TV Shows and Gender

Yesterday I was outside with my mom trying to teach my three year old nephew how to play baseball. He's not very good at it, but he didn't want help from us either. My mom says to him, "Miller, you're a boy so you're supposed to be able to play baseball!" I got a little offended and told my mom that he doesn't have to be good at sports just because he's a boy. She agreed, but also pointed out that on basically every TV show or movie, boys are always supposed to be good at sports or else they a considered weird, nerdy, etc... Of course, this got me thinking and I realized that (duh) she's right. On basically every TV show that I watch, the post popular guys are the ones who play sports. For example, on One Tree Hill, both Nathan and Lucas are star basketball players and now their lives are just so perfect. On The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Jack is always wearing his letterman's jacket, which is a big part of athletics. On Greek the Omega Chi's and the Lambda Sig's are the top fraternities on campus, and athletics are really important to them, even if it just an intramural sport. I could go on and on, but this just goes to show that TV shows are always reinforcing gender stereotypes. Boys are supposed to play sports. The girls are supposed to cheer them on. I've never really thought about it, but the majority of TV shows that I watch have these same gender roles. It's very rare when gender roles are reversed, and when they are it's usually for some kind of comedic benefit.

Kidnapped Chicagoan

I've noticed ads about a "Kidnapped Chicagoan" for awhile now, and they kind of freaked me out just a little bit. There I was sitting on a mostly empty train after my night class, looking up at the ads so I don't have to make any awkward eye contact when all I notice the "Kidnapped Chicagoan" ads. The first one I saw says something along the lines of, "He was last seen reading ads on the train." My eyes widen and I look around for any suspicious people. I definitely don't want to disappear on the train! Of course, there's not just one ad, there are many. All of them tell me to visit http://www.kidnappedchicagoan.com/ for more information. Eventually, my curiosity got the best of me and I went to the website. That's when I find out that the whole campaign is really to get people to come to St. Louis. There is a Kidnap Kam, tweets from the "kidnapped" guy, and Foursquare updates. All of these things show the viewer a little more about St. Louis. I thought this was brilliant. The campaign has a clear target audience (Chicagoans using public transportation), and the mystery behind the ads brings people to the site. I was looking at other blogs and they said that site traffic is way up during prime commuting hours. That's pretty cool. It's definitely a fun and interesting way to get people to a website.

Radio and Advertising

I was driving to Milwaukee last Thursday when I got caught in traffic. The drive that usually takes me an hour and a half took over four hours! I only had one single CD in my car, and after listening to it on repeat for two hours, I decided to turn on the radio. That was a mistake. It was around five o'clock and every station I went to was playing commercials. So now I'm at a standstill on I-94 with nothing to listen to except commercials. I was not a happy camper, at all. My windows were all rolled down and the people stuck next to me were laughing as I called my sister to yell about my current situation. I definitely provided some entertainment for those around me. Anyway, back to the radio part. I turned it on and found commercial after commercial. It didn't matter what station I was on, there were commercials. Occasionally, as I flipped between stations, I would catch the last 20 seconds or so of a song and then it would be back to commercials. This got me thinking. Clearly, five o'clock is the prime time for commercials to air because many people are driving home, and are possibly stuck in traffic. However, are advertisers really reaching their audience? If the majority of drivers are like me, when they hear a commercial they'll flip stations. Others either have CDs playing or their iPods hooked up. When you're stuck in traffic, the last thing you want to hear are commercials. So while it might seem like five is a good time to reach mass amounts of people, I feel like advertising at this time doesn't really help at all. I was so mad that I kept hearing commercials that I began to hate the products being advertised. I love roller coasters, but after hearing the Six Flags commercial over and over, I never want to visit there ever again. I guess it goes both ways. Advertisers are able to spread the word about different products and such, but people will start to resent that product after they hear the same commercial five times within the hour. I can't be the only person that feels this way. Maybe if there were less annoying commercials at peak hours for radio listening, radio would still be as popular as it used to be. Although they need the advertisements to make money. It's kind of like a Catch-22. I think I'll just stick to CDs and my iPod because radio just isn't worth the frustration it causes me.

Social Media Networks

With different social media networks these days, it's almost impossible to keep private information private. Between Facebook, Twitter, Myspace (do people still use myspace) and about a million other sites like these, you can find out just about any kind of information you want about someone. Lurking, creeping, facebook stalking, it's all basically the same thing. You go to whomever's page you want to learn more about and look at all of their information. You can find out everything from their hometown to what food they like to eat to who their friends are. It's frightening when you stop to think about what kind of information someone can find out about you in five minutes.

Of course, there are different security features that you can implement on sites like Facebook, but the information is still out there someone on the internet. Now, with sites like Twitter, you can get minute to minute details about any given person's life. Celebrities tweet their locations and then get upset when paparazzi and fans show up. Even normal everyday people will tweet about their exact locations. In today's world, where we're always on the lookout for stalkers, murderers, rapists, etc... it seems strange that we are putting all of this information out there for almost anyone to see.

I have a Facebook, but I'm pretty careful about my security settings and who I add as friends. Other people don't care as much and will add just about anyone. I think most people need to take more time to think about all of the information that they post on the internet. It's scary to think of where that information could end up.

Crazy Fans

I saw that we were going to be talking about fandom in a few weeks and it got me thinking about this show that I went to this past weekend. I went to see The Maine and I figured that since it was a Sunday night and Mother's day there would not be that many younger people there, but I was wrong- the show was completely sold out. The venue had a capactiy of 400 but when we got there, I noticed that there were only probably 30 people there that were over the age of 18 but not a parent. I definitely felt really old. The average age of the kids at the show was probably 15, and a lot of them had at least one parent there with them.

Everything was fine until The Maine started their set. There were a lot of little girls standing at the front of the stage, and when the band came out they got crushed. A few of them had to be taken out by security because they had passed out. A few songs into the set, some of the girls began climbing onto the stage so that they could hug the singer. At this point I was starting to get a little annoyed. Do they really need to climb onstage during the set just to hug a guy that they think is "OMG SOOOO HOTT!!!" (I definitely heard that quote more than once throughout the night.)

Then they started yelling "John, I love you!" I'm here to enjoy the music and instead I'm stuck listening to teenage girls shriek at the singer, who is definitely too old for them to even have a chance with. Then I began noticing all the homemade t-shirts. Most of them had the band members names, quotes, song titles, and other random sayings on them. A lot of them said something about a band member being so hott. I don't really have a problem with that, people can wear whatever they want. It's just a little weird when 14 year old girls have "John Oh is so sexy!" written across their chests...

After the show, all of the band guys were hanging outside the venue to talk to their fans. The group of girls around The Maine's singer was absolutely ridiculous. They clearly worshipped him, and also knew everything about him. I overheard girls asking him about his family and bringing up other personal information. How do they even find all this stuff out?

It's pretty creepy seeing a 12 year old girl asking a band member if he has a girlfriend and then asking him to kiss her. I've seen girls in hysterics because they didn't get a hug from a band member. I've seen girls follow a band from one state to the next. I've seen girls who know every detail about a band member, including personal stuff about their family members.

So that leads me to the question... How far is too far? If I were a guy in a band and I had fans like that, I'd be scared. They know everything and if you don't make them happy then they are absolutely ruthless. I realize that with the internet and social networking sites it's pretty easy to get personal information about almost anyone, but if this were Hollywood those girls would be arrested for stalking! It's creepy, and I hate being at shows where other people might think I'm like those girls just because I'm a girl at a show. I started going to shows when I was 15, and I never acted like that. It feels like fans these days have no boundaries anymore. They will do anything to try and get close to a band member. It scares me to think that it could get even worse in the future as the internet makes it easier and easier to find out anything from interests to addresses.

Boy Meets World

Every so often I get in this mood where I just want to watch TV shows from when I was a kid. So the other day my roommate and I decided to start watching Boy Meets World from the beginning of season one. The first episode I watched, I noticed quite a few things. First, the opening credits are incredibly cheesy. They have Corey Matthews in all of his 90s glory with this cheesy music playing in the background and random shapes floating around. I'm not going to analyze the credit sequence or anything, it was just interesting to see a credit sequence from the early 90s and compare it to shows that are currently on air.

The second thing I noticed is that the show has different things strictly for the adults who are watching the show with their children. When I was a kid, I never noticed the relationships between the adults on the show, but now that I'm older it was kind of startling to see the adult stuff that they put on there. I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped when the dad was saying to the mom that they should go upstairs *wink wink.* I would have never noticed that if I was 5, but 15 years later I'm kind of shocked! Here I was thinking that this is a show for kids, but I was definitely wrong.

The last thing that I noticed was not as obvious. I had watched a few episodes before I realized that almost every character is white, especially all of the main characters. It was really interesting to see how much shows have changed in the last 15- 20 years. In current shows, there pretty much has to be a diverse cast. There are always at least a few African American characters, definitely a few Asian characters, and usually at least one Hispanic character, through the white characters are definitely the majority. However, in Boy Meets World, there was none of that, everyone was white.

In current shows, usually I feel like the minorities are shown, just because they have to be. They'll throw in a few minority characters to make it seem like they are being diverse. To me though, it usually ends up feeling forced. Although we are definitely taking steps in the right direction by going from all white characters to shows adding some minority characters, I think more needs to be done. The minority characters need to be incorporated into storylines better. Usually it feels like they have been placed in a show just so that show can meet their requirement for diversity or something.

Prison Break

I just started watching Prison Break last week and it has basically consumed my life. I'm obsessed with it.

Anyway, I was watching an episode of season 2 last night, and I noticed a few different things that kind of reminded me of our discussion on semiotics.

Michael and Sara were in the middle of nowhere, when all of a sudden FBI Agent Mahone came racing out of nowhere to come and kill them. They hop into Michael's car and take off, with Mahone right behind. Then there's all this cool camera work that shows Mahone, then Michael and Sara, back to Mahone, and then both cars. That's when I noticed that Mahone, who is a "bad guy" at this point is in a black car. Michael and Sara, who are the "good guys" are trying to get away from him and they're in a white car. It was some pretty obvious symbolism, which is probably the only reason I noticed it. Both my roommate and I commented at the same time, laughing that they had the bad guy in a black car and the good guy in a white car.

As I watched another episode, I began to realize that all of the "bad buys" are in black cars and SUVs. Meanwhile, the escaped convicts are in every color car except black. Is it a coincidence? Maybe, but the reading on semiotics made me think deeper into it and I think that the people behind Prison Break did it on purpose. Humans are conditioned to think that black equals bad, and this is just another way to reinforce that.

U by Kotex

This ad came out a little while ago, and I thought it was absolutely hilarious and really unique. Most commercials for feminine products try and make it seem like this is the most wonderful time of your life. I think it's Always that says, "Have a happy period." Seriously, who would actually enjoy having their period?

This ad stepped away from what is a standard advertisement for this type of product. The ad basically says, "Hey, we know this sucks but if you use our product we might be able to make it a little better for you." That is what people like me want to hear. We don't want someone telling us that everything is perfect and awesome. So basically what I'm trying to say is that I feel like Kotex hit their target market perfectly, and they did it in a unique way. They make the audience see how ridiculous other companies are being, and why you should buy their product instead. They really listened to the complaints consumers were having about other companies, and responded well.

After seeing this ad, I actually wanted to buy this product. Usually I'll see ads and I just kind of brush them off, but this one really stuck with me. Most ads don't effect the choices I make, I usually just buy whatever my mom used to buy when it comes to any kind of product. However, I think this one definitely got me, and I'm actually aware of why I am buying this product instead of a different one.

Sons of Anarchy: Promoting Hegemonic Values?

Sons of Anarchy tells the story of a motorcycle club, called SAMCRO for short, based in the fictional town of Charming, California. The members of the club make money through an auto repair business, but they also import guns illegally and sell them to gangs in the area. In order to protect themselves from jail time or legal consequences, the members of SAMCRO have infiltrated local law enforcement and currently have Charming's sheriff on their payroll. Their illegal activities do have some benefits for Charming, as SAMCRO has been able to keep drugs out of Charming and also run a group of white separatists from town.

At first glance, Sons of Anarchy is a story about the bad boys in town. The show is full of alternative readings that promote the values of the base, not the superstructure. The club members lie, cheat, steal, kill, deal, and do just about anything else to get their way. The law enforcement does nothing to stop the club, in fact they end up helping SAMCRO in most episodes. The club president tried to have one of the club members murdered, but the member's wife got killed instead. Then there's that whole business about dealing illegal guns to gangs. All of these are examples of alternative readings, readings that the superstructure does not promote. However, at the end of almost every episode, there is at least one dominant reading that comes about.

Some of the dominant readings are that SAMCRO would do anything to keep Charming and its residents safe. They keep drugs and other gangs out of their town. They also care very deeply about their friends and family. All of these actions help promote hegemony. They show that the dominant readings of the superstructure are always present, even when it might not seem like it at first glance. While the club may not always act in the way the dominant culture wants them to, the end result favors that of the superstructure.



If you watch this video clip you can start to see a little bit of what I'm talking about.

Greek

I'll admit, ABC Family's Greek is totally my guilty pleasure. I watch it every Monday night, and if I miss it then I'm sure to watch it on Hulu as soon as I possibly can. I sit there hoping that Casey and Cappie end up together, that Rusty breaks up with Dana soon, and that Calvin and Heath get back together soon. Mostly though, I sit there wishing that I were one of the characters on the show.

Greek has all the typical characters that you would expect to find on a sitcom about college, but they mess around with the stereotypes, which is awesome. There is the blonde sorority girl named Casey, but she’s not just going to marry some rich man and not have her own career or anything, she’s going to go to law school. There is the popular, good-looking, president of the number one fraternity on campus named Evan. However, he gave up his trust fund because he didn’t like the rules that his parents were laying down for him. Now he has to actually work for a living. There’s also Rusty, the polymer science engineer “nerd”, who also joined the number one party fraternity on campus. Then there’s Calvin, who is gay, but is also in the number one fraternity, and an incredible athlete.

These are some of the main characters on the show, and each one of them doesn’t fit into the stereotypes that are seen in almost every other show that is aimed at teens or early-20s adults. The sorority girl isn’t just some dumb bimbo, the frat guy isn’t a total party animal, the nerd isn’t just into science, and the gay guy isn’t just into going to Gentleman’s Choice, the gay bar near campus.

This is what I love about the show. The kinds of characters shown on the show could exist in real life, outside of Cyprus Rhodes University. These kinds of characters can be found on any college campus. Although there are definitely some stereotypes that are found within the show, Greek at least tries to break away from that a little bit. This is an example of how the media is reflecting society instead of our society just copying what we see on the media. It’s also an example of how we’re breaking down stereotypes more and more, and how that is actually becoming acceptable. That, at least somewhat, is progress.