Oprah and the American Dream

In the Ellen lecture, we learned a lot about TV personalities that do not necessarily fit the mold of what is "normal" in this country. We talked about Ellen, how she is a member of the LGBTQ community, and how her ratings and viewers changed when she left the closet.

One person that we did not discuss (if my memory serves me correctly) is Oprah. Oprah is by no means the definiton of what America views as "normal", so why is she the powerhouse that she is? She's African-American, she's a woman, and she's unmarried. This sounds, to me, like the least likely person to be such a famous and respected person, so how was she able to do it?

I think it comes down to the American dream. Oprah grew up in the racist south, and was molested and abused as a child. She started from the lowest point and was able to WORK to get her way to the top. Because this was her story, I believe that her mostly white, Christian, married audience respected her for her differences. She did something that they could understand, even though she herself is a little different. She is an extremely eloquent speaker and has a lot of wisdom, also, so this too helped her.

Oprah's case is an interesting one, especially if the timing of her rise to fame is considered. Oprah became the star that she is in the 80s, I believe. Whenever it was, shoulder pads were still VERY MUCH a thing, so it had to have been a while ago. This is a time that was even less accepting of differences than today, so the fact that she was able to succeed as she did is especially powerful.

Oprah is obviously one of the biggest names in the media today. She had a lot working against her as she tried to become the powerful woman that she ultimately did, and I applaud her for it. In the cases of both Ellen and Oprah, being successful despite differences from the "norm" is possible, but in both cases the stars had to work extremely hard for it. Until this is not the case, our country has a lot of growing left to do.