Summary:
I chose to analyse the television show, Parenthood, which airs on NBC at 9:00. The show is about a family, the Bravermans, who go through many wonderful and stressful experiences together. Zeek and Camille Braverman are the parents of four now-adult children, who are very different from one another. Adam, the oldest, is a working class man who has been trying to obtain "The American Dream" all while raising a family of five. Sarah is a divorced, low-working class, and unstable mother of two, who has moved her family back home in with her parents. Crosby, once a careless bachelor, has recently changed his life around after discovering he is a father. Lastly, Julia, an upper-middle class lawyer, has the definition of "The American Dream" family, as she is the breadwinner for her family of four. Each family faces real life problems and triumphs, and each family finds a way to deal with various situations.
As I get ready for the season premiere, I have been watching last season's episodes. In the episode, "Because You're My Sister," Julia and her husband are planning to finalize an adoption for a child they have brought into their home and family. Crosby and Jasmine struggle to make Jasmine's mother feel welcome in their home as they give her a place to stay. Sarah is trying to choose between two guys, both of whom she has fallen in love with. Sarah also celebrates the fact that her son was accepted into Berkeley, the first out of her family to go to college. Lastly, Adam and his wife Christina celebrate as they find out Christina is cancer free after a year of battling it.
Analysis:
As discussed in class, there are many television shows that provide an image that living "The American Dream," or meeting the standards of the upper class are the only ways to be successful. It is believed that with these portrayals, it is creating a capitalist ideology, saying that American's should follow The American Dream, and that obtaining wealth and power creates a sense of happiness. With these portrayals, media is implementing thematic framing, showing the audience an unrealistic and/or glorified way of life, thus influencing their perception of reality. This is done by making fun, or giving bad names, of the lower and working class in shows such as The Drew Carey Show. It's also done by creating lives of people who live within unrealistic standards, like in shows such as Friends. If you really think about it, what kind of middle-aged group of friends with low-paying jobs like acting and waitressing can afford to live where they live. Even Chandler and Ross' careers could realistically barely be able to afford that type of lifestyle in the heart of New York City.
Parenthood is a show that ignores these stereotypical, unrealistic portrayals of how the media portrays most families on television. Parenthood brings in characters from all different types of class standings, anything from the working class to upper class. The best part of it, is that these various class standings are all represented within one family, the Braverman family. We have Sarah, who never went to college, gave birth to two children from an alcoholic, unreliable father, and had to move back home after divorcing him. We have come to know her as the hopeless romantic, who can't get her life in order. In this episode, it shows her family celebrating Drew, who is her son, who was accepted into Berkley. Even though Sarah fits into the working lower-working class, it shows that people can still be happy and successful when living up to this class' standards. Whereas in most other shows, such as Honey Boo Boo, this type of life is seen as "not good enough" and gives a bad name to the lower, working class citizens. This show proves that success isn't measured by wealth.
In the same episode, we have Adam who is a working class person raising three children, all while his wife was diagnosed with cancer. In an earlier season, Adam was rising to the top of his company, moving closer to "The American Dream" when all of the sudden the company was given a new leader, and he lost his job. Adam represents that working class family, who is constantly struggling to stay afloat in times of economic troubles. He really exemplifies the idea that just because one doesn't obtain "The American Dream," it doesn't mean they didn't obtain their dream. Media can give an unrealistic framing to this by showing people who don't make it to the dream, completely fail, which is not the case at all.
Conclusion:
I believe the show, Parenthood, has realistic portrayals of every class standing, proving that media does not always give the glorified (not to mention unrealistic) depiction that wealth and power are everything, and that to be happy or successful, does not mean you have to be living the "American Dream."
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