Class representation in Sitcoms: How they affect our perception on society.

Class Representation in Television Sitcoms
By Joshua Simone

The representation of class in the media is a powerful tool in shaping the mindset of how society should operate. For this project our subject was the media representation of race, class, gender, and other social categories. The articles below are focused in a particular area of media, Television. Not just television, but specifically TV sitcoms. Before reading the articles I formulated some questions to help me glean information about class representation in TV sitcoms. Does class representation have a visible impact on the public? Is there an equal amount of sitcoms accurately representing different social classes? Why would sitcoms focus on certain classes and not others? These are only some of the questions I came into this assignment with.



“The Working Class Sitcom Returns”
Jaime J. Weinman

This article is about a new sitcom coming to HBO and other networks called “Lucky Louie”. The article talks about how this show will be unlike other popular sitcoms today because it is about people with real money problems and are really a working class family trying to make ends meet. The writers of the show have looked back on shows like “All in the Family” for inspiration to capture the feel of a working class family and how to show real problems working class families face today. The article really focuses on the writer’s needs and wants to create a show that can talk to and bring entertainment for those who are struggling in the working class
I like this article because it shows how class representation in the media impacts those who watch it. The fact that some writers want to really capture a feel of a working class family and want to display that on television. In the article the writers for “Lucky Louie” was not only going to make it like All in the Family but will use the same filming techniques and will not make a “flashy” show. The writers have a plan and I get the feeling from this article that the writers want to promote a class consciousness and show the people there still is a working class.

http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=b26aec669003dc97f04120f4dbc650ce&_docnum=3&wchp=dGLzVlz-zSkVb&_md5=148d9a6b4d867973b18ca885060de369

“Class dismissed?
Roseanne and the changing face of working-class iconography”
Julie Bettie

This article focuses on the media representation of social classes in America. Bettie says that the working class does not exist in the mind of T.V. media. Bettie focuses out Roseanne as the last great depiction of a working class family where the mother is the sustainer of the house and keeps everything together, parents work, family problems, financial problems, and other factors that really tear at working class families. Roseanne also showed the woman as a lead figure in the house and was conflicting with the feminist movement. Roseanne showed how a woman in the working class lived and the responsibilities and duties that she has. The impact that Roseanne had on T.V. viewers started to bring about class consciousness, the working class could no longer be hidden away into the poor pockets of society. People who watch the show loved the show but also hated it, because it was and is a portrait of how the real world works.
I remember watching Roseanne as a child with my parents. It was one of their favorite shows. I never understood why because my parents always talked bad about them and told me to never be like the people we see on the show. Looking back I now see why they liked it and used it as an example for me on how not to live. I come from a working class family and the struggles that the Barr family went through were very similar to our own.

http://www.jstor.org/view/01642472/ap020039/02a00060/0?searchUrl=http%3a//www.jstor.org/search/BasicResults%3fhp%3d25%26si%3d1%26Query%3dclass%2bdismissed&frame=noframe¤tResult=01642472%2bap020039%2b02a00060%2b0%2cFFFFFF03&userID=8cd31857@cocc.edu/01cce4405c4be410ee348a38b&dpi=3&config=jstor

“The Simpsons
Atomistic Politics and the Nuclear Family”
Paul A. Cantor

This article focuses on the social structure of the Simpson’s family. I like this article because of the “in-between” state that the Simpson family is in. They are stuck in between working class and middle class. Homer works, Marge (his wife) is a homemaker, Bart (son) is a trouble maker, and Lisa (daughter) is a very gifted and talented young lady. The whole show seems to be a mockery of the 1950’s “Leave it to Beaver” show. This article points out the pure devotion of the Simpson parents to their children. That Homer lacks all of the qualities that our culture sees as what a good father should have, but is there for his wife and his children. Homer is devouted to them above all else and even though he is stupid, crude, lazy, and insensitive he is there for his family. Marge is also interesting showing what a middle class woman is like. The author explains one episode where Marge jumps onto the feminist movement and another where she is attacking a cartoon show for being to violent. These are the “typical” things that a mother would do in middle class family. The show makes fun of the traditional barriers of social class and shows qualities of all of them that we can identify with.

http://www.jstor.org/view/00905917/ap010113/01a00030/0?searchUrl=http%3a//www.jstor.org/search/BasicResults%3fhp%3d25%26si%3d1%26Query%3dThe%2bSimpsons&frame=noframe¤tResult=00905917%2bap010113%2b01a00030%2b0%2cFFDF01&userID=8cd31857@cocc.edu/01cce4405c4be410ee348a38b&dpi=3&config=jstor

“A Show about Nothing: Seinfeld and the Modern Comedy of Manners.”
Pierson, David P

This article is about the comedy placed inside of a sitcom about the social norms of society. Pierson goes on to talk about how Seinfeld shows what really goes on behind the scenes of the unwritten social codes of life. Seinfeld’s main characters are middle class and seem to have no responsibilities to anything. The author goes on to describe that since they are in this unique state they can push and break normal social barriers and make it look funny. The article shows how the social barrier and norms are broken by these middle class people who have no fear in revealing the social hypocrisy.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=15&hid=115&sid=16e8e867-bac2-4f40-a81b-b4edd184f360%40sessionmgr105

“A Working Class Protest”
Television Week

This article is about a protest that was held outside of a BBC America building. The protest was about BBC america’s cancellation of a T.V. show “EastEnders”. The television show was a close to accurate depiction of working class life. One man in the article was quoted saying, “American television has never dealt with working-class life seriously. The closest it ever got was 'Roseanne,' and that was a sitcom”. The article didn’t take a stand but it shows that there are people who do know and care about the lack of accurate representation of classes on T.V. in America compared to other countries.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=54&hid=7&sid=00386abf-c4dd-4339-8d22-b78b913d8bfc%40SRCSM1

“The Americanization of Molly:
How Mid-Fifties TV Homogenized The Goldbergs (and Got “Berg-larized” in the Process)”
Vincent Brook

This article shows the evolution of how social class was depicted in the media from the 30’s to the 50’s. The article is centered around a radio show called “The Goldbergs” that later turned into a T.V. sitcom. The article points out the consumer aspect of The Goldbergs. When the show first started it was a working class Jewish family living in a small urban apartment trying to survive. When the radio show started it appealed to many because the majority of listeners were in this class bracket. The show was a picture of their own lives so they could identify. The article goes to show as the majority of America started to move up the class bracket so did the show and it eventually moved to television. The article points out the amount of product placement in the show to get people to be consumer driven just like the Goldbergs. The Goldbergs and other shows of its time started to help make the homogenized middle class where everyone would copy what was on T.V. as a standard of middle class living. (Beat the Jones’ next door!) The article also points out the change toward the last years of the show that Molly Goldberg also left her working lifestyle and was taught that a women’s place was in the home. The article concludes that though this one T.V. show did not start a revolution but it and other shows of it’s time contributed greatly to the classless middle class.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=67&hid=7&sid=00386abf-c4dd-4339-8d22-b78b913d8bfc%40SRCSM1

After reading these articles I was surprised at the results. The representation in the media is primarily pointed at the middle class as being the normal way of life. It was also very interesting to read in the “The Americanization of Molly” how consumerism was closely tied into the television shows. It seems that sitcoms in themselves are not the problem or the driving force, but are a tool of the greater push for our society to be consumers. The impacts that the sitcoms have on the general population is that the working and poor classes are a thing of the past like their shows on television, but they are not. I liked to read about the reemergence and the push to bring a national class consciousness of problems in our society. Sitcoms can expose social problems just as comics can draw government problems out; both ways are a safe bet to bring about awareness and also to shed light on the so called “problems of the past”. Now after doing this assignment I look more into shows that I see on television. What is their angle? Is that proper representation of different social categories? What are they trying to sell me? It is time to move from the naivety of our childish past and really look into what culture is telling us to be, whether it is subconscious message or intentional we need to be on guard.