The Television Show Freaks And Geeks Created By Paul Feig And Judd Apatow

In an essay published in the New Yorker in May 1999, entitled “High-School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies,” writer David Denby analyzes movies targeted towards teenagers and the stereotypes associated with them. He begins his essay by describing the archetypal characters in high school genre films: the vapid popular girl and her athletic male counterpart, and the intellectual outsider and her awkward male counterpart. He then describes the reality of teen life, and compares it to the experience depicted in these films. Next, he analyzes the common theme that the geeky characters are the protagonists, and suggests there are such because of their writer's personal experience and a history of geeks being ostracized. Finally, Denby analyzes the tropes in

When you picture a teenager you picture fighting, drinking, or answering back, am I right? However, this is simply not the case. Sure there is the minority of trouble makers. However this minority is exaggerated due to the news showing only this behaviour. This stereotyping has found its audience and crept into television shows and series. This has led to the creation of a mockumentary called “Summer Heights High” which has unfairly represented teen

For those elders who have no idea what the show is about; “Freaks and Geeks” is a television show that aired one season in 1999. It focuses mainly around two cliques in high school: the freaks and the geeks. Lindsay Weir and her younger brother Sam Weir are the protagonists of the story. From the start, the audience learns that Lindsay is a top student and the best mathlete in the school, but recently she’s been acting up. She has been trying desperately to shed that view of herself,

I selected the book The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth by Alexandra Robbins because I was interested to read about an adult author’s perception of a modern American high school experience. I also chose the book because the reviews mentioned that it related to a TV series I enjoyed, Freaks and Geeks. As I read through the book, I found that it centered around the theory that if a student is excluded or dismissed in high school for having different traits than what other students considered normal, those same traits that made them different will allow them to succeed in an adult life after high school. As soon as I got about a quarter of the way into the book I was not as enthusiastic as I was at first glance. I did agree that these traits could benefit someone, but they don’t define what you have the potential to be when you’re an adult. This high school cliché, despite the seven heartwarming storylines, is inaccurate in describing what the future holds for high school students because our future is unpredictable, and a book with a little statistic and seven high school experiences can’t solidify someone’s adulthood. I also noticed that there were no counterarguments present in the book, leading me to assume that Robbins may not have heavily researched both sides of her ‘quirk’ argument. Although I had differing opinions than the author, the seven characters, their storylines, and the promise of a young James Franco continued to perk my interest and

Author, Alexandra Robbins, in her novel The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth, describes her quirk theory and establishes its credibility as she centers her theory around seven different characters as she narrates their high school experiences. Robbins focuses on the negative effects of popularity and how social norms can affect an individual, regardless of what social group they belong to. She creates an amusing, informative tone in order to appeal to the geeks, freaks, and popular crowds with relatable experiences and strong essays in regards with the social scene, exclusivity, and how one handles a given situation.

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

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.

With passionate diction, Leonid Fridman integrates parallelism, compare and contrast, irony, along with rhetorical questions to stress the importance in accepting nerds and geeks in America; instead of shaming and stereotyping them.

The media portrays adolescents in television shows as being rebellious, sex crazed, and unreasonable people. Freaks and Geeks, created by Paul Feig and produced by Feig, himself, and Judd Apatow, is a one hour TV show that aired on NBC from 1999-2000. The show centers around the siblings, Sam and Lindsay Weir, and their friends while they all attend McKinley High School. Freaks and Geeks is a show that portray adolescents in a way that the media doesn’t because of the lessons the characters have to learn , the choices that they choose to take, and the struggles they have to endure.

A serious issue of today’s society, which is referenced in the TV series “Scream Queens” is homophobia. In the show, actress Jenna Han who portrays the character Sam on the TV show, is bullied as a result of her sexuality. Other characters on the show nicknamed Sam “The Predatory Lez,’” as a result of Sam being a lesbian. The show attempts to highlight the struggles experienced by homosexuals in a comedic fashion. Nick Jonas’ character, Boone, like Jenna Han’s character, Sam, highlights the struggle homosexuals experience in an attempt to be accepted by society. Boone attempts to fit into a fraternity house by

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.

It is sad to see how these teenagers think of themselves as being cool because of the activities they choose to do, when they each see how it is making them live a shorter life and none of them are doing a thing about it. Life is worth more than feeling cool. Proverbs says, “Since they hated knowledge…the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them” (Proverbs 1:29a, 32). The teenagers in “We Real Cool” have an image of their selves as being cool on the outside because of the badly behaved things they are taking part in and want others to think them as being cool. These teenagers want to think that they are cool for doing the things they do, but they know that the destructive life they live will soon be a factor to their deaths. Brooks demonstrates in “We Real Cool” that even though people acknowledge their own behavior and think of themselves as being cool, their destructive ways will be a part of their short lives and none of their coolness will ever matter again.

The difference between the intended meaning of media texts and what the audience actually perceives can be shockingly different. Producers of media can do everything possible to force audiences to experience their work in the way they want them to, but in the end they still take away many different meanings even within the same audience. Stuart Hall outlines this in his encoding and decoding model. One of the most apparent examples of this is the television show South Park. The television show South Park is a media text with the producers’ preferred meaning of being decoded as joke or as being satire, but many audience members take an oppositional stance of taking it seriously. This is clear from the examples of controversy when South Park aired episodes focused on Scientology, red-headed people, and Islam. Through these examples it is demonstrated that the producers of media have less power compared to the audience in determining the meaning of media.

In today’s society, parents are challenged with the ability of children to grow faster than ever before. Tweens are moving closer and closer to teens, and fulfill these adult-like roles. The media plays a major part in this dilemma, along with the need to fulfill major responsibilities, and the lack of family presence.

There is no doubt that when it comes to American youth television is one of the biggest influences by far. Many parents would love to say that their child does not watch that much TV but in reality they are spending a lot of time watching television or using media in some way. “The study by the Kaiser Family foundation shows that children ages 2-8 spend an average of 5 ½ hours a day “consuming media” kids 8 and older spend even more time in front of the tube nearly 6 ¾ hours a day” (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005 ). Astonishingly, more time is being spent with media then doing homework, studying or even spending time with family. A child’s retention of what