Preview

Portraying Working-Class Males In Popular Culture

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
173 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Portraying Working-Class Males In Popular Culture
Portraying working-class males in popular culture on television is a complicated endeavor. For decades these characters were portrayed as one-dimensional often ridiculous caricatures who seemed to contribute little to society. Instead they provided a type of comic relief that, unfortunately, also created problematic stereotypes about working-class males. However more recent television, particularly, in the genre of reality shows, demonstrates that blue-collar men are no longer perceived in this way. Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch reveals that working-class males are being represented as hard-working icons, trying to achieve the American Dream. When the show first started it existed in a sea of Trump-like apprentices vying for lucrative

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Jean Kilbourne and bell hooks agree in their writings that the media often distorts what we perceive as reality in one way or another. Film, television, and advertising shape our ideals and what we believe should be true. Kilbourne focuses on the distortion of gender, particularly the distortion of the female gender in society in the excerpt from her book included in From Inquiry to Academic Writing, whereas hooks analyzes the misrepresentation of the impoverished and homeless in the excerpt from her book. Despite their differing foci, both authors would likely agree that the TV show Dance Moms is a prime example of the underlying themes of gender and class distortions that the media commonly portrays.…

    • 1290 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Southern Reality Shows

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Southern identities created in reality television are shaping the work and wellbeing of southerners, as well as their loss concept of self through southern livelihood. In recent years, reality television programs featuring “redneck” culture in particular have witnessed increased popularity. These southern reality television programs present southerners doing everything from frequently proceeding with unacceptable rude and obscene behavior, eating triple fried foods at county fairs, fishing with their bare hands, and making up words not found within the traditional English dictionary. The issue here is that while southern reality television shows may be watched exclusively for their entertainment and popularity attraction, and while they seem…

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Male Work Archetype

    • 363 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Understanding how the average male works is often an overdone case of discussion, but there is a particular archetype that I find perplexing. That of course is the average metal head, the rocker, or the mosh pitter. These guys will go into concerts running on only what I can assume is pizza and energy drink with the amount of energy they have. The concert starts, the music is blaring, and the song does not even have to be quickly place, but they will start slamming into each other. Everyone slowly forms a circle so that the standard concertgoer is not harmed, but if they are in the pit, there is no guarantee. At least five guys will just slam in to each other and the outskirts of people in the circle will enjoyable help them do so by pushing…

    • 363 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jersey Shore Stereotypes

    • 1372 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In the show Jersey Shore the cast demonstrates a number of stereotypes such as gender roles, a difference between male and a female, the behaviors of Italian American and the lives of young adults’. Some might think Jersey Shore is a good show to watch; however it shows the negative behavior and attitudes towards men, women and young adults in many ways. The show also sets a poor example for viewers by presentation these stereotypes in a negative way. After reading the Academic research and the article “The Reality Television of Reality Television” by Mark Greif it exposed me why these stereotypes are not good for the cast as well as for the viewers.…

    • 1372 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    After the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, the masculine role for men climbed in social position; creating a subordinate social position for women. Rising in hegemonic masculinity, males began to challenge the existence of social roles in America due to the contemporary crisis throughout the world. A contemporary crisis that influenced hegemonic masculinity was in the 2008 housing crash. This resulted in white masculinity and identities that began evolving and eroding as the family, home, and male psychology is interpreted at the micro logical levels of post-9/11 American…

    • 92 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The movie Fight Club is a story of one man's struggle to gain control over his life. His masculinity has become so repressed by his upbringing and society that the only way he can do this is to create an alternate personality. The Narrator's alternate personality is Tyler Durden, the ultimate alpha-male. The Narrator is also interested in Marla Singer, who is going through the same type of struggle that he is except she has more confidence then he does and is a stronger character. The film is of the Narrator's attempt to find that masculine side he has lost and reclaim it into him.…

    • 2526 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hollywood is amongst the top in power of the media empire in the United States, the productions that come out, become believed representations of the audiences that watch them, bringing down many that are shown in those productions. With audiences that are more than majority a darker color, than what are represented in Hollywood films, it brings to attention just how much of a problem it comes be. Minorities should be just part of the Hollywood creation, holding a social responsibility to derail from creating unrealistic stereotypes of ethnic characters that pigeonhole them, due to reasons of not having enough diversity in films and TV shows, create unwelcome clichés, and whitewashing over others cultures.…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When I was a child, I watched a lot of Scooby Doo. But I really didn’t notice the detail I do now when I re-watched a couple of episodes and watched some of the commercials. Some things really stood out to me like how they portray social class and gender. Some of the commercials I saw caught my attention as well. It amazed me because I would always watch this show and obviously never noticed the amount of socialization was in TV back then. I will go over how the show and some of the commercials stereotype gender, social class, and race.…

    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    NBC is crossing borders and breaking traditions with their new prime time show that started this past fall. The New Normal is the ground breaking show in which the main characters, Bryan and David, are a homosexual couple that lives together in Los Angeles. The premise of the show is Bryan and David want to have a child, but since both of them are male they have to hire a surrogate mother. Then we meet Goldie, a recently single mother of one, who moves to LA from Ohio to chase her dream of being a lawyer. She is short on money so she becomes their surrogate mother through an adoption agency and she and her daughter become instant friends with Bryan and David. Jane Forrest, also known as Nana on the show, follows her granddaughter out to California to try and convince her to come back home and ends up getting more than she signed up for. The final character that has actual relevance to this paper is the character Rocky who is Bryan’s personal assistant. Each of these characters alone is representations of stereotypes that are normally overlooked and not seen as a problem, but when all together the show brings light to the dimmed subjects.…

    • 1446 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Kristen, I completely agree with you about the second example we read about. The introduction was an attention grabber and also made me want to continue to read the authors argument. As I continued to read the paper I thought the author did go a good job with her supporting her argument as well as sticking to the thesis. It did get a little biased as you said. It would have been nice to hear the other side of the argument. In the conclusion after reading all of her supported claims it did make me think about how I personally view men in performing arts. The author is right that here is a huge stereotype towards the men in todays society and how it was not always like that. I think that it would take a lot to change the way today’s society views…

    • 159 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The reasons behind the traditions and expectations goes further back than just the 1800’s when Americans applied rituals to their daily lives. Religion also prompts the expectations and restraints that society places on itself. Gods and goddesses (depending on the religion) have a significant impact on people's lives as people tend to follow the rules set by their religious beliefs. The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology exhibit on women and gender in ancient Egypt depicts goddesses as queens, child bearers, protectors of the gods and some severed merely as characterless consorts to the gods, while the men tended to be gods. Traditionally, it is imperative that women assume an inferior role as opposed to men in a society that is governed by…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Katz correlation between Howard Stearn and Rush Limboaugh, and the increasing celebration of male violence in professional sports, action games, and slasher films to the masculinity crisis was a huge eye-opener. Although these shows are not part of my TV guide or radio station, I have dismissed the messages as ignorant and their behaviors as demeaning, but of little substance or consequence. It is no wonder that domestic…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Being a man in today’s world can be a difficult challenge. However, when masculine stereotypes determined by society come into play, the task rises to a whole other level. Men throughout history have been faced with daily tests as to which societal norms are to be followed. If the expected norms are not followed, a man could become an instant outcast of society and could be looked upon as weak, feminine, or an overall disappointment.…

    • 1843 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway T. Witty, Chuck Berry, Big Joe Williams, Big Joe Turner, Little Richard, Bi Diddle, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Johnny Burnett, Vince Taylor, Itchier Valenti, Marlon Brando and James Dean. What do all of these people have in common? They were all figure heads of the greaser subculture. The subcultures of the 1950s impacted our world a lot after World War II. From the roots of the 1950s, the greaser subculture has had two main impacts which are their attitude and style.…

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Technology Argument

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A few decades ago color television was introduced to the American population and it became the coolest piece of equipment to own. As it stands today television is still the leading contender of influential material in mass media. T.V. streams live shows and shows made up from people’s imagination. All the famous people are on T.V. and everything they do, good or bad, is captured and showed. Younger generations want to be like these people on television; whether it is reasons such as an escape from reality or a way to fit in. They learn so much from television and it can ultimately shape one’s whole persona.…

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays