Representation in the Media

Representation in the media plays an important role in today’s society. It emphasized ideologies by demonstrating what is right and what is wrong, in other words media dictates our culture, norms and identity which are all correlated with each other. Children from a young age learn how to socialize. They learn the basis of the culture that is being inflicted to them by their families and school. From a young age they learn that a girl should be feminine therefore parents would give them toys that associate with femininity like dolls for instance a boy on the other hand would be presented with toys that are associated with masculinity like cars and military toys. Hence, stereotypes of gender are already present during child’s development. Norms are inflicted to children by the social institutions , whether it’s parenting, schools or media. It is all part of their culture. In other to understand how media constructs our culture and society. Different ideologies would be presented through television medium such as gender ideology and gender roles in America’s famous television show: That’s 70’s show. This particular media would be scrutinized to discern the representation of how females and males are being portrayed by the media.

That’s 70’s show is a popular American TV show that focuses mainly on teenage characters. This show is about childhood friends that live in a rebellious period of the 70’s. They live in Point Place, Wisconsin and demonstrate through their eyes how the period of 1970 was like for them which evolve mainly smoking marijuana, listening to rock music, driving in the car, drinking beer and in overall having fun. The main character of the show is Eric Forman, who is unlike his friends is physically and psychologically different from his male childhood friends: Steven Hyde and Michael Kelso. In fact, he is not the typical macho man in the physical and psychological aspects. Physically he is very thin, wimpy, scared of his dad