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How is television perpetuating stereotypes or classist portrayals? What are some examples of characters, storylines, or news stories that you have found particularly troubling?
Survey Responses:
Invisibility. The most I see of people like me on television is in our absence and in the fact that everyone else speaks for and about us as if they actually know us. But I can't remember the last time I've actually seen any of us on television. Many people from the working class to the upper classes use us on television, particularly political television, as handy scapegoats for the nation's problems, or use us as examples of how compassionate they are for "caring" about us, but rarely do you see us ourselves. We're described alternately in terms of pity or in terms of disgust, but not as equals. We're also shown as not particularly trustworthy: Considered to be scamming the system until proven otherwise. Or else stupid or lazy. The "non-working poor" are not considered real people on television as far as I know, just talking points. But what strikes me in all that is how rarely you actually see one of us, and how much of that is portrayed in passing comments or long speeches by people of other classes, rather than actually getting to know us directly. When we do appear, we're either shown as worthless scum or pitiable charity cases. And I rarely see us appear.
The whole media news experience, television included, is slanted by an upper-class bias. We have reports on the intricacies of the stock market, but no mention of union issues. There are unending commercials for cars, trucks, and SUVs, but not a word about public transportation. What is presented to us, and what is hidden from us, does us all a great injustice in terms of realizing the privileges that people from the upper-class tend to take for granted. When you are told constantly, through 24-hour news networks and a myriad of news outlets, what to think, and how to see and interpret your world, it is much more difficult to step back and examine the world and everyone's place in it for what it really is. In this manner, through unmerciful ommission, television deceitfully masks the class divide.
Sitcoms in general seem to have an aversion to work. If the setting is in the office, all the employees are loitering by the water cooler or hiding under their desks. There are no negative consequences for such hijinks and we seem to enjoy watching white collar workers waste time. Even blue collar shows like Roseanne and The King of Queens base most of the action at home in the kitchen. Other examples of unexpected leisure would be Clifford Huxtable, a prosperous doctor with unlimited time to spend with his kids, and the cast of "Friends," some of whom can inexplicably afford a shwank NY apartment on a barrista's salary. I realize that TV presents us with attractive fantasies, but such lofty goals set up of a system of desire that remains forever out of reach. I'm also bothered that workers are never depicted in collective conflict with management. It's not enough to humiliate the fictional boss or cuff the Enron guys for a "walk of shame." All the rights we now take for granted (the 5-day work week, the 8-hour day, etc.) were fought for, and won by, unions. Is it too much to ask that they be depicted in a positive light. After all, what would prime-time be if we were all till working 12 hour days?
Kenny in the cartoon South Park is often ridiculed for his coming from a poor family. His mother and father are stereotypical "white trash," the mother with badly prepared red hair and the father wearing a blue collar shirt and baseball cap, and both are perpetually dirty. In addition, both parents are portrayed as drunks. They are in essence, America's "deserving poor." The middle class parents of the other boys often put down Kenny's parents. Interestingly, when the episode is about a national issue that divides people along 'liberal'/'conservative' lines, Kenny's family is on the 'conservative' side and portrayed as uneducated, bigoted and sometimes, the pawn of rich people. Despite being an integral part of the young boys' group, rarely does he act as an agent. More often, the world acts upon him, with his untimely death in nearly every episode. His voice is muffled and he has no face. His comments are usually taken as crude, explitive-filled jeers.
When I watched the reality show Cheaters I had to ask myself why it is at all compelling. The format is exactly the same each time. A person contacts the private investigators of the show to spy on their errant beloved. Invariably, incriminating evidence in the form of grainy lofi b/w video shots of secret trysts is gathered and shown to the victim. He/she cries. Then curses. Then the camera crew is taken to the parking lot of a motel/bar/restaurant while the cheater and cheatee scream and threaten each other and duke it out. This is trash tv. This is not infidelity a la Madame Bovary/Anna Karenina. This is a forced-paternity-test-taking, fist-fighting, cousin-dating, ugly Jerry Springer-style mess. As a matter of fact, the victims are always unattractive, poor and desperate (often putting the "white trash" back into trash tv). This show is totally demeaning, capitalizing on the feeling of social/class superiority the viewer gets from watching the emotional distress of these individuals.
Read earlier survey responses:
September 2006: Higher Education can be a class marker, the access channel to "upward" mobility,or class liberator. What are the connections with class and higher education for you?
August 2006: How does class affect how you spend your non-working hours and impact your vacation options?
June 2006: What are the ways that you see class or classism play out in your spiritual community or congregation of faith?
May 2006: When did you first become aware of your class or class differences? How old were you?
March 2006: All U.S. citizens benefit from different forms of government assistance. Some are more stigmatized than others. What forms of assistance benefit you and others in your class?
February 2006: How do class differences impact your relationships?
January 2006: What privileges should we all have?
Are there any privileges none of us should have?
December 2005 Survey Question:
How do class issues come up for you during the end-of-year "consumer" holidays?
November 2005 Survey Question: Please tell us about your experiences of class, class differences, and classism in your education/school.
October 2005: Tell us about a time you've either been an ally to someone or had someone be an ally to you around issues of class.
September 2005: What are the ways you see the race and class divisions exposed by Katrina?
August 2005: What class did you grow up in? What was good or bad about your class experience growing up?
July 2005: What are your strongest memories connecting race and class?
June 2005: The New York Times and Wall Street Journal each ran their own series on class. What is your response to the recent press on class?
May 2005: The good, the bad, and the ugly of cross-class relating
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