Television as a Medium for Modern Day Myths

TELEVISION AS A MEDIUM FOR MODERN DAY MYTHS

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s television programming developed rapidly into more than an assortment of fact and fiction narratives; it became itself a social text for an increasing population, “functioning as a kind of code through which people gleaned a large portion of their information, intellectual stimulation, and distraction” (Danesi, 240). Since its inception in the mid-1930s, many of television’s programs have become the history of many cultures. French semiotician Roland Barthes (1915-1980) claimed that “television shows are often based around a mythologie, in reference to the fact that the original mythic themes continue to reverberate residually in modern-day societies, especially in discourse, rituals, and performances” (Perron, 35). In other words, television is a medium through which modern day mythologies become constructed, developed, and eventually discarded. Programs like Saved by the Bell, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Guy and The O.C. exemplify this concept by reinforcing or undermining traditional family structure, dictating the latest fashion, and moulding the ‘ideal’ teenager. As a result, society plans their daily routine around these modern day ‘values’.

The mythology of fatherhood that TV constructed and developed from the 1950s to the early 2000s began with the traditional patriarchal family structure. The produced father figure was one who was in charge of the family, with his wife working at home, making the husband comfortable. This mythology of fatherhood reflected the social mindset of the 1950s (Danesi, 229). In the 1960s and early 1970s the perspective changed drastically and the new view on the patriarchal family was that the father was an “opinionated, ludicrous character” (Danesi, 229). The deterioration of the 1950s father figure myth was most prominent in many of the sitcoms in the 80s and 90s. A typical example would be The Simpsons, “a morbid parody of fatherhood and of the nuclear family” (Danesi, 229). Homer Simpson, the father of the Simpson family, was boorish, idiotic, immature and disgusting. His wife, Marge, was still a stay-at-home mom and his son, Bart, was a menace, whereas the daughter Lisa was a brilliant second-grader. The males of the show were portrayed as shallow and despicable. The Simpsons (1989) and Family Guy (1999) and other “similar sitcoms constituted a scathing indictment of traditional family values and roles” (Danesi, 230). The fathers on these sitcoms were pathetic and undeserving of the title of ‘father’.

The television programs of the 1950s and 1960s sugar-coated the typical family and built up the mythology of a patriarchal family. However, this mythology was challenged by the uprising of strong, independent, working women. For example, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990) depicted a clean-cut and wealthy family that was black, with a mother that was a professor at a university. The Cohen family in The O.C. (2003) drama television series represent a wealthy, white family, with a working mother who is the major ‘bread-winner’ of the family. These shows and many others portrayed strong, independent women who were attempting to survive, socially and professionally, in a world that was deconstructing patriarchal structures (Danesi, 230). Strong-willed women are not the only force that is disassembling these traditions. The dysfunctional family is now also taking into effect. The show Desperate Housewives (2004) demonstrates the increasing number of families in this period that are separating and losing the traditional value of ‘family’. This show contains cheating spouses, and generally wives who are desperately vying for attention and love. In this day and age, sitcoms and dramas deal with controversial yet honest groundbreaking discussions of current social issues.

Since the dawn of television shows, most of society select their clothes and have their lifestyle dictated by the actors and actresses of popular television shows (Thorton, 70). In 1989 when Saved by the Bell first aired, many young girls followed the wardrobe of the beautiful Kelly Kapowski, and boys kept up with Zack Morris’ taste in cars and girls. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air adopted the MC Hammer style with its colourful button-up shirts, big pants, and not to mention the high tops with untied shoelaces. In semiotic terms, a system is a field of related things and their meaning comes from how they relate to each other. Unlaced shoelaces may mean nothing when taken by themselves, for example, but when viewed within the system of teen fashion in the late eighties - a system that included the growing popularity of the imagery of the urban street gang - they may mean a lot. Projecting an image in that system was called hip-hop (Maasik, Solomon).

In the mid-90s, Friends came on the air and made a huge