American Culture in Roseanne & Grace Under Fire

It is problematic whether observations based on a television episode or other dramatization are comparable to observations of ôreal lifeö done in the field. The characters of Roseanne and Dan Connor are intended to be of fairly typical Americans: here, working class, of Irish (and therefore probably Roman Catholic) background, with only high-school educations (although some of the Connor children are going on to college), and not actually active in any church. Hence their family values are presented as the sort of ôgeneric Christianö values that most Americans would be more or less familiar with.

If one were to go into an actual working-class, Irish-background, suburban home in middle America, would one observe behavior like that on the Roseanne show? Well, yes and no. The overall lifestyle is accurate--the show would not be funny otherwise--but real-life behavior certainly tnds to be much more dysfunctional

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advertisements for the show. There is often a great deal of ignorant criticism, often tinged with anti-Semitism, directed toward the entertainment industry, about how it is corrupting the morals and traditional values of America. The reality is that television is the greatest educational tool yet devised by mankind, and situation comedies and dramas, being the most-popular types of shows, are the most important vehicles for education on television. The people who make the successful, long-running shows are almost invariably people with strong social consciences, who know that they are in a position to influence AmericaÆs values very strongly, and who take that responsibility very seriously. Norman Lear, the creator of such series as Happy Days and LaVerne and Shirley, was extremely outspoken about his responsibility as a moral teacher. In one interview yeas ago, he even jokingly compared himself to Socrates, and commented that he would deserve hemlock if he used his influence to corrupt the morals of the youth of America instead of elevating them. The immensely influential Aaron Spelling, creator of Beverly Hills 90210 and other series, apparently ensures that the basic values of the Los Angeles Jewish community are reflecte
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1704
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)