Entertainment Media and Social Change - Essay Example

05 August Entertainment media and social change: It remains an absolute reality thatthe entertainment media has always been considered as a force which can potentially influence the society in either good or bad way and can prompt societal changes of the kind which cannot be brought otherwise. As minimum advances were made at portraying certain groups in the society which were marginalized due to attitudes that are not mainstream, it was difficult to see any significant change in terms of acceptance towards such groups in the past. According to an assessment made by some critical media theorists, most popular media promotes or fosters the mainstream or standard social beliefs or attitudes in an attempt to marginalize the minority social groups. Furthermore in very subtle yet influential manner, the entertainment media notoriously strengthens the basic social arrangements and people with more evolved ideas are banished. Facts and discussion presented in this essay are basically meant to illuminate the reality of the claim that “in context of homosexuals, this assessment does not apply to the American TV shows today as the number of shows challenging the mainstream, conventional, or standard perspectives on sexual identity presently significantly outnumber the shows which conform to them.” This essay contemplates the relationship between entertainment media and social change with the help of analysis based on how the American television programs depict homosexual people. It is mentioned by Nordenstreng (cited in Lull 62) that mass media is uniquely capable of introducing new elements into consciousness and society that otherwise would not be there. It is understandable that if the American media portrays the homosexuals as people who are to be condemned and shunned in the society, the public can easily be lulled into falling for this strategy devised to marginalize this particular social group no matter how enormous their contributions to the society may be. In the present times, media is known to be the prime promulgator of cultural hegemony which is why it is often held responsible for making people believe in different concepts and changing their attitudes towards certain behaviors which fall outside the standard category. Media relates with social change so much that it shapes the public’s perception of truth and lies. It helps people relate to changes which are absolute and substantial but otherwise considered inferior by the conventional fundamentalists. It is claimed by (Pozner 97) that entertainment media especially reality television shows are as much a means of basic entertainment as they are of ideological persuasion which means that they possess the power to persuade people in accepting new ideas and attitudes and curbing discriminatory notions. Reality television representations of homosexual people help people determine how to treat them, perceive them, understand them, and relate to them. Such representations on the American shows like The Amazing Race, The Biggest Loser, and The Challenge have enormously helped in re-defining the identity and reality of this particular group of people for the better. The Challenge, which was previously called The Real World/Road Rules Challenge is basically a reality game show aired on MTV. This competition based show has a reputation of regularly featuring gay contestants and their sexuality is often questioned significantly in various seasons in an effort to portray them and explain their reality to the common public. The portrayal of homosexuals is apparently so evident in this particular game show that unlike the rest of the gay TV shows like The A List and Modern Family, research has identified it to be the gayest show ever aired in history of television. This show brings together the most talented contestants (often gay) to compete against each other in different games like cliff-diving and wrestling. In one season of this reality TV show, six out of 30 cast members were shown as having same-sex relationships on camera which makes up about 20 percent of the cast and this rate of gay participants is higher than many other reality TV shows with an element of competition. The portrayal of gay people on this show at a higher rate than in any other reality or fictional show is basically an effort to explore the sexuality of these people and present the revelations related to that to the public in an enlightened way so as to remove the bias and discriminatory notions regarding gay people. More often than not, a certain minority social group like that formed by gay people is perceived in negative light by members of the large standard social groups because it is not properly understood and acknowledged. Here comes the role of the entertainment media whose job is to raise awareness in the public regarding the actual facts and discard any myth or lie associated with the minority social groups. For one fact, Tyler Duckworth happens to be one of the most celebrated gay contestants on the Real World reality game show. Years before getting himself acknowledged at the hit Real World show when he was a closeted swimmer, he used to read about the Gay Games. Now openly gay, he is a high-profile cast member on both Real World and Gay Games. Likewise, Modern Family is another American scripted/fictional comedy TV series which challenges the mainstream perspectives on sexual identity. This critically acclaimed show airs on ABC and revolves around three interrelated families and their everyday affairs. One family among them happens to consist of two gay dads Mitchell and Cameron who are also parenting a Vietnamese baby girl. In contrast to the assessment made by critical media theorists that majority of the TV shows promote standard social values and render other minority groups invisible by depicting them in a very negative or biased manner, this universally acclaimed show stars two gay dads as regular cast members in an attempt to portray their lives, ideologies, and myriad issues. This decision of the creators of this show to include one gay family has helped the other gay people enormously in being accepted in the society by other social groups because many people have been convinced by this show to subvert the longtime sexist stereotypes of two gay fathers unable to manage or raise a family at home despite being the best both personally and professionally. This show is praised and acknowledged by many as one of the several efforts made by the entertainment media at subverting the criticisms targeting the LGBT community. Through its portrayal of two gay dads parenting a child together, this show has reportedly also helped many homosexual people make significant progress towards social acceptance. From the amount of attention this homosexual couple gets on this show to the quite nurturing manner in which both Cameron and Mitchell are shown taking care of their only child, it is significantly evident that this show strives to present gay couples in a positive light and on an equal level with straight couples. Also on terms of raising a child and making a family, they are shown on an equal level with the other two families. All this is done in an attempt to make it clear to the television audience that the gay couple and their family forms as much a part of the Modern Family as the other two couples and their families. In short, the commendable way in which a stay at home dad Cameron and his partner, Mitchell who happens to be a lawyer are represented continues to impress both the gay and straight communities while discouraging many fake assumptions about gay families at the same time. However, some TV shows typically portray the conventional or orthodox societal standards in the process of marginalizing social groups that fall outside the dominant social hierarchy. The Secret Diary of Pfeiffer is one such example of an infamous American sitcom which drew significant criticism from both the LGBT community and media critics due to not acknowledging the identity of the homosexual people in a positive way, misguiding the television audience by inappropriately portraying them, and reinforcing gender stereotypes. Due to the frequent jokes made about gay tendencies, stereotypical depictions of gay people, this show only lasted four episodes and can be considered as one example which confirms the mainstream perspectives on sexual identity. The life of an average American homosexual is not fairly depicted in this show and it received poor audience reception ratings which hold high importance as according to Kellner (cited in Rhonda and Kellner), we have to turn to audience reception studies in order to check how dominant ideas are encoded within media texts like sitcoms. It is also argued that most of the characters on American gay TV shows happen to be white which fosters the idea that the homosexual community is mostly white. This could not be called a correct depiction of the LGBT community because stereotypes are created in the minds of the viewers regarding what gay people actually look like. On grounds of such criticism is this assessment reinforced that the popular media mostly renders certain minority social groups invisible. Concluding, this much remains clear from the above discussion that media portrayal of homosexual people ranges from positive to highly negative. Such shows which do not promote the acceptance of homosexual people prevent the television audience from witnessing a correct depiction of them. In contrast, with the help of TV shows like The Real World, gay people are entitled to more rights than ever for participating in different sports on an equal level with people who are not gay which has helped in enormously enhancing the representation of this social group. Due to the beliefs they hold and the way they live, gay people in America have often found themselves to be subjects of laughter and scorn in the past but with time, this bad societal response has changed much by the efforts of entertainment media which prompted both constitutional and social changes. Works cited: Hammer, Rhonda, and Kellner, Douglas. Media/Cultural Studies: Critical Approaches. Peter Lang, 2009. Print. Lull, James. Media, Communication, Culture: A Global Approach. USA: Sage Publications, Inc., 2003. Print. Pozner, Jennifer L. Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV. Seal Press, 2010. Print. Read More