Class Dismissed [6/8]

Class Dismissed
How TV Frames the Working Class

Narrated by Ed Asner

Based on the forthcoming book by Pepi Leistyna, Class Dismissed navigates the steady stream of narrow working class representations from American television's beginnings to today's sitcoms, reality shows, police dramas, and daytime talk shows.

Featuring interviews with media analysts and cultural historians, this documentary examines the patterns inherent in TV's disturbing depictions of working class people as either clowns or social deviants -- stereotypical portrayals that reinforce the myth of meritocracy.

Class Dismissed breaks important new ground in exploring the ways in which race, gender, and sexuality intersect with class, offering a more complex reading of television's often one-dimensional representations. The video also links television portrayals to negative cultural attitudes and public policies that directly affect the lives of working class people.

Featuring interviews with Stanley Aronowitz, (City University of New York); Nickel and Dimed author, Barbara Ehrenreich; Herman Gray (University of California-Santa Cruz); Robin Kelley (Columbia University); Pepi Leistyna (University of Massachusetts-Boston) and Michael Zweig (State University of New York-Stony Brook). Also with Arlene Davila, Susan Douglas, Bambi Haggins, Lisa Henderson, and Andrea Press.

Sections: Class Matters | The American Dream Machine | From the Margins to the Middle | Women Have Class | Class Clowns | No Class | Class Action

http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=411

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• class
• dismissed
• tv
• television
• working
• economic
• social
• political
• injustice
• capitalism
• globalism
• myth
• system
• individualism
• meritocracy
• critique

[jubitoftw]

no, they can't. all around the world people are working more than ever before and getting payed less then ever before. the numbers are clear.

[thejakeman16]

What exactly is left-wing about it? I don't get it. Where did politics come into this?

[Annieob1978]

too right .... I was at university then moved to another place didn't have anuy help from family to complete my degree and had to work ij whatever job e.g. office administration, school kitchen etc .... you do what you got to do at the time when you have kids! if you don't have a child or children then there is no excuse

[32peartree]

Its too simplistic to say these characters represent negative stereotypes. They are often depicted ironically as anti-heroes - whereas the rich and haut bourgeois are cast as shallow and superficial. A little like 'The Dude' in The 'Big Lewbowski' - deep down we're all kind of glad their out there - giving the finger to conventional society.

[mikem1234]

@Pentazoid111 Just having computers available doesn't mean that somebody is able to make full use of them. This has a lot to do with one's cultural capacity - cultural capital. That could be because of family socialization, peer group inclinations, or just subtle media messages. Also, you may have a computer, but do you have the fastest connection? The most storage? Will you have to repair it frequently?

[RocketeerAndRoll]

The King of Queens was an atrociously unfunny show.

[quizmark]

don't be hating on Beavis And ButtHead bunghole!

[thejakeman16]

@unsung1984 The majority of academics are not "far left" but generally moderate democrats, much like those in power. By defining these moderate people as "far left" you (and others who do this [see bill o'reilley]) are taking advantage of a political concept known as the overton window, whereby redefining relatively moderate positions as extreme left, legitimately extreme left positions seem unreasonable and in this case the right seems more moderate and extreme right opinions seem simply right.

[unsung1984]

@Pentazoid111 All of what you just said is a gross generalization with little basis in reality. It is a myth perpetuated by the right wing. Do you have any idea of the actual dollar amount one has to bring in to qualify for medicaid? I would guess you do not.

[unsung1984]

@thejakeman16 Class rightfully is associated with the left because they tend to be the only one s that deal with it either superficially through rhetoric or through actual policy. Even right wing libertarians are not concerned with class. It is not bluntly addressed in this documentary but many of these academics and experts come from the far "left"

[binoche2]

@greenhell666 Turn off the TV and read a book?

[greenhell666]

I am waiting to see a show with a poor intellectual