Tonight I watch an episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. In my opinion this show is one of the best shows on television right now. To me this particular show reinforces hegemony in many ways. The first way that comes to mind would be the way that the show portrays the rich life. These women talk about how they “have a lot, BUT they want even more”. They are so fortunate in their lifestyles however its not enough. They are considered to be better than the average hard working citizen because they have so much money. The show records in the homes of these women and it is very typical for them to have a ridiculously large jumbo mansion, with only two people living in it.

Another example would be parenting of the children on the show. One women has four nannies for her two children. That makes it seem as if rich children are in need of hired helped to care for them as opposed to the parents. All these women have a “staff” working for them, a house manager, maids, cooks, etc. Their lives are portrayed to be so easy to live, due to the fact that they have a lot of money. This, to me, signifies that the rich and famous are more important people than the average working class people, because they have tv shows about them and it shows the fabulous life and not the struggles of everyday life.

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/violence_entertainment.cfm

For some time now, people have tried to connect music to violence saying there is a direct relationship between the two. Using the media centered perspective; one would believe that because a song or television program says that it’s cool to carry guns or start fights, then they must do those things in order to be perceived as cool to their peers. I would argue that music and television has no such influence on individuals because it’s just for entertainment, but given that I believe music can persuade a listener in a positive way, and then it must be able to influence listeners in a negative way. I think it’s more of our youth that are taking the lyrics of songs and actors of television programs so literally, not comprehending that these people are paid to “act”. Even if the artist singing or rapping a song paints their lives to be such a disaster, the children need to realize that either they are flat out lying or embellishing a bit. Either way, they are doing these things in order to get richer and to attract a large fan base. I don’t believe all music or television programs are lies or bad even. There are a lot of positive out there, however I would agree that more celebrities need to be more open and honest given that they can have such a major influence on young people.

Tonight I am watching a movie called Stepford Wives, which came out in 2004. This movie is very entertaining to watch however humor aside, it can set the advancement of our culture back a number of years. In the movie the wives are perfect wives in that they cook, clean, have intercourse with their husbands on cue, dress perfect, have the perfect manners, etc. All the women in the town are perfect sex kittens and all the men are nerds. The men work and women are the homemakers. Later in the movie you find out that the men create these women and they are controlled by a remote controller the husbands have. The men being the ruler and maker of everything within the town promotes masculine hegemony. The white males are dominate and portrayed as better than their wives. The movie plays on the stereotypical roles that men and women are suppose to fulfill. Years ago women were expected to behave similarly to these roles but over the years up until today these roles have combined and are no longer gender specific. Some women nowadays are educated, work impressive jobs, hold executive positions, etc while some men become stay at home dads, the cook of the family, u name it. The cultural roles of men and women in America have started to mush together so the fact that this kind of movie with this message being portrayed in the year 2004, blows my mind.