D
drelrock
Guest
Does the portrayal of men in the media foster help contribute to negative attitudes towards men?
I look at successful TV shows primarily as they're the most influential. Also, they're written as stories with characters. Musicians aren't quite the same in that they are portraying themselves and expressing themselves accordingly.
In Seinfeld you have Jerry, a self absorbed, narcissist. George, a failure in every sense of the word. On friends you have Ross, an emasculated whelp of a man who is continually pushed around by the women in his life. Joey, the proverbial moron. That 70's Show gives us; Red, an insensitive, mean spirited hard ass. Eric, who is intellectually and physically inferior to his girlfriend. Kelso who is a complete and total idiot. Bob, another first grade moron. How about the Simpsons? Homer. Idiot and perpetual screw up. Bart. Idiot. Moe. Sleazebag. Mayor Quimby, also a sleazebag. Kent Brockman, arrogant elitist. Mr. Burns, cruel, money hungry opressor. Seth MacFarlane brings us; Peter Griffin, Chris Griffin, Stan Smith, Steve Smith, Quagmire and Herbert. A hodgepodge of morons, racists, emasculated failures and a couple of unregistered sex offenders. For good measure, here are a few more men; Doug Heffernan (fat, lazy, incompetent), Tim Taylor (moron), Michael Scott (yet another moron), Syler and Jack Bauer, both sociopaths. I could go on and on...
All these men or boys mentioned above are propped up by their much wiser, more compassionate, better minded female family members and friends.
This brings us to the positive portrayal of men. Stewie Griffin; intelligent, articulate, politicized, homosexual. Roger the Alien, not much different from Stewie, also a homosexual. Brian the dog, well read, educated, socially progressive, not even human. Grace's former roommate Will. Kind, compassionate, intelligent, educated, yet again a gay man. Mr. Smithers. Helpful, considerate, progressive, wait for it.... gay.
With easily identified and common representatives of what a man is according to popular culture, it's no wonder men are lambasted as undependable screw ups. That said, I like almost all the shows I mentioned here (Friends and Will & Grace excluded) Still, it's pretty bad when the only positive reprentation of a man is a gay man, as though a heterosexual single or family man is incapable of being; clean, intelligent, driven, articulate, informed and generally respectable in every sense of the word.
**MichelleJ** I agree that these are light hearted shows but there's an underlying trend here. Do you think censors would approve a show where the female head of the family was a fat, incompetent slob who was perpetually corrected by her gym built, intellectual husband?
"Jerry Seinfeld's character is not a self-absorbed narcissist."
Are we talking about the same "man hands" Jerry who sews in a size 31 waist to his jeans so he can appear to be the same size he was in college? Mr. Neat. The man who has left countless women for the flimsiest of reasons?
I look at successful TV shows primarily as they're the most influential. Also, they're written as stories with characters. Musicians aren't quite the same in that they are portraying themselves and expressing themselves accordingly.
In Seinfeld you have Jerry, a self absorbed, narcissist. George, a failure in every sense of the word. On friends you have Ross, an emasculated whelp of a man who is continually pushed around by the women in his life. Joey, the proverbial moron. That 70's Show gives us; Red, an insensitive, mean spirited hard ass. Eric, who is intellectually and physically inferior to his girlfriend. Kelso who is a complete and total idiot. Bob, another first grade moron. How about the Simpsons? Homer. Idiot and perpetual screw up. Bart. Idiot. Moe. Sleazebag. Mayor Quimby, also a sleazebag. Kent Brockman, arrogant elitist. Mr. Burns, cruel, money hungry opressor. Seth MacFarlane brings us; Peter Griffin, Chris Griffin, Stan Smith, Steve Smith, Quagmire and Herbert. A hodgepodge of morons, racists, emasculated failures and a couple of unregistered sex offenders. For good measure, here are a few more men; Doug Heffernan (fat, lazy, incompetent), Tim Taylor (moron), Michael Scott (yet another moron), Syler and Jack Bauer, both sociopaths. I could go on and on...
All these men or boys mentioned above are propped up by their much wiser, more compassionate, better minded female family members and friends.
This brings us to the positive portrayal of men. Stewie Griffin; intelligent, articulate, politicized, homosexual. Roger the Alien, not much different from Stewie, also a homosexual. Brian the dog, well read, educated, socially progressive, not even human. Grace's former roommate Will. Kind, compassionate, intelligent, educated, yet again a gay man. Mr. Smithers. Helpful, considerate, progressive, wait for it.... gay.
With easily identified and common representatives of what a man is according to popular culture, it's no wonder men are lambasted as undependable screw ups. That said, I like almost all the shows I mentioned here (Friends and Will & Grace excluded) Still, it's pretty bad when the only positive reprentation of a man is a gay man, as though a heterosexual single or family man is incapable of being; clean, intelligent, driven, articulate, informed and generally respectable in every sense of the word.
**MichelleJ** I agree that these are light hearted shows but there's an underlying trend here. Do you think censors would approve a show where the female head of the family was a fat, incompetent slob who was perpetually corrected by her gym built, intellectual husband?
"Jerry Seinfeld's character is not a self-absorbed narcissist."
Are we talking about the same "man hands" Jerry who sews in a size 31 waist to his jeans so he can appear to be the same size he was in college? Mr. Neat. The man who has left countless women for the flimsiest of reasons?