Martin
and Nakayama explain that “Pop culture assists in the creation and
reinforcement of stereotypes” (2012).
Today as Americans we are surrounded by popular culture whether we
realize it or not. Whether it is the
advertisement we see, the music we listen to, the shows we watch, or the
magazines we read pop culture constantly surrounds our everyday lives. Due to this overwhelming wealth of
information it is clearly evident why Martin and Nakayama assert that “The
complexity of popular culture is often overlooked” (2012).
For
this blog, I watched a few episodes of one of my favorite TV shows, NCIS, or
Naval Criminal Investigative Service for those who don’t watch it. This
investigative police drama is full of stereotypes through the episodes I consumed
before writing this blog. There are
three cultural stereotypes that I depicted: the idea that coworkers are your
family, men are supervisors and managers in the show, and the cultural
stereotype that a crime is solved in 60 minutes.
The
first stereotype was the idea that your coworkers are your family. In the show the tight knit group is always
interacting. Whether is the night or
day, weekday or weekend they always seem to be together. Though this may be the case on television, I
believe this to be a stereotype because most workers will be with their
coworkers for about 40 hours a week and at home for the remaining hours.
The
second cultural stereotype in this show is the idea that men are always the
supervisors and managers. Starting from
the bottom there is the most senior agent who is a male, the special agent in
charge again a male, the director of NCIS who is a male, and his boss the
secretary of the Navy a male as well. I
believe this to be a cultural stereotype because this is not always the fact in
a real life setting. The truth is
females also hold these high ranking positions, yet on the show at the moment,
there isn’t a female supervisor.
The
final cultural stereotype that I deciphered was the idea that a crime is solved
in 60 minutes or less. This is a common
phenomenon that the general public believes to be true because they see it on
TV. When it comes to real life people
may ask questions why it takes a long time to solve a crime when in fact it may
only be a few days. The idea that a
crime occurs and is solved within one TV episode is a growing cultural
stereotype that affects many more people than we may presume.
I
think this experience of looking more in depth into this TV show gave me an
opportunity to not only watch a few more episodes but really to analyze the
crime drama from a different perspective than simply watching it for
enjoyment. It is hard to say how much
insight I may have received from this real life experience, however; I can
argue that I may watch the show with a different mindset in the future. I believe that realizing and understanding
the cultural stereotype concepts that I pointed out are important not only from
an academic perspective but also from a general population perspective on
society and crime. Through more people
being educated about the stereotypes the better off everyone will be avoiding
the stereotype and creating equality for everyone.
References
Martin,
J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2012). Intercultural
communication in contexts (6th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.
JTProductionsYT.
(September 26, 2012). NCIS: Season 10
Official Opening Theme Song. Retrieved
from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz6CMJeAGlU
When I read the stereotype "crime is solved in 60 minutes" I totally laughed! I have never thought of it that way, but it is SO true! In our society we want immediate satisfaction, hence we think all murders, kidnappings, or even the occasional car jacking can be solved in a matter of minutes.
ReplyDeleteNCIS is one of my favorite shows too! I agree with Chanda that we do often want immediate satisfaction and the crime is solved in 60 minutes is a good stereotype to point out. I think it is very apparent that they are like a family and not just coworkers. I like that you point out the difference between just watching the show and actually analyzing all of the different culture groups involved.
ReplyDeleteI like how you put coworkers being like family is a stereotype. It actually made me chuckle a little bit. When I was in the military, we had strong bonds, we trusted, but not necessarily liked each other. At my current job, I don't go to company function because I already see these people 40 hours a week, why do I want to see them on my time off too? Work relationships will not equal family ones. Family we have whether we like them or not, we're stuck with them, we watch out for them or avoid them, but in an emergency you always show up to help them. Work friends are passing friends, unless you choose to make a stronger bond with them. Then in many cases they can become a surrogate family minus all of the dysfunction that normal families have. You chose those people, they think like you do, you get along, and you trust each other.
ReplyDeleteGender roles are particularly interesting within pop culture as they define so much of how we treat people and how society as a whole is shaped. I'm glad you mentioned the male importance aspect and I think that as women become increasingly more important in the work place this portrayal may shift or at least be slightly more equal.
ReplyDelete