Final Literature Review
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Final Literature Review
Introduction
This paper focuses on understanding media representations of family by reviewing media’s depiction of the family through class, gender, and race. The paper will attain this objective by focusing on some important questions that will direct the development of the essay. Some of the important questions in this regard include how media representations influence the perception of gender, how they influence the depiction of racial disparities in today’s society, and how they also determine our perception of class. Agreeing with Mehraj, Bhat & Mehraj (2014), media is highly pervasive in today’s society and takes up a significant part of our vies. For example, the high pervasiveness of television in the American society makes focusing on these aspects imperative because without understanding the significant role the television plays in shaping these influences, it will remain difficult to correct any erroneous television-engendered perceptions. Understanding the various influences will be guided by analyzing several television shows that include Dr. Ken (2015), This is Us, The Simpsons, Everybody Loves Raymond, The show blackish (2014), and The Modern Family.
The Nature of Media Representations
Television is regarded as one of the most pervasive and highly influential mediums in the contemporary society. Undeniably, the messages and themes portrayed through different media impact and influence viewers significantly (Tsfati & Cohen, 2013). The many programs teach viewers across age groups and social classes about varied features of life and even influence their judgment on what is bad and good as noted by Wiscombe (2014). As such, there is a need to understand the link between viewers’ perceived reality and media, a feat that will be attained by focusing on three categories of gender, race and class in the sections below.
Gender
Many family conflicts in American families are the result of the stereotypes engendered by such representations. For example, the higher number of media shows influence people’s perceptions of gender when they invariably portray men as masculine and as primarily responsible for providing for their wives and families. As such, it is inconceivable in the American society that a woman would provide for a man. However, these shows ignore the fact that some men, despite their masculinity, may have underlying issues that affect their ability to execute their providing duties effectively. A good example is a married man suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, who would obviously be unable to execute his family roles effectively. Such a man would obviously need to depend on his wife for provision, at least until his condition improves. Nonetheless, even in situation where men are clearly disadvantaged, the society still expects men to provide and if they fail to, they are perceived as neglecting gender roles. Society then punishes such men by ridiculing them and even encouraging women to walk away from marriages in which a man, for one reason or another, is unable to provide.
Further, television is to blame for the perception that men cannot take care of their children as good as their wives could. This misrepresentation is clearly seen in the 55th episode of the television show ‘This is Us,’ when Rebecca’s father attempts to override Jack’s ability to care for his daughter. Further, media has often depicted women as responsible for taking care of the home and hence, society expects them to play this role without fail. However, the reality is that a woman will not always be able to take care of her household because of certain issues such as when they suffer from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Despite such conditions affecting their ability to take care of their families, the erroneous representation of media about women as the caregivers causes women with such weaknesses to be viewed as weak. The outcome of such a position is women even being kicked out of their homes as seen when Cassidy Sharp, Marine NCO, is thrown out of her home for her inability to take care of her family. Due to such misrepresentations, it is even difficult for women to admit they are suffering from certain problems in a bid to ensure that they play their care giving role without fail for fearing the potential negative repercussions.
Further, the representations of media on gender and especially regarding the roles of women and men in society are so fixed that they deny the existence of other genders besides male and female. This rigid representation of gender and gender roles thus leaves an unaddressed gap that results in the exclusion and even persecution of the members of the LGBTI community. For example, media often represents gay men as weak, effeminate, and wicked and portrays them as worthy of being punished by society to get their senses back and assume their ‘correct’ gender roles as men. Lesbians and transgender are also largely ignored by media and hence depicted as inexistent, which goes a long way in downplaying their presence in society as people with rights and deserving of society’s recognition. A good example of how members of the LGBTI community are ignored is seen in the show ‘The Modern Family,’ where in its eleventh season and on the Last Christmas program, all characters are represented as straight, without any of them exemplifying any role, rights, or significance of the LGBT community. Nonetheless, the media is now undergoing a major shift from its traditional position of dividing gender roles as it recognizes that these roles are rapidly changing. Media is increasingly representing these roles as cutting across all genders as it shows women and men adopting each others’ duties. This depiction is clearly seen in the show Blackish, where Drew takes care of the children while the wife provides for the family. The show Dr. Ken also depicts the changing gender roles as both the wife and husband wok as doctors and hence needing to share roles in their families. These representations are desirably promoting a good perception of having equality in the family, which promotes better understanding between spouses and children on their roles.
Race
In the case of race, most media representations fail to highlight the racial range of the American family. For example, most representations depict African-American and Latino families erroneously. In most media depictions, African-American women are usually neglected or portrayed as prone to neglecting their children or treating them rashly and harshly while white women get better representation as more dedicated to caring for their children. As such, society is more inclined to view the African-American woman as careless with her family while the white woman is viewed as more capable and responsible in bringing up a family. Besides, media often downplays women and the various issues that affect them and when it covers women, it primarily adopts a sexual viewpoint that shows women as sexual tools that are subjective to the more influential, prevailing and aggressive masculinity of men (Vandenbosch & Eggermont, 2014). In fact, these representations of women are to blame for the rampant cases of sexual violence against women because they have conditioned society to believe that the only reason a man can have a woman is to satisfy his sexual desires. This perception makes even married men believe that it is their right to get sex from women even when women are not in a position to satisfy these desires for instance, due to depression, which then occasions violent abuse from men. An example is when Cassidy Sharp is chased away from her home by her husband despite putting much effort in her career and in building her home. Additionally, in the show ‘The Simpsons,’ Homer is seen assaulting Marge in the program’s seventeenth episode, hence depicting the pervasiveness of the erroneous objectification of women.
Class
Class, and particularly social class, is the other issue depicted often in television shows. Media represents class as having opulence and glorifies luxurious living as the paramount aspect of life. As such, media influences people to believe that they can do anything including killing, cheating, and corrupting every other important moral and value to attain wealth. The media depicts that the idyllic American family must live in an uptown, suburban area. Hence, in real life, families shown in such settings are depicted as having worked hard to get there, and the poor that do not live in such areas seen as poor and lazy. This depiction is nonetheless faulty because society tends to ignore how some families get to live in such uptown areas. For example, many seemingly wealthy people obtain their proceeds from corrupt dealings, while others, such as seen in the show Blackish, strive to overcome all odds to fit in such high class areas. Moreover, media represents that such regions are prime positions for white families, and that African-American and Latino families could only reach there through engaging in violent crime, selling drugs, and prostitution, and not through hard work. Additionally, African-American families are sometimes depicted as lacking class because of living in huge families, while the ideal family is depicted as that in a nuclear setting. The perception is that such huge families are prone with problems and are difficult to manage especially regarding the dynamics of communication and interaction. However, the seventh episode of ninth season of the show ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ shows that this is a wrong representation because Raymond and his extended family live a happy life despite living in a big family. These shows clearly show that most of what we believe as a society is wrong and that media plays a significant part in influencing what we believe.
Conclusion
This paper matters because it helps show the powerful impact of media on influencing the perceptions people have on the roles of family and on important family dynamics such as gender, race and class. Accurate representations of families in American television are important because such representations have different but profound effects on the perceptions of the family structure and roles. The implication is that people often draw lessons on how to manage their families and get their beliefs about the roles of gender in families from these shows. The powerful impact of these representations is their ability to influence such opinions and perceptions on family roles subliminally, and any deviation by either gender from these roles is treated as disrespectful and an act of defiance to the other gender. I observed that media must take responsibility to ensure that their representations of family and family roles are accurate because in most cases, children learn about the essence of personal relationships, family relationships, roles and rules from such shows. Although these shows are largely designed and intended to entertain children and young adults, their impacts on how these groups perceive family roles are very significant, especially considering that they use such representations as the standard to assess their families at home. As such, the expectations of young adults on how families should be are largely drawn from what they see on television, implying that television families have significant and real influence on real families.
References
Mehraj, H.K., Bhat ,A.N., and Mehraj, H.R. (2014). Impacts OF Media on Society: A Sociological Perspective. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention ISSN (Online): Volume 3 Issue 6, PP.56-64 2319 – 7722. Retrieved on 21st April, 2020 from http://www.ijhssi.org/papers/v3(6)/Version-4/L0364056064.pdf
Tsfati, Y and Cohen, J. (2013). 5 Perceptions of Media and Media Effects. The Third – Person Eff ect, Trust in Media, and Hostile Media Perceptions. Retrieved on 21st April, 2020 from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781444361506.wbiems995
Vandenbosch, L and Eggermont, S. (2014). The Role of Television in Adolescents’ Sexual Attitudes: Exploring the Explanatory Value of the Three-Step Self-Objectification Process. Poetics, Journal of Empirical Research on Culture, Media and the Arts, 45, 19-35. Retrieved on 21st April, 2020 from https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/34604108.pdf
Wiscombe, S.A. (2014). Family ties: A profile of television family configurations, 2004–2013. Retrieved on 21st April, 2020 from https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5347&context=etd
Appendix
The Modern Family
This show focuses on varied relationships and interactions among the characters, where relations of the Pritchet family with their broader family are seen, based on the different locations of the family members.
Everybody Loves Raymond
This show depicts the relations of American families with their nuclear and extended families, and the seventh episode of the ninth season is used to discuss the paper.
This is Us
The show involves a modern-day family setting and how the different family members are affected by the different intricacies of modern-day living.
Blackish (2014) (Episode 16: Season 1)
This show portrays the ideal Black-American family who have worked hard to attain their high-flying status. Drew, who heads the family, believes that hard work is the hallmark of an ideal family because children can attend good schools and the family can access everything they desire to live well. This show helps reform the faulty viewpoint that African-America families cannot excel as their white counterparts.
Dr. Ken (2015): Episode 6, season 1
This show also depicts an American-Asian family that has gone past the traditional gender roles and worked hard to live in the suburbs.
The Simpsons
This animated show depicts the modern family and is set in varied regions of the United States and the episode used in this paper is done at the NFL stadium. In this episode, Homer had attended a show after winning tickets