This
week’s reading delved into the ever so frequent discussion of hegemony within
television, its power as a super structure, and how each respective time period
featured television programs that reflected their respective zeitgeist.
What is new to me is the position that the shows were not merely
taking a side and pushing forth a specific political agenda, but instead as
Newcomb and Hirsch suggests, is providing a space for a forum. Rather than
looking towards one specific episode to see a show’s standpoint, an entire
series can add depth to the conversation.
Throughout its airing, shows often have moments of change through
opposing standpoints and shifting beliefs. Even though not as extreme as primetime
television before the turn of the century, few shows today feature this same
shift as characters are older, or writers obtain new beliefs or new levels of
fame. I think of even a cartoon like
family guy, one that started off with messages and then perhaps somewhere in
Macfarlane’s popularity, shifted toward tactless comedy. Also it was mentioned
that certain shows ran the risk of complaint and even cancellation when certain
topics became a bit too salient, and how in our day and age, with television
spreading across multiple platforms and reaching niche audiences, it is much
harder to offend. Often because certain
shows may go unnoticed at first by certain groups, as suggested by Hendershot
in reference to the show Parks and
Recreation, it is easier to push boundaries
and go beyond the status quo in ways former broadcast television could not.
I
would argue even further that in today’s television, there are shows that still
are trying to take on that traditional patriarchal hegemonic family structure,
with often some kind of post racial, neoliberal attachment to it. I think of shows like Fresh off the Boat and Black-ish,
which are essentially the same shows that All in the Family and Father
Knows Best are, just perhaps with race being part of the joke more often. In
other shows, mostly shows on cable, there are sitcoms that are taking more
risks, putting there political agenda in the open through character rants, for example Master of None, where episodes are literally discussions, but
favoring a perspective. Other times shows are so
ridiculous that they lose their point all together and try to see how far they
can push things. They both kind of
disregard the notion of a forum since one clearly takes a point and cannot in
my opinion be argued against by other shows with opposing views, since people
may not know about the other show. The
second example in a way destroys the forum by laughing at both sides, such as a
show like It’s Always Sunny in
Philadelphia.
Ray, I enjoying reading your post and I love the examples you drawn in the second paragraph. I am also astonished by the idea that television provides a cultural forum instead of offering exact solutions to social problems. The episode from Father Knows Best forms an obvious forum because audiences may felt disappointed because the problem is, of course, unsolved. But shows in the post-network era that have niche audience could still provide cultural forums that are not obvious. The niche audience may agree with most of its ideology while not realizing that there is still not a solution to the problem. The old cultural forum with conflict ideas may still present in a subtle way. It reminds me of the one episode we watched last semester from “Transparent.” which I am perhaps not its targeted audience, and I wouldn’t know about that show at all. The targeted audience of that show may notice that the characters are struggling with their real identities and their socially ideal identities, but they did not manage to solve the problem at the end of the episode. The conflict in the social forum is much less obvious than the one Betty faced in “Father Knows Best.” It niche audience may satisfied with the episode, but the show itself does not offer any solution, and that conflict exists. So I think whether or not the TV show is for mass audience in the network era or niche audience in the post-network era, the cultural forum is not demolishing, but simply less obvious to its viewers.
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