Television Studies (Sex and the City)

It is often said that the media and the arts are an accurate reflection of any given community. This is especially true in American pop-culture, where television shows depict the various stereotypes attributed to men and women and the roles they play in society. House, a highly popular medical drama that revolves around Dr. Gregory House and his diagnostic team, is a particularly good example as it represents the true state of the traditional gender roles in American culture today by, both, redefining and reinforcing them over the course of the show.

One can view Two and a Half Men as a parody of old-fashioned gender roles, but in many ways the series still cements some of the outdated views on women. As I do not feel that Two and Half Men accurately depicts gender and sex in the United States on the average, however the show reflects, even though exaggerated, somewhat the idea that women are supposed to be beautiful and for males pleasure. As the saying goes, one cannot be “too rich or too thin”. (Henslin, 2012, p.

On the same cable networks that act as the home for gay and lesbian television series, America finds its new woman for the new millenium: she’s smart, independent, gainfully employed, sexually confident, and, usually, she’s single. Television finally has room for a woman to fly on her own, without her minivan, Cub Scout den-mother meetings, or workaholic husband to feed and clean up after. The prime example for TV’s new “wonder woman,” is found in the four women of HBO’s Emmy Award winning series, “Sex & The City.” These

We come across many different cultures and fashion in our society. Some may indicate that the culture influences one’s fashion while others may oppose and state that each aspect stands alone. Fashion and culture fall into the following identity categories: chosen and assigned. Culture affects many parts of an individual, in some cases you can determine an individual 's culture by their speech and clothing; in addition to traditions and the environment in which they were raised. Whereas fashion may be impacted by culture and tradition, but it may also not interact with culture at all.

The second pattern that the show demonstrates is the dominance of heterosexuality and heterosextual privilege. All the character in the show are in a heterosexual relationship which are reflected in the nature of the space that they occupy. In the workplace and within the household the representation of heteronormative culture dominates. There is no representation of homonormative spaces or other sexual minorities in the show. The third pattern that the show demonstrates is gender performance. West and Zimmerman refer to gender performance as “doing gender” which will be later discussed in the next section. Due to the strong heteronormative nature of the show, the pattern of explicit gender performances are portrayed through clothing, behaviors, and interactions.These patterns are all related to specific locations in which each of the genders occupies. It is through this segregation of genders that the show perpetuates societal norms that support heteronormative culture and result in gender inequalities.

Fashion is very important in modern day society, and can be seen all around. Most of what people know about fashion today came from the fashion during the renaissance. From the vibrant fabrics to the spectacular jewels, renaissance fashion has been thoroughly threaded in the fashion of modern society. Modern day women often wear shorty, fun gowns, tightly fitting jeans, and lower cut tops. Popular fashion trends for men in modern society include saggy jeans, V-neck shirts, and stylish watches. “A fashion is merely a form of ugliness so unbearable that we are compelled to alter it every six months” (Oscar Wilde). Fashion in modern day society is ever changing, but most changes do not stray too far from the original product.

Previously, in the textual analysis of the E! TV show WAGS, I discussed if the show itself contributed to the idea that women mean more in society if they are in relationships and that women should always be in competition with each other. This theme is very prevalent in my audience analysis as well, but instead it is looking particularly at the audience’s reaction to the series. My specific research question was how does the audience incorporate the WAGS’ relationship goals and dynamics into their relationships, both platonic and romantic? The audience might not at all incorporate these mentalities into their life. This analysis looks into the impact that the show has and if it actually has the power to influence relationships. Specific aspects about the relationships that I researched in WAGS, was the hierarchy of women. The hierarchy stands; wives at the top, following girlfriends (in serious relationships), and dating or single women at the bottom. This analysis looked to see if the hierarchy is played out in actual reality. Through this interview with this WAGS follower, she did not find the show applicable to her life. This audience member views reality shows, such as the Kardashian’s and WAGS, as a pure entertainment instead of a construction of reality due to the basis of the shows being strictly about love and drama.

Fashion is everything to society and the media. The fashion industry has transformed into a necessity in the life of people. Everyone wants to look good, feel fabulous and feel as if we belong with everyone else. The envy and desire to wear certain things and look a certain way all come, from wearing the latest fashion handbags, accessories, dresses, shoes, and the list goes on. But, when is considering fashion into an individual’s life going too far to the extreme? Many do not consider the whereabouts of fashion materials and how the environment is affected by the mere existence of certain garments. Some may believe these objects grow on trees. But that is clearly not the case. Even though it would be nice. The fashion industry as a

If we go back to the language of clothes or to clothes as a sign system we can see that this mater has been of interest since 1850 in literature (Balzac 1839), and later on by many theoretical figures such as Barthres, Simmel,Hegel or Goffmann. Refearing to Fashion as the language of sign it, its iconography goes from clothes to hats to hair to tattoos to other accessories. This turns the activity of fashion a

The fashion industry is rapidly growing and constantly generating new fashion trends almost weekly. Fashion for some may seem ridiculous and unnecessary; but fashion is not just a meaningless usage of article of clothing or farcical materials sew together for coverage. There is more to fashion than meets the eyes, fashion is precious and significant. It is a reflection of self-image, it speak the ream about who we are and how we review ourselves. Not only is fashion the reflection of self-image but also the reflection of our history as Coco Channel have said, “Fashion is not something that exist in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” Fashion

The widely popular series , Sex in the City can be viewed as one of the most deviant tv show that appeared on cable tv . The series Sex in the City first made its appearance on HBO in 1998 and ran for six years . The series depicted the lives of four educated women three in their mid-thirties and one in her mid-forties living in New York City who struggled in the men department . The Characters Carrie Bradshaw a writer , Charlotte York an art dealer , Miranda Hobbes a lawyer and Samantha jones a publicist.The tv series storylines explored relevant and modern time social issues . Such as femininely, Sexuality and promiscuity which received acclaimed and criticism for its topics . The main deviant nature of the series were the discussions of many topics that revolved around sex that are considered to be taboo .

The first research entitled “The representation of gender roles in the media - An analysis of gender discourse in Sex and the City movies ” was constructed by Therese Ottosson and Xin Cheng in 2012.

During our life we construct many different identities of who we want to portray ourselves as to the rest of society; fashion plays a vital role in generating who we are. With the ideas from Storry and Childs they state that “the way that we dress can either serve to confirm or to subvert various facets of our identities, such as our gender,

The women displayed in these shows are indecisive and problematic. These shows place women at the center of the love triangles and most of the uprising conflicts. The reason why women are usually placed

Ever since their invention many centuries ago, clothes have been used as a way of communicating. The message communicated relies on a number of factors including the social background of both the communicator and the receiver, and the context in which the message is communicated. Although at times the exact message or symbolism one is trying to portray may not be clear, it is evident that clothing has long been embraced as one of the best ways to project one’s desired personal image to those around them.