After reading "Glee and Social Change" by Alyssa Davis, try to recall an experience like Davis's when a TV show, movie, or real life interaction changed the way you think about some other individual, group, or social issue? What do you think was responsible for the change? Please explain.
I've been watching Glee since it first started and since it ended just a couple weeks ago. When it first started I didn't really have an opinion about gay culture. After watching Glee and after spending all of high school and college in theatre programs and actually becoming best friends with people who are homosexual I have changed my stance. I now see why many gay people are fighting for the same rights as any other individual and should get the same rights as anyone else. I think social media and TV are the reason for this change because people are now seeing that its not something that is just talked about at the dinner table or with friends, political leaders and celebrities are talking about these issues out loud and having debates about it too.
ReplyDeleteSeveral movies and television shows are centered on the issue of racism. This includes, Friday Night Lights and Remember the Titans. However, I naively never acknowledged how present this issue still was until I came to college. When I moved down south for school I was introduced to a much more apparent side of racism. Growing up in the north I was really never surrounded by people who had true hated towards other races. Sure, I heard the some jokes here and there (still not right). But, I never experienced any situation in which people were blatantly racist. Within the first month of school here, I witnessed an African American woman get refused service at a restaurant because she had darker skin. Also, I experienced people who would discuss other races in a crud and disgusting manner and mean every word they said. I knew that racial tension was still an issue, especially in older generations. But, growing up where I did I definitely feel like I was hidden from just how big of an issue it still is today. In my opinion I find it shocking and disgraceful that people could hold such hatred towards someone just because of their skin tone.
ReplyDeleteone life experience I have come across is when I met a nice presentable guy, he was funny and seemed really cool. Then as the conversation took off we began to talk about our origins, where we are from what we have done and things under the lines of this. Then once we started getting on the topic about past trouble we have got into and encounters with other people. The gentleman then told me how he was in juvenile detention for two yeas for arson. This immediatly changed my perception of the person and freaked me out. I did everything in my power to get away from him because I did not want to associate with some one like that.
ReplyDeleteOne show that I watched recently that changed my perspective was Summer Heights High. It is a comedy show about troubled kids in Australia that go to a catholic school. The characters have cliques based on their culture (Islander, Australian, African). The show is hilarious and uses pretty crude humor, but it really shows how people of all cultures are very much alike in how they interact, how they handle societal expectations and norms, and the problems that they face. The main character Jonah is an Islander who is called a "bad kid", but finding out his story of his mother's death and his background, the audience understands Jonah and feels sympathy for him.
ReplyDeleteI've never watched Glee before, but what Alyssa Davis spoke about in "Glee and Social Change" is very interesting. Racism is practically everywhere. I've always heard people make jokes or use words in ways that they shouldn't be used, and it definitely bothers me, but it's not something that I continuously think about. What happened recently with the the SAE fraternity at the university of Oklahoma is a prime example of how common racism still is. I've never seen anything that drastic, but it shows how much of an issue this really is. Many sitcoms and other television shows are also high in racist jokes, because for some reason our society doesn't really see the harm in it, when it's actually very wrong.
ReplyDeleteOne real life experience that changed my views on a social issue was when I went to visit Iraq and a few other countries in the Middle East. I always thought that the people that lived there were just naturally bad people because of the way the media blows up all of the war issues. When I really got to meet and have some conversations with some of their people I realized that all of the people were so nice but they literally have nothing. Most villages don’t even have running water and are constantly under danger because of all of the military interference in their country. It really taught me that I cannot form an opinion on a whole population based off of a few bad people in their country.
ReplyDeleteTwitter has honestly changed how i feel about many things because of all the different opinions within the blog like social media. There will be many post about different social problems and bringing them to light when they normally would not be as important. Just the other day I saw something about domestic violence throughout middle eastern companies and third world countries, It brought to light there is a major problem in third world countries of abuse.Things get talked about all the abuse that police officers have been giving out lately and if it is too much, it keeps you up to date on things going on and will change your mind sometimes if you have an open mind.
ReplyDeleteAn incident that I can relate to that is similar to Davis' case is when the show, "Jersey Shore", was being aired, everyone got the misconception of people that actually lived on the Jersey Shore and places like Long Island and New Jersey. I caught a few episodes and saw how idiotic some people would act on tv. People, including myself, thought that the people around there acted really arrogant and had the same attitude as the members on the show. But when I went to Seaside Heights two summers ago, I saw that the people walking the boardwalk and all of the neighborhood areas were nothing like the show. It was all publicity, which is what I thought when I was watching the show, but I thought there was at least some truth to all of it. Granted that most of the people were tourists, the ones that we found to be locals were just like everyone else. There was no sense of gym, tan, laundry or any other goofy stereotypes that matched the population. To add to that experience, when I came to college and met kids from all over the country, the ones that were from parts like Ocean City, New Jersey and New York, I would always asked what they thought on the matter. I would always get the same answer, that it is nothing like that at all and that the show really gave people the wrong view of the actual people living around those areas.
ReplyDeleteI am obsessed with the television show Criminal Minds. There are many episodes and cases that the BAU resolve concerning rape and the murders of women and even men that are related to rape, a serious issue in all parts of the US and the world. Rape can sometimes lead to pregnancies or a traumatic psychotic break. My idea on the subject of abortion has slightly changed while watching the show because of the fact that the birth of a child is such a beautiful and important thing in the world, but can happen through an event that is torturous and violating. The circumstances that come out of a situation like this can be especially horrifying for a woman that becomes pregnant and has to make the decision on whether to keep the child or not.
ReplyDeleteAs an incoming freshman, I was told many stories about Jameis Winston. Not all of them were too friendly, many of the people that I came around considered him a low life, and even a rapist. They said rude and nasty things because that is all ESPN would talk about. Last semester, I was able to hang out at his place through a friend's friend and got to see for myself how he truly was. All the stories negatively portraying Winston could not be more inaccurate, he was such a sweet kid. Not any more rowdy than the rest of us. To me that was an example of how the media, or even shows can twists things and make you see what is not there. Good or bad, its always nice to keep an open mind and not always believe what is being said.
ReplyDeleteThe TV show Keeping Up With the Kardashians changed the way I view marriage. The fact the show dedicated four thirty-minute segments of Kim’s second wedding alone is ridiculous and is responsible for the change. When you take into consideration her marriage lasted seventy-two days you see how ridiculous it is. How come someone like this is able to get married multiple times yet gay couples that have been in twenty-year relationships aren’t? Personally I think this situation shines light on where we need to re-evaluate our social norms.
ReplyDeleteI have several friends back home that happen to be gay. They are all normal people that I love to hang out with but because they are gay they have very different problems that you would not really think about normally. One of my friends is afraid to come out to his parents because he comes from a very religious family and doesn't know how they would react. Another wanted to get married to her girlfriend but couldn't for a while because at the time gay marriage wasn't legalized. I never really gave these issues much thought until they started to talk about it and I feel like they shouldn't have to worry about how others think of them just because they like the same sex. I think that because we are seeing these problems more online, on the news, and every day life around us people are slowly starting to accept the idea of same sex marriage and not judging people so quickly just because they have a different preference in the people they like.
ReplyDeleteOne real life interaction that has changed the way I view the issue of the ever growing socioeconomic gap in this country is the homelessness I have seen throughout my life. One of my best friends faced homelessness in our senior year of high school. His mother was unable to work due to autoimmune disease, and in addition to her crippling disease she was stuck raising a mentally deficient child in addition to my friend who was only a teenager. His family relied on social security and insufficient child support to make the family get by. After their land lord raised the rent on their house, they were left with nowhere to go. Seeing this happen to one of my closest friends made me realized that the homeless have an unfair chance of being left with no where to go and no way to work. Experiencing this has changed the way I empathize with the homeless, and has made me more aware of the dramatic socioeconomic gap that exists in our country.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the biggest changes I have personally ever had was when I saw a photo of a civil rights "anti-activits" and it was basically saying these people are currently viewed as backwards thinking people not quite right in the head for being racist, and in thirty years thats how anti-gay, lesbain, etc.. will be viewed. This photo basically changed the way that I viewed the GLBT community from something that I really had no opinion on one way or the other to something that I felt strongly about with gay people receiving the same rights as everyone else. Thats probably the biggest change I've experienced in my life with something like this.
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