End of class reflection.

I think we need to remember that ultimately whoever makes a piece of text (whether a television network or magazine publisher or whatever else) is ultimately making it to sell (assuming it is for profit). These people create things they know will sell to us. They have marketers and researchers to make sure they know exactly what people want and how to sell it. We, as Americans want to represent different people in the media like homosexuals and people of different cultures for example. We want a change to happen and we want every different individual represented and shown correctly. We have gotten what we want! There are so many shows now that are trying to branch out and represent! Shows like Modern family, Orange is the new black, Downton Abbey, Skins, Pretty Little Liars, Glee, True Blood, 30 Rock, are just a few of the shows who represent members of the LGBT community in their programs. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_situation_comedies_with_LGBT_characters) That link shows lists of movies and shows that represent those values in their shows at least once. There have also been many shows and texts recently that have represented minorities and families of lower class and women in different roles and not traditional roles. These are just a few of the things that have been changing in the media today. I think that those are all commendable things. Yet, somehow we are not happy still? I agree that we should always strive to be better and push for change. However, I would like to play devil's advocate here for a bit and analyze our discussions on such texts in class. It seems that we still have much negative to say about these shows because even while representing these individuals, sometimes the texts don't represent them "properly." Maybe Modern Family doesn't exactly get it spot-on what being a middle class family actually is, but really who cares? They are showing a family that is different from the traditional nuclear family and if shows did not allow for a little fantasy and differentiation from reality, why would we watch them? I wouldn't want to watch something that is just realistic people doing completely normal things and having a normal amount of money for a lower-middle class because that is what I am already! The deviation from reality is what keeps it interesting. Sure, Honey Boo Boo is embarrassing but obviously the network did their job of selling it because the show is hugely popular. This is because most people watch it simply because they are entertained by it. Yes, shows and texts send political messages, but sometimes they are just for entertainment and fantasy! If it is not completely accurate, should we be at all surprised? And yes, we write zombie movies and shows and obsess over zombies. And maybe that is because we are afraid of the end of the world. So what? Ultimately, media texts are meant to be creative and marketable. They are meant to make money and no matter how much we don't want to admit we like some texts, we do. It is human nature to be entertained by things that are differing from our reality.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely agree media should make more progress in representing more accurately all types of people but I think we should still understand that media is ultimately for entertainment and constantly complaining makes it no longer entertaining. If we constantly criticize and analyze everything that is actually getting better, we will never be happy!