They're supposed to be exaggerated, but not fantastic. Often, the upper class details are skewed, and the lower class ones are so blatantly wrong it's obvious that either the writer or the producer (who changes details to match his preferences) has never known anyone who lived on less than $80k/year.
"Married With Children"... another fine example, even setting aside the size of the house (maybe there's a housing code issue with the place, and the landlord knows that if he kicks them out, he'll have to fix it before he can rent it again), of writing that has no idea how a family can survive on a single salesman's income.
not having much money or having a traditionally blue collar job doesn't mean that the person acts in ways typically connected to the blue collar lifestyle.
I dunno about that. Poverty shapes people's lives in ways that are frighteningly consistent. And while TV, especially sitcoms, are going to show a distorted, mocking view of that (and I don't have a problem with that), it'd be nice if I got the idea that somebody in the process of making that parody had any idea what it was actually based on.
And the lack of that connection, the lack of the reality awareness underneath the show, may be why people say "I'm not interested in lower-class shows." Because they're aware on a subconscious level that it's not real, that people aren't like that in those circumstances. Not even when you allow for exaggeration.
Lower-class people may watch them because any shred of accuracy feels like a vindication, and the inaccuracies are no more removed from their lives (my life) than the other shows on TV.
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Re: this may be unpopular but....
Date: 2008-05-27 06:17 pm (UTC)"Married With Children"... another fine example, even setting aside the size of the house (maybe there's a housing code issue with the place, and the landlord knows that if he kicks them out, he'll have to fix it before he can rent it again), of writing that has no idea how a family can survive on a single salesman's income.
not having much money or having a traditionally blue collar job doesn't mean that the person acts in ways typically connected to the blue collar lifestyle.
I dunno about that. Poverty shapes people's lives in ways that are frighteningly consistent. And while TV, especially sitcoms, are going to show a distorted, mocking view of that (and I don't have a problem with that), it'd be nice if I got the idea that somebody in the process of making that parody had any idea what it was actually based on.
And the lack of that connection, the lack of the reality awareness underneath the show, may be why people say "I'm not interested in lower-class shows." Because they're aware on a subconscious level that it's not real, that people aren't like that in those circumstances. Not even when you allow for exaggeration.
Lower-class people may watch them because any shred of accuracy feels like a vindication, and the inaccuracies are no more removed from their lives (my life) than the other shows on TV.