Blog #2: Reaction to All in the Family

Carroll O'Connor's character Archie Bunker in the show All in the Family is without a doubt one of the most controversial TV characters of all time, and in my opinion he's one of the greatest characters too. Archie’s recliner is in the Nation Museum of American History, so I’m not the only one who thinks he’s a great character. Bunker is a classic example of an American. He’s a hard working, middle class, white male; which is what made him so popular amongst viewers.

 The show focused around the Bunker family and the majority of the humor came from Archie's bigotry. In fact, before the first episode CBS ran a disclaimer that said, "The program you are about to see is All in the Family. It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices, and concerns. By making them a source of laughter we hope to show, in a mature fashion, just how absurd they are.” Just as the article theorized All in the Family was meant to be a satire.

In the episode we watched in class, “Sammy’s Visit”, the Bunkers receive a visit from Sammy Davis Jr. During Davis’ time in the Bunker’s home, Archie has some racist (but funny) remarks towards Davis such as “You being colored, I know you had no choice in that. But what ever made you turn Jew?” viewers can tell that he’s ignorant to the things he says by the way Davis reacts to Archie’s comments. Davis pretty much just ignores Archie’s bigotry during the episode. Of the show Davis said; "[It] has turned the heads of the nation. It is exposing some of the ills of today's society and doing it in good taste via humor and entertainment. I just want to be part of it all."

Even though Carroll O’Conner passed away in 2001, his character’s legacy lives on. All in the Family reruns are still played on TV Land. But Archie’s spirit lives on through Eric Cartman on South Park. In an interview between Ken Paulson and the creators of South Park Trey Parker said; “We saw syndicated runs of All in the Family. And we were, you know, really, like, ‘Wow, this, this was — what happened to this stuff?’ 'Cause it just went away when everything got so PC in the '80s. And, you know, you could never have had an Archie Bunker again. It was — really, when we started talking about, ‘How could you bring an Archie Bunker back? What if you made him a little eight-year-old fat kid?’ That, that really influenced one of our characters, Cartman, in the show. It was based on Archie Bunker.” I was really surprised that I had never made the connection between Cartman and Archie. Cartman is one of my favorite characters on South Park because he says whatever’s on his mind, just like Archie. 

Blog #1: Noticing Stereotypes

We started out the class by reading "Reel Bad Arabs" the article discussed how Hollywood has stereotyped Arabs as evil oil barons, terrorists or even people who ride on flying magic carpets (thanks, Aladdin). But as I kept reading, I realized that all of the stereotypes the article was talking about were things that I had come to believe because of Hollywood and other popular media. I've never been to an Arab country, so the only way I've learned about Arab cultures is through movies and news stories on TV. 

To be honest, when I picture an Arab I think of a man wearing a turban with a beard or a woman dressed in a burqa. After reading "Reel Bad Arabs" I researched online and found out that since Iraq's liberation many young women quit wearing burqas and started dressing like Western women. The New York Times article "What Not to Wear, Baghdad-Style: Fashion Rules Begin to Change" by Timothy Williams and Abeer Mohammed says

"After the United States-led invasion in 2003, women [in Iraq] found their fashion choices largely dictated by clerics during Friday Prayer and enforced by armed militia members who would threaten, kidnap or even kill those who were provocatively dressed. That was defined for quite some time as any woman who was not wearing an abaya, the cloaklike covering meant to conceal the shape of a woman’s body completely... But now that security has improved in Baghdad, the capital, some young women have begun shaking off their abayas and started dressing more like the women they see on satellite television channels beamed to the city from around the world."

I was shocked but also glad to find out that women are now free to dress however they want in Iraq. The right to express yourself through your clothes is something that I think most Americans (including myself) take advantage of everyday. 

Reading “Reel Bad Arabs” opened my eyes to the Arab culture. It helped me separate fact from fiction. We wrapped up the week on Thursday by watching part of Crash.

Crash is one of my all time favorite movies, so needless to say I was really excited to hear that we were going to watch it in class. There really isn't a better movie that we could have watched in class that accurately portrays many racial and gender stereotypes in our society. I first saw Crash in theaters, I was drawn to see it because of the star-studded cast but the movie won Oscars for Best Motion Picture and best Original Screenplay because of the excellent, gripping story. No matter what race or gender you are, I think anyone can identify in some way with the characters in the film. If you haven’t been a victim of racial profiling or a target of racism, I’m sure you’ve seen someone who has been. If not, you could probably identify with Matt Dillon’s character. He’s a cop trying to take care of his elderly father; Dillon’s performance was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

It’s easy to pick up on the racial aspect of Crash, but it’s a little more tricky to notice the gender discrimination in the movie. I wouldn’t have noticed some of the small hints if we hadn’t read “Audience Interpretations of Crash” the night before. The DA (Brendan Fraser) yells at his wife (Sandra Bullock) and treats her with disrespect in front of his staff after they are robbed. Detective Walters (Don Cheadle) tells his mother that he’s having sex with a white woman, who is actually his Latina partner (Jennifer Esposito). Crash is a movie that one can watch several times and notice something different each time. It helps to read an article like “Audience Interpretations of Crash” to fully appreciate all of the aspects of the movie.

Overall, I think it was a good week and I’m looking forward to the rest of the class.