consuming content, the mean world syndrome is central to Gerber’s Cultivation Theory, or Effect. The theory states that they are viewing habits range from light to medium to heavy. Although subjective, the amount of time spent consuming content is a key component of cultivation effect. Morgan et al., noted that “the relative difference in viewing levels are more important than the specific amount of viewing (Morgan et al, 2009).”

The article “Romantic Comedies Affect Beliefs About Relationships”, written by Arlyn Riskind, suggests to readers that romantic films are a major source for developing unrealistic expectations about love and relationships. “A survey of 335 undergraduate students in the Midwest found a significant relationship between reporting watching romantic films often and belief in the ideals “love conquers all,” “one and only” love (soul mate) and “love at first sight” (Riskind). These findings compliment the expectation that watching romantic movies is a major source leading to the unrealistic expectations among viewers.

In todays modern society, there is now a constant growing concern about adolescent’s exposure to the medias portrayal of sexuality and love. The publicity of love and sex that todays adolescents are saturated in is mainly unrealistic and false, theoretically affecting and distorting their, behavior, beliefs and attitude towards sex and love. These impractical pictures tend to commonly be publicized through social media, networking, television and movies. The medias views tend to contradict the biblical messages towards love and sex, confusing young society on the meaning of true commitment and love. A popular television show targeted to the demographic of female teenagers ‘Gossip Girl’ features and emphasizes the wrong messages concerning love and sex.

Television doesn’t just affect children, it also affects teenagers and young adults, but more so their self-identity and self-esteem than physical development. Television sends messages to these immature self-identities and shapes them according to popular cultures beliefs and values, modifying healthy and realistic self-identities to unrealistic standards of beauty and popularity. This effect is found more with females than with men; but men are more likely to have their standards modified through music videos than television (Ward 2002).

Cultivation theorists are best known for their study of television and viewers, and in particular for a focus on the topic of violence. However, some studies have also considered other mass media from this perspective, and have dealt with topics such as gender roles, age groups, ethnic groups and political attitudes. A study of American college students found that heavy soap opera viewers were more likely than light viewers to over-estimate the number of real-life married people who had affairs or who had been divorced and the number of women who had abortions (Dominick 1990, p. 512).