The Role of TV in Shaping the American Culture from 1950 to 2000 - Essay Example

The Role of Television in Shaping the American Culture from 1950 to 2000 Television also referred to as TV or Tele is a medium for telecommunication that is used for transmitting moving images and sounds. It is able to transmit images that are monochrome (black and white), in color or in three dimensions. Television refers specifically to a television program, a television set, or the medium that is used in television transmission. It is a mass medium that is iconic that serves as conduit for news, advertising and entertainment. Since 1950s, television has become an integral part of the American life and it has proactively changed and influenced the American culture for the sixty years that have passed. It has greatly influenced the public life-style, private individuals, social interactions, political, and religion of Americans. It has shaped America as currently known. Very few in inventions have managed to influence the American society as television. Prior to 1947, the quantity of US homes that had television sets was in the region of thousands. In the late 1990s, 98% of the homes in America owned at least a television set, and averagely, the sets were on for more than seven hours daily. On September 7, 1927, in San Francisco, 21 year old Philo Taylor Farnsworth successfully demonstrated electronic television for the first time. The early television was very primitive and the quality of the picture was very poor. The progress of television was slowed down by the fight over allocations of wavelengths with the new FM radio and a fight over government regulations. The ruling by The Federal Communications Commission in 1941 that required the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) to sell one of its radio networks. In 1943, the Supreme Court upheld this ruling. The new American Broadcasting Company (ABC) become the second network (Edgerton, et al, 96). It entered television early in the next year. There were six television stations that prevailed during the war and they were experimental. Each in Los Angeles, Chicago, Schenectady, and Philadelphia, N. Y., and two in the New York City. However, broadcasting that was full-scale commercial television started in America in 1947. Television used to provide local coverage that was continuous over 24hours. The tragedies that were unfolding demonstrated that live television coverage were informative and united the American community. At the dawn of 1950s, around seven million TV sets were in circulation and this came with the need of broadcasting images that were fresh in the news magnified. Initially, the networks offered short newscasts that were peppered with filmed newsreel footage but it didn’t last for long (Halliwell, Martin 64). The people who had developed their careers in radio news eventually gave television network news expansion. CBS News specifically established a protocol TV reporting – airing stories about political, topical and worldwide events that affected its viewers. In addition, every night, viewers were able to see newsmen who they had trusted for many years. Given that television had proven itself, in 1951, the linking of both coasts by coaxial cable meant that there were some programs that could be viewed at the same time nationwide. The problem now was feeding the program-hungry nation. Television consumed more resources than radio and motion pictures had previously done, as it was up to the producers, writers, performers, and directors to maintain the development of new ideas. Perhaps no medium shaped American way of life in the 1950s more than TV. At the end of World War II, TV was only for a few rich Americans, but 10 years later, almost two-thirds of households had a television (McCarthy, Anna. 77). The periodical that was selling the most was TV guide. In a country that once marked by regional difference that were very strong, network television programming erased these distinctions and facilitated forge a national popular culture. The television forever changed the politics, religion, and life-style of the American people. “I LOVE LUCY” is among the legendary and popular situation comedies of all time. It follows the life of Lucy Ricardo, who was a zany housewife in the 1950s in New York City. She tries to break into show business, refuses to obey her husband or just keeping her life interesting by a series mishaps and schemes. This show shaped the American culture in the 1950s in different ways. It displayed a lot of progressive qualities that had to do with gender representation. She constantly defied her husband but the dominance of the husband was reasserted at the end of every episode but she would defy him again in the next episode. The was a clear demonstration of the tension that was widely felt around following the development of the new model of domesticity in postwar America. This was a total opposition of the gender expectation in the society. Her persona made her a sympathetic and real empowering example for women. Her influence prevails today in the way we view gender representations, how women view themselves, and the way we educate others. In this case social interaction and public life-styles are depicted clearly as the show was at the time when women were only expected to be wives and mothers and little less. Their intelligence was not valued nor were not encourage to get any kind of career success. The show also depicts the private lives of many women in that decade as they were usually consumed by petty, material desires; they were incompetent and their sensible, more authoritative husbands cleaned up their messes. This fact triggered the sense to the women that they can also be independent as Lucy strived to be and it helped them change to the better. One third of entire network programs were being taped by 1960, a third were filmed, and the rest of the shows were produced live. One critical example was the value of live broadcasting was the ‘Great Debate’ that was between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. And this changed the American politics, more so, the presidential politics for good – as it is viewed as the responsible tool that handed the presidency to John Kennedy (Monteith, Sharon. 86). Technologically, the watershed years for TV news was in 1962; the Relay and Telstar satellites were launched. A year later, those 15 minutes of news wrap-ups became half-hour broadcasts that featured images from satellite from around the globe. Long-form documentaries hit homes in this decade. A lot of them received critical acclaim and were able to test the political boundaries that reached as high as the White house (Haralovich, Mary B. 140). These included CBS reports, Harvest of Shame and series by NCB that was entitled White paper. Television stopped being a seat-of-the-pants experiments, a lot of decisions were board room based, rather than the rooms of the writers. Following the quiz show scandals that were in the late 1950s, the TV networks production was taken away from the sponsors’ hands and they became proactive in programming. Television continued to broadcast stories that evolved around Civil Rights movement, a lot of racial barriers were broken in television entertainment. With exception of Amos ‘n Andy and Beulah, only white Americans were featured on television until the 1960s. An appearance was made by Ossie Davis on the Defenders and a black woman was among June Taylor’s for Jackie Gleason. Later on in the decade, Julia became one of the first programs where a progressive African-American was featured. Among the major development in the 1960s was the introduction of programs that were socially relevant (LaFollette, Marcel C 54). Whereas social criticism seemed to be few in the early dramatic showcases, now the whole series were based on pressing issues. The most successful was ‘The Defenders’, which featured Robert Reed and E.G. Marshall as father son team of lawyers who were concerned with cases that touched on civil rights and civil liberties. Among the topics that were treated in on The Defenders were military justice, capital punishment, abortion, censorship, and political blacklisting. This series had political and social interaction themes that were mature and given the fact that it earned thirteen Emmy awards is a clear indication that it greatly influenced the political perception of Americans as it was a show that was very popular to them. In the topics that the show was based upon, they are basically cultural issues. And the show plated a very big part given its popularity during the 1960s to shape the American culture to what we now have. In the early 1970s, it was found out by a poll that the better part of Americans depend more on television as compared to newspaper for their news. The government also accepted the fact that the television was a very powerful tool. It is during this decade that the government greatly had intervention on the television news, as networks that were embattled gallantly fought so as to be able to preserve their independence. The decade started by the decision by the government to legally prohibit cigarettes on television again. The congressional ban on television and radio advertisement of cigarette caused broadcasters to suffer losses of $220 million in revenue every year and it is obvious this affected how the American society viewed cigarette in terms of their health and economically as it was already illegal in the television. This was big statement and here the individual and public life-style is depicted. Until the 1970s, a lot of the people who were in the television programs in America were Caucasian (white). By being white, people viewed it as being normal in all programs, this included news, entertainment, sports, and advertisement. The few minorities who managed to appear were presented as stereotypes. Often African Americans actors played the parts of household servants, while the role of warriors in Westerns was reserved for the Native Americans (Lavigne, et al. 150). This was the decade that reality shows like The Gong Show and Real People were ushered. Wheel of Fortune that was developed by Mery Griffin started its long run. The America’s love affair with the miniseries was launched in 1970s – with Rich man, Poor Man being the first. Roots which was a miniseries, investigated the history of a family of African-American on nine consecutive evenings. It managed to break the viewing records and the racial barriers (Lazere, Donald. 122). Here the American culture in the context of private and public life-style, and social interactions were shaped. ‘All in Family’ was is among the programs that aired during that decade and it plated a big role in shaping the American culture. The show is about a working class family who the leader is a man who holds bigoted, views that are conservative of the world, Archie Bunker. He is a dockworker in queens and his viewpoints goes against everyone that he meets more so his son-in-law who is liberal. The show had a big influence to the American community and beyond. At some time it was the focus of a national debate that was heated on whether the utilize comedy was good to deal with prejudice and social inequality. The character of Archie Bunker eventually became an American icon as a result. All in the impact of the Family on America is not easy to estimate. It assisted in the introduction of new generation of comedy that had important social significance in them. The show clearly high lightened the private & public life-style and the social interactions and religious views of an individual. It high lightened how wrong it is to thinking less or hating someone because of sexual preference, color, or religious beliefs. It taught the American people that there is good in everybody and goodness should be cherished. You have not truly lived until you have learnt from people with different beliefs and different cultures than those of your own. Just because someone has a different religious belief, it doesn’t mean that you cannot learn from such an individual. And we should not judge others since they have chosen to live a different way than us. These are values that have truly shaped the American community. Based on the major success of the few cable networks in the 1970s, this decade experienced the explosion of the cable industry. The cables that were successful that were launched during this period were: Black Entertainment Television, Home Shopping Network, Music Television, Lifetime Television, The Disney Channel, The Art & Entertainment Television, Discovery Channel, Telemundo, QVC Network, VH1, E! Entertainment Television, The Family Channel, and Turner Network Television. Some of the previous decade’s hits started to lose their stream, including Soap and Taxi. 1970s’ drama shows continued to succeed in 1980. This decade signaled the shift of series themes. Following years of watching shows that tackled difficult issues of the Vietnam War, women’s rights and inflation, the interest of the public was now in escapist themes. One way to facilitate this was through peeking inside the lives of the super rich. Shows like Dallas, Dynasty, Hotel, and even Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous was able to neutralize this appetite. Americans welcomed the new conservatism in social, political, and economical life during the 1980s that were characterized by President Ronald Reagan’s policies that were majorly promoted through television (Linder, Laura R. 113). Usually recognized for its consumerism and materialism, the decade witnessed the rise of the ‘yuppie’ a blockbuster movies explosion and the emergence of the cable networks as MTV, which introduced the music video and is responsible for launching the careers of a lot of iconic artists. MTV is the television cable that is most watched in the world and it is the main vehicle that drives this conformity. MTV is more than a channel; it’s a cultural force that sweeps across America as people just love it. It has influenced the way the whole generation thinks, dresses, talks and buys. It is believed that MTV is degrading cultural force that is functioning not only on the American level, but at the international scene. It is evident that this show has in a very big way influenced the way American youth relate to each other. There private and public lives have also been shaped in accordance with the celebrities who they love and constantly watch on MTV. The show also in great way has influenced a lot of the youth religious views. In 1990s, the cable television became an industry that was fully mature, broadcasting offered something that was really unique in the history of human. During this decade, nearly the whole nation – young and old , educated and uneducated, rich and poor – was feeding, at least at sometime from some cultural trough i.e. political, religious and social. The television offered a type of cultural glue to the nation; programs penetrated almost all the segments of the population of the nation to a level that even the church had not managed to achieve. Television industry control by only three companies had resulted, among other things, a mass culture that is unified, and the products that were experienced by nearly everybody (Monteith, Sharon 163). This era was over, in effect, in the 1990s. One of the TV shows of the decade is Friends. It is a show that revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan and its opening theme was ‘I Will Be There For You’. The show is remembered as the few shows that marked the American culture, according to a pop-culture expert at the University of Buffalo. The social culture is clearly brought out as it stands out to signal that we are now at the times where the youth rule. And this is evident as the image of youth is now the dominant image in our society. It made the American youth to be aware that 20s is actually the prime age in life; this has really shaped the youth public and private lives. The characters of Friends were initially living their own lives and were looking upon one another for moral guidance; they ended up constructing their own family among each other. This was the dominant theme on a lot of sitcoms, and it reflects the mainstream trend in our current society. 2000s came with the arrival of Cable TV Channels. They were soaring and were over 150 Channels at this point. Technology was fast moving as well as DVD’s came to the market and the Vcr’s use started to drop. In this decade, broadcasting has been narrowing their focus pf the programs so as to meet the requirements and interests of the increasing fragmented audience (Wuthnow, Robert. 145). The whole cable channels specialized in music, cocking, interests of African-American, news etc. this enabled the viewers to choose specifically what kind of show they actually want watch. This fact definitely shaped the American culture as many people just specialized on what they want and didn’t have an idea of what is happening in areas that are not in there interest. Desperate housewives is one of the shows of the last decade. The show was able to shape the American people cultural views i.e. private and public lives and the way to interact with others especially our neighbors. The show was able to educate, entertain and please at the same time offering cultural education that has shaped the American community. In conclusion, from the discussions it is clear that television has affected both cultural and morals and values. Through the programs that the viewers watch, they to copy what is done by the people that they see in the television more so when the person in question is a famous person. The youth in particular are known for coping the life styles of their role model that they see in the television. A lot is copied from the television and all these things in a way end up shaping the cultural aspect of the society. It is concluded that indeed, television is heavily responsible for proactively changing the American culture in the past sixty years. Work cited. Edgerton, Gary R, and Peter C. Rollins. Television Histories: Shaping Collective Memory in the Media Age. Lexington, Ky: University Press of Kentucky, 2001. Internet resource. Halliwell, Martin. American Culture in the 1950s. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. Press, 2007. Print. Haralovich, Mary B. Television, History, and American Culture: Feminist Critical Essays. Durham [u.a.: Duke Univ. Press, 1999. Print. LaFollette, Marcel C. Science on American Television: A History. Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago Press, 2012. Print. Lavigne, Carlen, and Heather Marcovitch. American Remakes of British Television: Transformations and Mistranslations. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books, 2011. Print. Lazere, Donald. American Media and Mass Culture: Left Perspectives. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. Print. Linder, Laura R. Public Access Television: Americas Electronic Soapbox. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Praeger, 1999. Print. McCarthy, Anna. The Citizen Machine: Governing by Television in 1950s America. New York: New Press, 2010. Internet resource. Monteith, Sharon. American Culture in the 1960s. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008. Print. Wuthnow, Robert. The Restructuring of American Religion: Society and Faith Since World War Ii. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 1989. Print. Read More