(from "Cultural Bias In Prime Time Television", Pg.178)
Age
1) Younger characters showed great momentary implicit and direct authority over
older characters, usually at the expense of Culture/National Origin/Race dynamic.
a) Detective Morris (African-American) raises voice disrespectfully to his wife (African-American) in defense of younger (White) Halliwell sisters.
b) Young female (White) character in Smallville disrespectfully addresses older male (African-American) in order to distract him and allow friends
to breach a roadblock.
c) Teenagers in That 70’s Show vandalize the home of their British high school music teacher.
2) Teens showed some semblance of respect to elders in a small number of
programs, partly due to the lack of teen focus and main and/or recurring characters in five of the programs. A teen character, Keiko, was verbally disciplined by her mother,
essentially validating Keiko’s ability to persevere in the face of adversity in Gilmore
Girls (Program Sample 05/#5). In the same episode, Rory cried on her grandfather’s
shoulder for support after she found herself in a challenging personal relationship. Rory
was generally close to her mother throughout the program samples. Clark, in Smallville,
sought the council of his mother and father with challenging social situations at school.
7th Heaven displayed the highest quality of teen-parent respect, with a high degree of
respect and love being placed with the children, in the Camden family and out.
Mediascope reported, “7th Heaven, Gilmore Girls, and Smallville all provide models of
warm parent-teen relationships” (2004, p. 128), but also stated, “the parent-teen
relationships on That 70’s Show are also extremely close” (ibid). Mediascope’s analysis
in this area with regard to That 70’s Show conflicted sharply with the findings of this
study.
3) Elderly people were rarely present and were never featured as main characters,
indispensable to the storyline or with any substantial level of authority with regard to
younger characters or peers.
Johnston stated, with regard to the elderly:
“This affluent segment of society may not switch brands as often as the young
folks, but they are an empowered group of people who learned the ways of the
world by crusading for the Civil Rights movement, stopping the war in Vietnam,
inaugurating the movement for women’s equality and initiating the environmental
protection movement.” (2002, p. 71).
The elderly had valuable experience to share with teen viewers looking for guidance and
cues for how to manage life in a modern world; who better but the people who created
the world teens lived in. The reality of prime time television was less than welcoming to
this marginalized segment of society. “The elderly also are used as symbols of death and
decay, a topic that often frightens people” (Johnston, 2002, p. 71). Johnston described
the prevailing stereotypes of elderly people that included the ornery, crotchety elder, the
“doddering, old senile fool” and the eccentric and incompetent characters (ibid).
Johnston stated, conversely, that too often many older men, usually white men, on news
and talk shows...are portrayed as experienced, wise and trustworthy” (ibid). Johnston
punctuated his discussion of elders in television and stated, “The elderly have a wealth of
stories, both entertaining and informative, to share with the society. What do we gain by
screening this out and making them just a bit less than eligible for human equality?”
(2002, p. 73).
4) Teenagers were featured in only half of the program samples and comprised
dominant numbers of in the cast in only three of those. They were more likely to be cast
in sexual situations than any other relational dynamic. Secondarily, they showed great
concern for their own or other peers’ looks and physical attributes and/or social standing
(i.e., popularity, notoriety), especially in That 70’s Show and Smallville. 7th Heaven
showed much more depth in issues embraced by teen characters and portrayed in a much
more realistic fashion, without the sensationalism of Smallville and That 70’s Show.
Two popular past teen shows were California Dreams (1992) and Saved By The
Bell (1989). They reached near cult status with good-looking ensemble casts, fun teen
storylines and safe subject matter. Saved By The Bell spun-off two other shows entitled
Saved By The Bell: The College Years and Saved By The Bell: Then New Class (Saved
By The Bell, n.d.). Both shows were set in California and featured stereotypically sunny
weather, bikinis when possible and as much pop music as could be generated. California
Dreams revolved around a band of the same name populated by the lead characters, in
which most of the characters sang their own songs (California Dreams, n.d.). Saved By
The Bell revolved around the relationships of its main characters that included a
stereotypical dork character named Screech that survived all three versions of the show.
Both of these shows were more fluff than serious studies in teen life and challenges. This was best typified by the show theme songs.
The following are partial lyrics in the Saved By The Bell theme:
If the teacher pops a test
I know I'm in a mess
And my dog ate all my homework last nite
Riding low in my chair
She won't know that I'm there
If I can hand it in tomorrow, it'll be all right
It's alright 'cause I'm saved by the bell (Saved By The Bell, n.d.)
The following are partial lyrics in the California Dreams theme:
Surf dudes with attitudes (Kinda groovy)
Laid back moods
Sky above, sand below (Good vibrations)
Feelin' mellow
Won't give it up
Don't wanna stop
Don't wake me up
Don't wake me up if I'm dreamin'
California dreams
Just let me lay here in the sun
Until my dream is done (California Dreams, n.d.)
Both theme songs gave a look into the stated purposes of both shows. No viewer was
challenged by any of the storylines. The messages were ‘take it easy’, ‘go with the flow’
and ‘don’t dare ask me to do anything that I don’t want to do, especially anything
academic or that requires initiative’; in other words, ‘leave me alone and let me be - a
stereotypical television-watching teen’. In actuality, the teens on these two shows were
somewhat ambitious, at least where cutting class and getting the best of adults was
concerned. The California Dreams characters were always hard at work practicing and
getting gigs at squeaky-clean burger joints. The process message remained the same with
regard to the viewer: We’ll entertain you and you won’t learn anything positive.
These presentations almost guaranteed a validation of a culture of consumption.
Even the stereotypical nostalgia-heavy Happy Days was reportedly more valuable than
this type of approach to teen television or, at least, television with teen characters.
Desmond reported that after an episode featuring Fonzie, a lead popular character,
making a trip to a library, “a sudden increase in library card applications followed”
(2001, p. 41). Happy Days, though, was as safe as Saved By The Bell and California
Dreams. The Happy Days cast wasn’t challenging or gritty, lacking the “edgy” nature of
today’s teen television. Bogle reported that their “exploits were puerile enough not to be
offensive” (2001, p. 218). Shows like Leave It To Beaver were sterile constructions of
the stereotypical, faultless White nuclear family. “The Beave’” got into trouble on a
regular basis, but was never used as a foil to attack the typical presence of sexism,
classism or racism inherent in the United States of America in the 1950’s. This was a
time of struggle for many citizens and television was not addressing the realities that
many people lived with, nor that plagued the country as a whole. Teens were
stereotyped for the benefit of the advertiser, to keep up appearances for the sake of the
polite company of the general viewing audience. The late sixties brought a shift in the
form of The Mod Squad (1968-1973) that “reached young viewers by touching on the
new social/political landscape” (Bogle, 2001, p. 156). The three lead characters had all
fallen into trouble with the law and were recruited to work undercover for the Los
Angeles Police Department. “Their assignment: to weed out criminals preying on the
young of America” (Bogle, 2001, p. 157). The Mod Squad presented a new configuration
of characters for young United States of America: an African-American man (Clarence
Williams III), a White woman (Peggy Lipton) and a White man (Michael Cole),
providing “a mix of action adventure and liberal politics” (Bogle, 2001, p. 157). Bogle
went on to say:
“Young audiences liked the idea of seeing young rebellious edgy heroes, arguing with one another, questioning each other’s motives, and usually fighting for the underdogs. The producers also shrewdly decided early on no to bite the hand that fed them: the series could not offend the delicate sensibilities of its young audience.” (2001, p. 157)
The “edge” was officially introduced into the televisual mix, though, as Bogle went on to
say, “Despite its counterculture appearance, The Mod Squad was still a cop show” (2001,
p. 157). Other shows in the 70’s, like Laverne & Shirley, The Brady Bunch, The Waltons and even Welcome Back Kotter, betrayed that new edge. All In The Family, which featured younger characters Michael Stivic and Gloria Bunker, retained the social
edginess in grand style, much to the chagrin of many and the joy of many more (Dates &
Barlow, 1990).
The 1980’s brought shows like Head of the Class, Webster, Small Wonder,
Family Ties and the teen favorite, Facts of Life, all featuring young, teenage characters or
casts, mostly clean-cut shows, but with more of the heart that would typify later
renditions of teen and youth oriented television. The 1990’s presented shows as
seemingly polarized as Full House and Married...With Children, both shows that
revolved around the household and the comings and goings of the warm and the loving or the cold and the belligerent, depending upon which show you were watching. Neither
show provided any refreshing or deep insights into the human condition, though Marcy
D’Arcy was the lone lesbian in Married...With Children’s suburban Chicago world.
The expanse of television shows featuring teenagers and popular with teenagers
are telling in their social depth and breadth. There were not many like The Mod Squad or New York Undercover (featuring African-American and Latino lead actors Malik Yoba
and Michael DeLorenzo), popular for gritty portrayals and situations, again both police
shows. The “edgy” quality of the current program sample belied its lack of embrace of
serious socio-political underpinnings. The aspirational teenagers had little to learn from
depictions of themselves and lacked any regular presence of eldership in the narratives
for perspective. The contradiction of the edgy, but shallow cultural presentations was
typified in the lines of the theme song to the popular show Diff’rent Strokes:
Everybody's got a special kind of story
Everybody finds a way to shine,
It don't matter that you got not alot
So what,
They'll have theirs, and you'll have yours, and I'll have mine.
And together we'll be fine....
Because it takes, Diff'rent Strokes to move the world.
Yes it does. (Classic TV Theme Songs, n.d.)
There were problems in the world, but they were of no real, practical concern. It didn’t
matter that there was socio-cultural inequity in the world. This was the world of
advertiser-driven television. Serious cultural issues were not going to be addressed,
especially with aspirational teenagers. Corporate media conglomeration made sure of
that. Yes it did.
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