Influence of TV Shows on Society
Television is a cultural reference point for most of us, a type of shorthand that makes it easy to carry on a conversation. Columnist Ellen Goodman wrote that to those born since the baby boom of the late ‘40s, “All history begins with television.” We compare ourselves to those on TV; we change how we dress and cut our hair and talk based on the latest television trend. Viewers pick up catch phrases and turn them into side-splitting party parodies that in turn become part of our culture.
For decades, almost ever since the inception of the television, the two have seemed to influence each other.
In the '60s, Jacqueline Kennedy was seen as a fashion icon after bringing style to the White House. News reports focused almost as much on her wardrobe as on her husband's dealings as president of the country. Diane Keaton brought thrift store couture to a whole new level with her now-famous "Annie Hall" look of menswear with a twist of femininity and Madonna changed the way the world viewed undergarments worn as clothing with her videos on MTV in the '80s.
Today's small-screen fashion icons range from the geek chic of the "Ugly Betty" characters to the vampire- and dark-influenced "True Blood" to the retro teachers and students on the ever-popular "Glee" to the chic girls on "Gossip Girl."
"TV and fashion are inseparable," said MeeAe Oh-Ranck, a fashion designer and professor at Philadelphia University and Pennsylvania College of Art & Design in Lancaster city. "Some of the shows have had such a huge impact on sharing fashion with the world."
Shows like "Sex and the City," "Ugly Betty" and "Glee" are at the top of Oh-Ranck's fashion-influencing list. They illustrate how fashion and television help each other by making looks popular that may have been questioned in the past, she said.
"Geek chic has become an acceptable form of fashion because of shows like 'Ugly Betty,' " said Oh-Ranck said.
"It shows that being a geek is acceptable," Oh-Ranck said. "It
For decades, almost ever since the inception of the television, the two have seemed to influence each other.
In the '60s, Jacqueline Kennedy was seen as a fashion icon after bringing style to the White House. News reports focused almost as much on her wardrobe as on her husband's dealings as president of the country. Diane Keaton brought thrift store couture to a whole new level with her now-famous "Annie Hall" look of menswear with a twist of femininity and Madonna changed the way the world viewed undergarments worn as clothing with her videos on MTV in the '80s.
Today's small-screen fashion icons range from the geek chic of the "Ugly Betty" characters to the vampire- and dark-influenced "True Blood" to the retro teachers and students on the ever-popular "Glee" to the chic girls on "Gossip Girl."
"TV and fashion are inseparable," said MeeAe Oh-Ranck, a fashion designer and professor at Philadelphia University and Pennsylvania College of Art & Design in Lancaster city. "Some of the shows have had such a huge impact on sharing fashion with the world."
Shows like "Sex and the City," "Ugly Betty" and "Glee" are at the top of Oh-Ranck's fashion-influencing list. They illustrate how fashion and television help each other by making looks popular that may have been questioned in the past, she said.
"Geek chic has become an acceptable form of fashion because of shows like 'Ugly Betty,' " said Oh-Ranck said.
"It shows that being a geek is acceptable," Oh-Ranck said. "It