Cultural Analysis: Rules of Engagements - Term Paper Example

of Cultural Analysis: “Rules of Engagements (TV series)” Cultural Analysis The cultural analysis examines the role of one’s culture, assumptions, and point of views about different cultural aspects and probing into one’s thinking process and knowledge, as well as the reasons of such a thought and knowledge. There are four main elements of cultural analysis including production analysis, audience analysis, textual analysis, and historical analysis (of which the first three elements tend to change over time). Cultural analysis is based on using objective and subjective research methods in order to gather data on cultural processes so as to gain new knowledge and better understanding through analysis of that data. This is useful for determining, mapping, and understanding the new trends, impacts, and effects within the different cultures. Hence, before doing cultural analysis on any television program/episode, the important element is to cognize the concept of culture and its underlying components. Culture With time humans have evolved and occupied different major geographic regions of the world. They are programmed in a way that they cannot survive outside of a certain level of warmer (or colder) boundary without any cultural knowledge and technology.  It is the culture and the nature of adaptability that made it possible for them to start a life in another part of the world with the help of competent hunting and shooting skills, fire use, and, finally, clothing, and then from huts to warm houses, plantation and agriculture, commerce, business and so on. Therefore, culture can also be defined as an adaptive mechanism.  It is a fact that culture has given us the power for survival; cultural skills are required to stay alive. Hall (n.p.) argues that "culture is communication and communication is culture". Culture is something that is common, it is the first fact. Every society has its own form; its own aims and goals, and its own understanding and perception of different aspects. They express them in their own ways, in institutions, and in arts and learning and so on. As the society grows, the culture also grows and changes its shape in every individual’s mind. Culture is defined as shared or common behavior and interaction, effective understanding, and cognitive constructs that are learned through some process of communication and socialization with one another. These shared forms not only identify the members of a culture group but also differentiate them from one another (CARLA). In the words of Lederach (n.p.) “Culture is the shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of people for perceiving, interpreting, expressing, and responding to the social realities around them". Rules of Engagement (TV series) “Rules of Engagement” is a comedy sitcom that was broadcast on CBS for the first time on February 5, 2007, as a midseason replacement, immediately following “Two and a Half Men”. This series is produced by Adam Sandlers Happy Madison Productions in association with CBS Television Studios and Sony Pictures Television. Tom Hertz, Jack Giarraputo and Doug Robinson serve as executive producers on “Rules of Engagement”. The Running time of one episode of the series is around 20 to 25 minutes. CBS has been broadcasting it since 5 February 2007 till present. It includes up till now a total of 6 seasons with the number of 77 episodes in total. “The pilot” episode that was the first episode of the series remain the highest rated episode of this show. Commonly attached meanings The most popular and the easiest meaning which are attached to Rules of Engagement (ROE) are the rules that either of the two members of the relationship have to follow if they are engaged. It also refers to those responses that are permitted in the employment of British military personnel during operations or while performing their duties. It further outlines the legal framework within which these duties are being carried out (Kemp, n.p.). Main theme of the series It revolves around the story of two couples and their single friend, all at different stages in their relationships, who are dealing with the complications of authentic living, relationships, dating, commitment, engagement and marriage. It is a comedy about the different phases of male/female relationships, as seen through the eyes of newly engaged couple, Adam and Jennifer; a long-time of 12 years married couple, Jeff and Audrey and a single guy on the prowl, Russell and his office assistant, Timmy. It is a known fact that there are often confusing stages in a relationship that make one feel like sitting on a roller coaster. There are many people around a person who are married and they always like to describe their own experiences, but to really know what a married life is, and what it means to be in a relationship, a person should have to take the ride oneself. Unlike many other comedy sitcoms of today, “Rules of Engagement” seems to have proven its worth over and over since its pilot episode. The show gives off an unusually warm and genuine vibe which resonates from its opening theme song “How many ways to say I love you?”… The Target Audience The Target Audience of this series is professional women, curious men, married couples and the youth. It tells the women how to maintain a relationship beautifully and to perform their work in a professional and ethical way. It further helps goal and career-oriented women and curious men to live their own life and to get rid of the prison of other people’s ideas, opinions & expectations, so that they can finally hold and maintain their unique individuality. It also advocates seeing a relationship for what it is really, as a gift from the God to the world. The relationship is their personal launching jet from the life they are living now to the life they dream about. The series also focuses on those who always take a relationship as a burden, like Russell does in this series, and explain to such people in a very light way that they are missing the true warmth and care that one only feels in a relationship, clearly not without it. Three cultural groups The three cultural groups that have been selected from the series are stereotyped women i.e. Jennifer and Audrey, the poor/mediocre couple of Adam and Jennifer who were working hard to make money before they got married, and the rich guy Russell, who has a luxurious apartment, and carries a non-serious attitude toward the realities life. The negative stereotypes that are common in women are that they always try to reach the end quickly; they get jealous and have a natural habit of judging people; however, they positively put their familys welfare before her own; they are loving, compassionate, and caring for their spouse and family, which is an attribute particularly portrayed by the character Audrey who cares a lot about her husband. Though Adam and Jennifer, as a couple, are shown relatively poor, but they are happy in the company of each other. The Cultural analysis of “Rules of Engagement” The series focuses and elaborates on the culture of America. As this culture has characteristics to change over time, the series also considers this changing attitude of the culture. Although gender and family roles have changed and become less traditional over the last five decades or so, the rhetoric meaning and understanding of engagement and marriage in contemporary American culture resounds through imperatives of adhering to tradition. Culture is the way of living, which includes language, norms, values, beliefs and ideologies, social collectives and the statuses and roles, and since this series is about the lifestyles of two couples and their single friend, it explains the American Culture very well. By showing the long time married couple of Jeff (Patrick Warburton) and Audrey (Megyn Price) and the engaged couple of Adam (Oliver Hudson) and Jennifer (Bianca Kajlich), who are living together without the relation of marriage, the producer showed in a very light way that how the values have changed over time in the American culture. The producer also showed the new trend that is emerging over the past few decades in America that many couples now decide to cohabit before, or instead of, getting married like Adam and Jennifer. The producer did not ignore those who consider a relationship as a burden and prefer to live a single life, as rightly depicted by the character Russell (David Spade) and his assistant, Timmy (Adhir Kalyan). Other aspects of culture Furthermore, the series gives us the information about some other aspects of American culture as well. For example, privacy, as it shows that Jeff doesn’t like the company of other people and in fact likes his own privacy. He mostly enjoys spending time alone in front of the TV. By showing Russell working to earn and living alone independently portraits that the Americans are encouraged at an early age to be independent from their friends, teachers and parents and to develop their own goals in life. The way of dressing of both the couples reflects the way that general Americans dress in, and that their lifestyle is generally casual; only seldom do they wear a tie. Females mostly slack along with comfortable walking shoes. The Series also tells the prevailing dinning etiquette of American culture. It tells that American people mostly prefer to eat bread with honey, junk food and Pizza, apple pie and cheese macaroni’s. When both the couples do breakfast in the café, they never rest their elbows on the table and they always put a napkin in their lap. The party Audrey arranged for her husband Jeff in the second episode of the first season “The Birthday Deal" and the 7th episode of the second season “Engagement Party” also depicts some dining etiquette; for instance if you are more comfortable at eating in a Continental manner, you can go ahead and no one will care. Food is mostly served in family style in large serving dishes and most of them are eaten by hand. Anyone can refuse a particular type of food or drink without offering any further explanation. The way in which the Americans greet each other is also depicted in this series. As Russell, Jeff and Adam are showed to do handshake with each other and these handshakes were confident, brief and firm. To maintain eye contact during the greeting and calling the people by their first names in the beginning to get the attention in most of the situation, like in a party or gathering is another cultural value showed in the series. The communication styles of both the couples with each other and their common friend Russell and Timmy were direct. It shows that American value the linear and logical thinking and they expect that people will speak in straightforward and clear manner. For Americans, if anyone does not tell something in clear words and/or how s/he is feeling about a specific thing, then it is simply wastage of time, and time is usually considered as money. The producers have quite effectively covered and focused on all the aspect of culture in the series and it is one of the good series that is covering the different cultural groups like women, mediocre people like Adam and Jennifer and rich like Russell and explaining their way of life. Work Cited CARLA. "What Is Culture?" The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA). 21 July 2010. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. . Kemp, R. "International Law and Military Operations in Practice." Web log post. MESI. 7 July 2009. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. . Lederach, J.P. "What Is Culture?" The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA). 21 July 2010. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. . Rogers, Everett M., William B. HART, and Yoshitaka MIIKE. "Edward T. Hall and the History of Intercultural Communication: The United States and Japan." Keio Communication 24 (2002): 3-26. Mediacom.keio.ac.jp. 2002.Web. 15 Dec. 2011. . Read More