Preview

The Box That Changed America Analysis

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
249 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Box That Changed America Analysis
The articles "Television Transformed" and "The Box That Changed America" by Lauren Tarshis, talks about how American culture has changed because of having the television. One example in which the television has changed Americans culture on the positive side is it brought families together. The article exclaims "In the early days of TV, Americans were united by their favorite shows" (Tarshis 20). This shows how the TV brought families together because, people would gather around the TV and watch their favorite show. When people would watch their favorite show with their family they would figure more things out about their family members. Another way that the American culture has changed because of the TV is it also divided a number of families.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Box Man Analysis

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The movie starts out with a group of men breaking into a building to steal money. The safe-cracker, also referred to as “The boxman,” is a young man by the name of Jason McAlister. He is a quirky and unconventional in the way that he listens to music while he dance walks to the safe and does not hurt anyone personally. However, the other men who are with him are tying up hostages and knocking out people in the building. One of the hostages manages to call the police and the men have to rush through the rest of their Jason cracks the safe with no problem listening to his music the whole time. The men rush into the safe and start taking all of the money inside. There are also several papers on shelves which Jason has been instructed not to take,…

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Despite the fact that television had only recently begun to evolve in America, the influence of television in the 1950s and 1960s still managed to advertise a unified American community full of social enhancements, educate the nation about politics and current events, and stimulate the…

    • 1104 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    However, it could be argued that the TV also had a negative effect on people’s lives: the attendance to the cinema and live sporting or theatre events decreased rapidly as the TV was an easy release from boredom. Although it did bring families together, the quality of their bonding time was now lessened because they were sat watching the TV without conversing as they had before and TV dinners had a huge effect on families sitting down together to eat a meal. Now that the TV was the main source of news and entertainment, huge advertising campaigns were launched which fuelled consumerism and tempted audiences into buying their goods. The televisions share of…

    • 1141 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    It is with these statistics that help support the idea that it seems almost impossible to even try to fathom a period of time when there were no such things as television sets in the American household, let alone there being no such thing as television. This time period seems to be primitive. Yet the issue at hand is that we fail to realize that television was not always around. Instead it was only first presented to the public less than 73 years ago in 1939. In fact to some, it is extremely surprising that television was not even popular among Americans until the 1950's. It was with this popularity that helped turn the spark, the effect that television had on Americans, into a wildfire that spread all over America. This very effect is one of the most…

    • 3030 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    The television was a device that was thought to bring families closer. However, in recent years the idea can be debunked as an old wives tale. In Marie Winn's book the Plug-In Drug she addresses how television/electronics have actually driven families apart. This topic is specifically covered in her chapter “Family Life”. Winn makes observations which open our eyes to what electronics can actually do to families.…

    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Tv's Gender Roles

    • 1818 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Does television have an impact on people’s everyday lives, yes television has an impact on people’s everyday lives because it displays certain social expectations like gender roles for men and women. For example, in the 1950’s, TV shows depicted men as breadwinners and women as homemakers. Whereas today, many contemporary TV shows challenge conventional gender roles. The social expectations of gender roles led to the “perfect” family structure in real life and society used television to represent the structure during time period. In addition, the family structure formulated the ideal wife for the 1950’s and contemporary times, which plays a huge role when it comes to the economy because consuming products imply for a stable life. An analytical…

    • 1818 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    from the 1950’s to now, and provides us with an example of the affects of television on the…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    After World War II, technology was advancing and converting from military orientation to more consumer based companies. One of the new technology devices that were introduced to American consumers was television. American television in the 1940’s and 1950’s became a link marvel between Americans, podcasting news, shows, and movies. American television during the 1940’s and the 1950’s played a major rule in preserving American social values and it became an effective tool for politicians and the government goals and agendas. Television keept the American culture and values untouched by promoting television shows that confronted Communism, homosexuality, a long with promoting religious shows that preserved American’s morals and traditions.…

    • 1715 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Generally speaking, visual media has shaped American culture and its values in many ways due to the fact an average American spends most of their free time watching television. In the aspect when television first came out they avoided controversial issues because it was considered taboo to speak about them. Therefore, they made shows geared towards families living the good life with a mom at home and dad at work. This era instilled values of respect and self worth with little controversy. However, as time passed technology evolved and so did visual media. Visual entertainment began to develop into more controversial issues that changed the way we viewed the world. For instance, entertainment media began to talk about racism and mistreatment towards others; this lead Americans into the civil rights movement and equal treatment for everyone regardless of their skin color. This became the foundation that allowed other shows to step outside the box and begin to broadcast more controversial issues. Shows began to reflect life as a single parent and women entering the work force; therefore changing the value of what people considered to be a normal family. In this era divorce rates went up and many women began working towards establishing careers outside the home. As years passed, so did visual media. Cable television began to dominate the airwaves and became a popular way for people to receive media entrainment. This form of entertainment had no problem broadcasting issues such as sex, drugs, violence, and politics. Cable also made it easy for viewers to watch adult content and violent films at any moment of the day; therefore changing the way we view ourselves, others, and the world around us.…

    • 343 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Tv Essay

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Ellen Goodman explains how TV affects families in a negative way by using harsh words to emphasize that TV destroys families. She explains through “Primal Screen” that the fact people watch TV is an “addiction” and “the average kid develops that distant, slack-jawed, hypnotic, hooked stare…” (Goodman, 25-26). This explains how kids take TV too seriously in life and take it as a major priority in life. Also, they young kids would create a very bad addiction out of it. Kids in school might not do well because all they think about is TV and get distracted. Another example would be when Goodman states that families have “become an audience and not a family,” (Goodman, 28)”. This means that families sit around a TV and communicate rarely if possible. Families just sit around and ignore each other when the traditional belief of TV is to have family time.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Television is part of the American culture. It benefits people in many ways. Many people use the television as a mayor part of information. Television is beneficial because it provides news, entertainment and education.…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The invention of television is undoubtedly one of humankind's greatest inventions. It is a way of communication among people of one country and different countries and nations. People watch TV to find out about the latest news, weather, sports, etc. It is a great way to learn new and extend one's range of interests. Scientists say that children spend the same amount of hours in front of TV as they do in school. I think that this can be said about many grown people too. Also, television is a great means of eliminating stress and tension. One can relax and leave one's troubles behind lying on one's favorite sofa and watching a comedy. However, some people believe that television has destroyed communication among friends and family.…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Next there are family values, in which television desecrates almost all of those factors. Before television, families used to sit at the dinner table and discuss daily agenda. Now at dinner time many families sit in front of the television with their food in their hand and don't say anything to one another. There were times when families went to the movies or amusement parks for entertainment. Now, they just sit in front of the television watching a variety of asinine programs and movies.…

    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    effects of tv

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages

    One impact of the television that it has replaced the importance of book reading in some societies that we live in today. People now prefer to sit lazily in front of the television and take what they need wither it was news, entertainment or education from the television rather than reading a book. This is due to the ease of access to these information and not having to work hard for what they need unlike the case of a book, where people need to find and lookup as well as research the information they need. But thanks to the television they can do that with a click of a button.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays