Class Dismissed is based on the forthcoming book by Pepi Leistyna, navigates the steady stream of narrow working class representations from American television's beginnings to today's sitcoms, reality shows, police dramas, and daytime talk shows.
Narrated by Ed Asner and featuring interviews with media analysts and cultural historians, this documentary examines the patterns inherent in TV's disturbing depictions of working class people as either clowns or social deviants -- stereotypical portrayals that reinforce the myth of meritocracy.
Class Dismissed breaks important new ground in exploring the ways in which race, gender, and sexuality intersect with class, offering a more complex reading of television's often one-dimensional representations. The video also links television portrayals to negative cultural attitudes and public policies that directly affect the lives of working class people.
24 Comments
qualmGreat find.
siftbotMoving this video to Trancecoach's personal queue. It failed to receive enough votes to get sifted up to the front page within 2 days.
Trancecoachwait.
wait.
ok, *beg
siftbotSending this video to Beggar's Canyon to plea for a little attention - beg requested by original submitter Trancecoach.
budzosReminds me of a book that totally obsessed me as a kid: "The Middle Class Credo: 1000 American Beliefs."
NetRunner*money
*politics
*lies (discusses the lies and propaganda that run rampant about class)
*quality
siftbotBoosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by NetRunner.
Adding video to channels (Lies, Money, Politics) - requested by NetRunner.
blankfistAnyone else expecting to hear "Baby Ruth!" a'la Goonies around 2:54 in?
dagComment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)
Good stuff. The fact that I'm not viewing this on a TV makes me hopeful.
rychanWow, the video makes me feel like a conservative because it's painful to listen to this whining. The phrase "Myth of meritocracy" really chaps my ass. If you apply yourself in school you absolutely have path to succeed in the US. Also this video had a pretty strong anti-corporate message which seemed a bit out of left field.
honkeytonk73This is good stuff... though I don't watch a lick of TV anymore. It has been years. Why? Because it is rampant with advertising and is getting worse. TV is costlier, and costs continue to rise, while ad content continues to rise. Networks over years has effectively dumbed down content to a point where the target audience is considered moronic.
News broadcasts incapable of describing complex issues in detail for fear of losing their viewer's attention span. That in of itself is a HUGE disservice to the public interest.
So-called 'reality' TV is another example of low cost low quality production with minimal content. The networks assume... people want flashy lights and fast moving things on the screen.
Purty colors! Me Like!
Sure we all like to be entertained at times. We like to waste some time. We like humor. But things have gotten quite bad. To the point where a lot of people are dumping cable/sat TV all together.
I am all for the anti-corporate message. I work in one of the largest corporations in the world, and it is all about profits, sending jobs overseas, and shafting the worker. Zero pay increases while the profits fly up into the billions. Massive aquisitions. All in a down economy. The workers are earning LESS now than they were 5 years ago. Healthcare costs shoot up in the double digit percentages. Insurance rates go up. Cost of living goes up. Pay remains stagnant. Now.. the upper echelon continues to pull in hundreds of millions plus stock options. That isn't a meritocracy.
bleedingsnowmanRychan, the world is not Horatio Alger fantasy.
rougy>> ^NetRunner:
money
politics
lies (discusses the lies and propaganda that run rampant about class)
quality
Oh! Who will save us from this inequity!
If only we had a majority in the executive, senatorial, and congressional branches.
Then, by golly we'd change things, you betcha!
NetRunner>> ^rougy:
Oh! Who will save us from this inequity!
If only we had a majority in the executive, senatorial, and congressional branches.
Then, by golly we'd change things, you betcha!
I'm not sure what you think will help. Apparently your idea of changing the world is to go around sniping at me sarcastically, even when all I do is assign a channel.
But then, I guess you're not alone. A lot of people act like insulting me the best way to fix a broken system that I didn't create and don't support.
rougy>> ^NetRunner:
>> ^rougy:
Oh! Who will save us from this inequity!
If only we had a majority in the executive, senatorial, and congressional branches.
Then, by golly we'd change things, you betcha!
I'm not sure what you think will help. Apparently your idea of changing the world is to go around sniping at me sarcastically, even when all I do is assign a channel.
But then, I guess you're not alone. A lot of people act like insulting me the best way to fix a broken system that I didn't create and don't support.
Just giving you shit, NR.
No insult intended.
kulpims*promote. can you please replace the embed with this playlist I made:
features 8 videos total, about 55 minutes long all together
siftbotPromoting this video back to the front page; last published Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 12:31am PDT - promote requested by kulpims.
marinarayou used beavis and butthead to make a points. huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh
Trancecoach>> ^kulpims:
promote. can you please replace the embed with this playlist I made:
<snipped>
features 8 videos total, about 55 minutes long all together
Done & done.
Thanks for the promote!
rougyI think the sixth video in the series of eight was the best, but they were all good.
Mordhaus*dead
siftbotThis video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by Mordhaus.
Trancecoach*dead
*promote. can you please replace the embed with this playlist I made:
features 8 videos total, about 55 minutes long all together
siftbotThis video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by Trancecoach.
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