Watch one of the three 1980s television episodes linked below and write 400 words on the representations of class within Roseanne, LA Law, or COPS. This post will count as two blog posts.
LA LAW, s.1, ep.1
Roseanne, s.1, ep. 1
COPS, pilot (please watch all of the parts on youtube)
In Roseanne, Roseanne Conner is the mother of a white, American, working-class family with three kids. The show portrays Roseanne as a sort of leader in the family as she disciplines her kids with a loving, firm hand and drags her hubby, Dan Conner, along for the ride. However, it’s clear even from the pilot, titled “Life and Stuff,” that their life in not without conflict. As the Conner’s are working class—living penny to penny and job to job—many of the problems that arise in the pilot are financially based issues.
Their life is hardly luxury which is even displayed in the opening credit sequence. The Conners and their friends sit around a family table animatedly talking and laughing as non-diegetic, bluesy, trumpet-heavy music plays over the sequence. As the blues evolved from the working/labor-class, it’s fitting that it’s paired with the Conners. The meal consists of a hodgepodge of containers and home-cooked meals scattered on the small table. It’s not meant to be fancy and impressive, but rather very homey and down to earth.
Then we come to the first scene. Roseanne embodies the firm-handed, sarcastic, hard-working (but a little exhausted) mother as she deals with her kids’ problems before they head to school. Her oldest daughter begins taking cans out from the pantry for a school food drive, and Roseanne makes the joke that they should “drive some of the food over here” before allowing her daughter to take no more than two cans. Then Roseanne learns she has to meet with her younger daughter’s history teacher that afternoon. She asks if Dan can go, but he insists that he has to go bid for a job today because he’s a construction worker. But she insists she can’t go either because she’ll lose an hour pay at work. However Roseanne resigned and went to the meeting with the deal that Dan would fix the sink.
Dan didn’t fix the sink. The last 10 minutes of the episode consist of a fight between Dan and Roseanne over their role as parents in the house stemming from that incident. Many of their problems arose from financial burdens (such as Roseanne having to be the head of the house and having to work a fulltime job). A family with a higher socio-economic status wouldn’t have these same issues necessarily because they would be able to live a more sustainable life style.
Since the 1970s, television shows started to address social problems. There was an increase in the portrayal of the working-class, women and African Americans. This shift in television programs was led by Norman Lear’s production of relevant programs. Even though sit-coms of the 1980s portrayed more middle-class families, near the end of the 1980s, working-class sitcoms appeared again due to social and economic issues. Roseanne was one of the typical working-class sit-coms of the late 1980s. The pilot “Life and Stuff” focused on the working-class Roseanne, who had to work long hours in Wellman Plastics. Even when she went back home, she had to a series of housework, such as preparing food for the family, take care of her three children, and fix the sink that her husband forgot. Through comparing the short scene in the workplace and the scenes at home, the show idealized the home while criticized the workplace. For instance, when Roseanne asked Booker, the foreman at Wellman, for permission to leave an hour early to meet her daughter’s history teacher, Booker immediately refused. Roseanne insisted but Booker only allowed her a half an hour break, and he would take out from Roseanne’s check. Even though the family contained many issues, the incident of Darlene accidently cut her finger showed that the family was warm and sweet. The pilot portrayed class conflict through Roseanne’s meeting with the middle-class history teacher. The conversation between the two appeared difficult. Roseanne did not understand what was the problem of her daughter “barking” in the class since her entire family barked. The teacher tried to explain that “barking” was a metaphor for internal problem. Then there was a pause before Roseanne reply “huh?” This implied that Roseanne were less educated, so she had difficulty talking to the teacher. Also, the physical appearances of Roseanne and her husband were less appealing. When the history teacher told Roseanne to sit, she skeptically stared at the chair and eventually sat on the desk because she could not fit into the tiny chair. The middle-class teacher, however, was skinny and she sat properly on the chair. In addition, Roseanne seemed more aggressive. When the history teacher asked if they could meet another day, Roseanne refused immediately. Also, during the conversation, Roseanne was chewing gum and moving her feet back and forth while sitting on the desk when the teacher was explaining the problem of Roseanne’s daughter seriously. This showed the contrast between the behaviors of a working-class and the behaviors of a middle-class woman.
As would be expected, this show generally frames class according to the “bad guys” and the “good guys”. For the most part, the perpetrators are perceived as lower class simply because they are the ones dealing with drugs. The cops, on the other hand, are higher class. They are the ones upholding the law and protecting citizens. The higher class, the cops in this class, is represented as more intelligent and almost manipulative. At one point, a cop was asking a suspect questions and said, “You don’t mind that do you?” The perpetrators appear to be less intelligent and more irrational and emotional. In the scene where the woman’s boyfriend runs from the cops, the woman seems crazy as she yells and struggles. I think these are examples of fundamentally how class differences are portrayed in this show. Apart from the basic and evident cop-criminal class difference, I think class is shown more through the relationships on the show, mainly those of the cops. First are the contrasting relationships with kids. The only time we see criminals with kids is when there’s a baby in a house that’s being busted. It does make sense that we don’t see a lot of this because the show does center around the cops, but it is an interesting comparison to the officer who helps care for his girlfriend’s kids. He is shown as being caring and loving to the baby, despite his admission that he was not prepared for them. The kid being raised in a house full of guns and drugs is clearly the result of lower class criminals while the cop is representative of higher class in comparison. Similarly, the relationships men have with women are indicative of class in COPS. And this is where I think the show provides commentary that not all the cops are higher class, and that being a cop doesn’t automatically make them classier than the criminals. Both times we see cops in their homes they’re overrunning their wives. One cop runs home to make his wife get off the phone. The second time is a better example. The man and his wife clearly have communication issues and he clearly ignores her. In comparison to some of the criminals who call their mothers and girlfriends or try to protect them, he seems utterly classless. I think that with a show like this that clearly has a bad guy and a good guy, it’s interesting to look into the more minute details, such as class, to observe class representations.
Roseanne is a sitcom about a white, working-class family living in Illinois. The show follows the traditional white family, however, it seems as though Roseanne is head of the family instead of her husband, as she works full time at a factory job, takes care of the kids, and the household. Her role is very relatable, as she is not the traditional "trophy housewife" we typically see in family sitcoms. She is very real, relatable, and can be identifiable as both a wife and a mother to the average American family.
The issue of class is not explicitly brought up, but it can be easily inferred by the elements in the show's pilot, "Life and stuff", what class Roseanne's family belongs to. For example, the episode opens with Roseanne complaining about the sink breaking again, and her husband's lack of attention to fixing it, not fulfilling his "role" as a husband to fix it. Then, Roseanne's daughter complains her new book bag already broke, clearly a very cheap product, and Roseanne complains how she must get off an hour early from work to replace it, missing an hour of pay. Then, when Roseanne must meet with her daughter's teacher to discuss her behavior, she again complains how she took work off to be there for the teacher, compromising her paycheck. Finally, when Roseanne gets home from her long day at work, she complains to her husband that he doesn't pull his weight as a husband, and she does all the work. This change in family dynamic is much more reflective of working class families in the 1990s. It steps away from the ideal 1950s nuclear family, and provides a realistic perspective on the average American family.
What I find really interesting about Roseanne is that it had some of the highest Neilson ratings of the 1980s and 90s, and serves as a direct reflection of the average American family of the time. This represents a shift in family dynamic represented on television. Previously, family sitcoms represented an ideological family situation, where the white family was very privileged, had endless consumer products, and few interpersonal issues. However, Roseanne's family had limited finances, difficulty providing consumer products for all family members, and real life issues that all American families deal with. I think Roseanne provides perspective into a working-class we don't normally see on television, and the popularity of the show most likely derived from its ability to relate to the average American family.
Roseanne is a family, working class sitcom from the 1980s. It is centered on Roseanne and her family; her husband and three kids living their Midwestern, very typical American life. However, Roseanne is different than many of the previous family sitcoms. Instead of having a patriarchal family system, the sitcom surrounds her and her role as the head of the family. It follow hers as she goes to her job, to her roles at home, and anywhere else she needs to go to get things done. For example, one of the biggest points of contention in this episode was an argument of who does more around the house for the family: Roseanne or her husband? And Roseanne won. Therefore, the issue of gender and changing gender roles is very present. Additionally, when Roseanne was at work all of the girls were prodding Roseanne about her husband and how great he was. Where Roseanne, although I do believe she truly does appreciate him, demonstrated the truth that it is not all what it is cracked up to be. Therefore, marital status and gender do not necessarily play a large role in deciding your class, per say, but it very present in Roseanne that these things do play a role is status in society. To address the issue of class more specifically, the American, working class family is portrayed not all rainbows and sunshine like it had often been before in similar sitcoms. This idea is first addressed when the daughter asks Roseanne if she can take food to school for a food drive and Roseanne's response was that they needed to send food to their own family. This is the first idea of a monetary motif of sorts. The financial burdens of a typical, working-class family are again addressed with Roseanne needs to take an hour off of work to go to her daughter's school for a meeting and the notion of losing an hours worth of pay is quite large. Therefore a large connection is drawn between money and class. Additionally, there is not much emphasis on race shown in this first episode of Roseanne. The only person of color was shown in the scene when Roseanne was at work in her factory, but the black lady was not a major character. Therefore most of the social commentaries on class are applied to the idea of a white, working class suburban family. However, I do not believe that there is any malcontent by not including different races. There is just not much of a connection between race and class in this episode of Roseanne. Overall, the biggest notions of class in Roseanne are gender/marital status and money. Roseanne appears to be a pretty typical, Midwestern working class family of the time. (I was excited to watch this episode because I used to watch Roseanne when I was doing homework after school or when I was home sick so this was fun!)
Roseanne depicts a middle age working class woman who is working to hold her family together. Interestingly, she is the breadwinner in her household while her husband is apparently working on getting a job but otherwise stays at home. Despite being the busy earner in the house, she is burdened with household and motherly duties while her husband seems to generally be lazy and passive, offering excuses and giving into impulse rather than take care of necessary business. As stated, he doesn’t end up fixing the sink or making dinner and his only accomplishments are apparently cleaning the gutters and partially building a boat.
While they generally seem to be at odds, they’ll come together for the sake of their kids. Roseanne effectively heads up the household even though her husband is said to “sit on his throne”. Questions directed at him from the kids cause him to prompt Roseanne rather than answer for himself and Roseanne has a long spiel about how women need to break down and rebuild men since none come with a reasonable sense of decency.
Overall, Roseanne shows a woman in power and running her household. The usually trappings of a nuclear family are still clearly present in their working class household with Roseanne and her husband living together with 3 kids. The roles of husbands and wives are discussed in the argument between Roseanne and her husband in regards to household work verses patriarchal status but the fact the Roseanne is so clearly in charge and making money for the household while her husband stays home shows a change to that.
As far as her work environment, Roseanne is a line worker at a Plastic manufacturing company while her husband is looking for a job in physical labor. As shown by her argument with her boss, she’s docked pay at a half hour granularity after arguing for an hour. She’s clearly in a low enough position to have very little bargaining power and makes very little for it. Her husband is putting in bids for a potential job and looses to a lower bid, showing that he's trying to enter a work environment that values savings at the very least and presumably, with his position, not asking much to begin with. As working class citizens, they are treated with less respect and looked down upon like in the case of the history teacher talking down to Roseanne during their meeting.
Roseanne opens with a scene typical of the domestic sitcom: a family sits around a dining table. The husband and wife playfully banter as the kids bicker. However, the sitcom is contained to the Connoer’s house. Roseanne is about a blue-collar family and their blue-collar jobs. Roseanne is known for being to situate the working mother as the lead protagonist of a show, instead of simply playing off the husband. However, both Roseanne and her husband Dan have about equal amounts of time spent on their respective jobs. Roseanne works at a plastics factory, while Dan is a building contractor. Their respective jobs are one of the first explicit mentions of class within the episode. Roseanne has to deal with a boss who is angry that she has to take any time off of work, even for a perfectly legitimate reason like meeting her daughter’s teacher. Here Roseanne has to deal with someone of higher class, and he doesn’t seem to care about her plight, docking her pay for leaving work. In a similar capacity, Dan has to suck up to someone else in hopes of receiving building contracts. He mentions that this person got him his previous two jobs, so he has to hang around this friend hoping another job will come his way.
Another instance of Roseanne dealing with class is when Roseanne goes to meet her daughter’s teacher. The teacher seems to represent someone of an intellectually different class. Her treatment of Roseanne is poor, and at first she wants to reschedule the meeting to play squash. She only relents after Roseanne demands the meeting, citing the job and traffic as her reason for being late. After this, the teacher talks down to Roseanne, suggesting that her home life is what is causing the daughter to act strangely. Roseanne feels this is a snub, as she has tried to balance three kids with her job. She then opts for a cut through the bullshit approach, telling the teacher she doesn’t believe anything is wrong. The teacher’s expression is almost one of pity, acting as a superior because of level of education.
There are a few other mentions of class, but most of it has to deal with home life. Leaky faucets and arguing kids are presented as an unfornutate side-effect of life in a middle class, suburban Illinois home. Because the Conners don’t always have the easiest time of making ends meet, this leads to some marital conflict between Dan and Roseanne. I haven’t watched enough of the show to know if this is a reoccurring theme, but I would imagine that money worries are a source of conflict on the show.
Roseanne is a situational comedy centered on a white, working-class family of three children. Much of the comedy in this show is based on the humorous portrayals of the lifestyle of this working class family. Roseanne is the mother and leader of this family, caring for the of three young children and her husband Dan. She comes across as abrasive, bossy and forward but her family is clearly her priority. Roseanne works and tends for children and her husband’s needs, seemingly never to be done with work. At one point she states that she works 8 hours at work and then comes home and continues to work another 8 hours. This tension leads to an argument and underlying tension with her husband as Roseanne accuses him of not doing enough. This idea of a working class family having to be held up by an overworked individual represents a struggle in the working class to retain a sense of balance. Roseanne has no free time while Dan has time to work on his ship and spend time with friends. Furthermore, Roseanne seems underappreciated but takes this in her stride, representing this as a normalized way of living for those in a lower class.
There are several references to the family’s economic struggles but they are all portrayed in a humorous light. When Becky, one of Roseanne’s daughters, is taking food for a class food drive, Roseanne suggest that “they drive some of that food over here”. The episode is riddled with Roseanne making off-hand comments about wanting to get rid of the kids, implying how much of a hassle and burden they are to take care of. She suggests that they change the locks on the doors after they leave and jokingly says at one point that she understand why some animals eat their young. Furthermore, at work Roseanne makes several references to her lack of wealth. She sarcasitically comments “there goes the Porsche” when her boss cuts her assumedly already meager pay for leaving 30 minutes early for a meeting with her daughter’s history teacher.
Another portrayal of the working class is the stark contrast between Darlene’s history teacher and Roseanne. Darlene is Roseanne’s second daughter who has ben acting up by barking in school. The history teacher is dressed in more expensive clothing and rushing off to a squash game when Roseanne comes in a few mintues late for the meeting. The contrast is already apparent in their appearance, speech and first few interactions. Roseanne mistakes the squash raquet for a tennis raquet and explains she cannot come back another time because she had to get off work early and have her pay cut today. After agreeing to fit in the meeting Mrs. Crane, the history teacher, explains in complex, understandable terms to Roseanne that she believes the issue with Darlene is due to problems at home. Roseanne quickly shuts her down with her harsh, uncompromising manner and the discrepancy between Roseanne’s working class attitude and Ms. Crane’s middle to higher class attitude and décor are plainly illustrated.
This episode portrays Roseanne’s family, a representation of the working class, as hard-working, obtuse, loud and family-oriented. They are struggling to get by but still have core family values at heart. They are held together by Roseanne, the mother, who fulfills both the domestic role at home and the masculine role at work. The representation of their class role is clearly distinguished right form this first pilot of the show.
A 1980s sitcom set in the Midwest, Roseanne does not overtly address issues of class, but rather allows the viewer to draw inferences from various elements revealed throughout the show on their own. For instance in the opening sequence, we see a big family sitting around a big wooden table chatting animatedly and passing plates around. The food on the table and the set up immediately give away the fact that this is a very casual get together at home with nothing fancy. The non-diegetic soundtrack accompanying the opening sequence also hints to the viewer that it is a story about a working class family as Blues is commonly identified with the music of that class.
As the scene begins to unfold, several key moments are especially indicative. Firstly, we have Roseanne jokingly quip, “how about driving some here” when one of her daughters wanted to grab a few cans from the pantry for a food drive at school. Furthermore, she is limited to only two cans, and none of the “creamy corn stuff”. Following that, we have another daughter complaining about how her new book bag broke. It is therefore only reasonable to deduce that it is not a bag of a very high quality.
During the scene where Roseanne and her husband fight about who will go meet with the history teacher, it is revealed that her husband works in construction, and the fact that he has to “bid” on that day shows that he is not likely to have a stable income. Roseanne further commented that she would lose an hour of pay if she were to meet the history teacher.
In addition, Roseanne’s appearance and behavior can be viewed as subtle comments on her social class. For instance, as compared to the History teacher, Roseanne is dressed in a blue t-shirt and jeans. Instead of sitting on the chair properly, she chooses to sit on the table, swinging her legs and chewing gum while talking to the teacher.
Lastly, the argument between her and her husband near the end of the episode is of a financial nature. She talks about how she has to put in eight hours at work and eight hours after at home, where she has to fix dinner, do the laundry and even fix the sink (since her husband did not do it). These are problems that are less likely to occur if her family did not need her to work full time to supplement the family income.
COPS is a show portraying the real life experiences of police officers across the nation by filming live on location. The pilot episode represents how the show portrays class within the program. COPS essentially defines two categories of people: law-enforcers and law-breakers. In doing so, they take a firm position on portraying the law-enforcers as upper-class whites and the law-breakers as lower-class minorities, often African American. This inaccurately portrays lower-class individuals as being morally bankrupt citizens and, as a result, misinforms viewers about the class breakdown in America.
The law-enforcers in the pilot episode consist of a variety of police officers in Florida. Almost the entire force consists of white males and females who are cracking down on the ever-increasing drug problem in the area. As we follow the cameras into their private lives, we can see the families and homes of some of the officers. Through the documentary style filming, we can see how the law-enforcers are among the middle and upper class. The law-breakers, on the other hand, live in rundown houses and drive old vehicles, portraying how they are from the lower class. In addition, the criminals in the show are often minorities, further insinuating a connection between class and demographics. By analyzing the interactions between the two classes, a misconception about the lower class as a whole is revealed.
A perfect example of these interactions is when the camera crew follows Deputy Jerry Wurms. In the beginning of the scene, Wurms walks up to a vehicle with a black male sitting in the driver’s seat of a battered car and maliciously opens the door. Without hesitation, he asks the male if he has any drugs or weapons in the car and begins to search the vehicle. He quickly finds a stolen revolver below the seat. This sequence portrays a white male officer specifically targeting a black male under the assumption that he will have a weapon under his seat. By doing so, viewers only see how this demographic is targeted and almost always convicted of having illegal positions. As a result, it portrays minorities as being a danger to society.
Later in the show, Deputy Wurms says, “You see white guys come in here to buy their dope,” and soon catches two adolescent white males attempting to buy marijuana. However, he does not arrest them. Instead, he gives them a warning to stay out of the neighborhood because white people do not belong there. He explains how it is nothing to do with being white or black, but rather crimes against people. By saying it’s not about race, he inadvertently makes a direct accusation that the colored neighborhood is inherently more violent towards society. Further, he gives the white males, who are presumably from the middle or upper class, a break because of the color of their skin. As a result, it portrays the cops as giving leniency to higher-class individuals of the white race.
All in all, this show tends to represent class through the scope of crime and blames the terrors of society on lower-class individuals who are trying to make a quick buck. This clearly misrepresents the lower class as a whole and utilizes fear to engage its viewers, potentially leading to the harmful side effect of discrimination in society.
The classic sitcom, Roseanne, draws its allure in the idealization as well as the difficulties of the mundane, everyday life in as a middle class family. While the issues they deal with in the pilot are typical, they are also typified and thwarted into the middle class home and lifestyle. Roseanne has to deal with issues like maintaining a home, fixing dinner, making sure her children are fairing well in school, and helping her husband stay on the right path in search for a job, all while having to work full time at a factory—a less than upper class work environment to say the least. In a meeting with her daughter’s teacher, Roseanne says that she has three kids, and works full time, so she has no time to herself to ponder the deeper questions about her own child’s development. Rather, she knows that her child is alright, and that the educator is out of her depth in bringing up home issues to Roseanne.
One instance I particularly was drawn to was the opening where Dan gets cranky about bread crumbs on butter, and once the issue is resolved, he reverts to a southern and low class impression to express his love for Roseanne. This actually mocks the even less educated in order to almost idealize and explore the happiness in middle class life. In other instances, the upper class is idealized, too, but Roseanne is more than willing to be happy about her own life. Roseanne’s co-workers fantasize about “visualizing” a better life and living the good life. For them it means being some sort of rich housewife, but Roseanne mocks them in the name of reality. By mocking them, Roseanne shows that she sees no idealized version of the upper class, and idealizes the life she lives in with rationality. As long as she has her husband, and her children, she sees good in her reality.
Roseanne has to juggle home life, her boss, and her children’s education in this episode, which urges viewers to contemplate their own issues in a middle class perspective. She fights with Dan about having to ask for the sink to be fixed over and over again—a battle that gets interrupted by a family emergency when their daughter cuts her finger. The family ultimately idealizes a memory they have of a monster truck rally, a middle class form of entertainment, as a remedy for the pain. In this moment, the family realizes each other in their own memories, something that strikes a chord with middle class viewers, as they do not have the material wealth of the “visualized” world, but rather riches in the typical mundanities. The “throne” that is alluded to earlier in the episode to mean an upper class lifestyle, is actually found for Roseanne, in the comforts of her own family and her own home.
Discounting the Norman Lear shows, which were more focused on representing African Americans in the working class community or using the working class setting as an excuse for more confrontational, “relevant” television, Roseanne is the first show that we have watched about a white family dealing with the problems typical of being in the working class.
The characters, conflicts, and narrative engine of Roseanne, at least in the pilot, are all rooted in the working class setting. The episode begins with Roseanne juggling breakfast, her son who has a knot in her shoe, her daughter who is taking valuable cans out of the pantry for a food drive, and her husband, who is too busy searching for a job to help her with housework. Roseanne is stretched thin throughout the episode as pressures build around her until she snaps at her husband for not helping out more. The episode ends with Roseanne making dinner while her husband fixes the sink. All of the working class elements are present, but there is no social message or racial representation being pushed at the audience.
Where Roseanne does become more complicated is the mocking humor that it applies. Roseanne is constantly fed up with her family and living situation, threatening to ditch her kids and husband multiple times in the opening scene. Whereas the characters of the rosier suburban sitcoms that we have studied seem largely content with their picture perfect lives, Roseanne is perpetually frustrated and unsatisfied with the family that she has to hold up. The episode’s saving grace, and the moment in which hope is signified for the future of Roseanne’s family and marriage, is in the episode’s tag. Roseanne and her husband rock back and forth on the boat that he has constructed, joking about a post-retirement life where they will travel the Caribbean Sea together and eventually deciding to have sex. Although just as combative and mocking as many of the early scenes, it is a tender and even romantic beat to end the episode on.
Roseanne seems to be trying to do, it seems, is have its cake and eat it too. The show mocks the working class relentlessly, openly suggesting that Roseanne’s woes are often a result of her financial situation, but it also allows the enough heartwarming sentiment to suggest that everything is going to be okay for the family. What Roseanne becomes, therefore, is relatable.
"Roseanne" was a new and fresh sitcom at the time of its release because of the way it portrayed family life and its protagonist. Roseanne wasn't afraid to say mean things about her family and life in general. Her view of the world and those around her was informed by her and her family's class. Roseanne's family was a working class family who had trouble making money even when both of the parents worked full time and pinched pennies whenever possible. Little things add up to portray the family as barely able to make it such as the industrial-sized can of creamed corn, returning the backpack, as well as the small things Roseanne and her husband argue about. They don't have many large worries aside from making money, which allows for them to focus on smaller issues like toast crumbs on butter and what a teacher has to say about their children.
There are some rather clear distinctions between class in the first episode of "Roseanne." Roseanne goes to work and asks her manager if she can leave early to which he responds that everyone needs to do their part and she cannot shirk her responsibilities. It's very easy for a boss to treat his employees like this when they are in different classes, which is made even more obvious by the comparison of their clothes and way of speaking (not to mention that the manager is played by George Clooney no less). Roseanne finds comradery with her fellow co-workers who are in the same socio-economic class as her. They even talk about getting what they want through something very similar to "The Secret," and revel in what they would spend their extra money on. It is a clear contrast to what Roseanne's life is like at home. She even talks about getting rid of her kids, which are a serious financial burden on her, and finding a new husband who could contribute to the family more than her current one does. There is also a more subtle comparison of classes when Roseanne goes to meet with her daughter's history teacher. The teacher feels as if she has everything figured out when it comes to child psychology despite most likely not being a mother at her age. The teacher appears more upper class and affluent even talking about going to squash. Roseanne cuts her down with sound logic and reasoning and sees through the teacher's pretentiousness, which gives her the upper hand despite her lower class. The show constantly shows that being in a lower class does not make one any less of a person than anyone else, but rather it gives one perspective and appreciation for the little things.
Roseanne, which debuted in 1988 and enjoyed nine seasons on the air on ABC, depicts a white, working-class family that sometimes struggles with the everyday run of things. The pilot, titled “Life and Stuff”, begins with an opening credit sequence that encapsulates the show and its characters. Roseanne laughs with her girlfriends, not paying to close attention to the kids running around the kitchen, and pushes her husband’s face away when he tries to kiss her. This title sequence establishes the family dynamic from the start, one that is distinct from other familial portrayals that we have seen in this class. While the show continues in the tradition of the white nuclear family, it does things differently than previous sitcoms about the family.
First and foremost, both Roseanne and her husband are overweight. This is presented to us from the opening frame. But instead of using their weight as content for laughter, as other shows might have done, it is never considered and therefore never an issue. It is simply a fact. Additionally, we learn that the couple work outside of the house. Roseanne works on an assembly line in a factory and her husband moves from construction job to construction job. There is another layer to this, however. While Roseanne has a steady, albeit low-paying job that (presumably) supports the family, her husband’s work is inconsistent and, as we later learn, he values masculine activities like working on a truck instead of doing his best to secure a job. Furthermore, Roseanne wears the pants in the family. The kids ask her the majority of the questions, go to her when they need help (e.g. replacing a backpack), and when conflicts break out between them, she is the mediator who defuses the situation. Even the father figure must receive Roseanne’s opinion and/or approval when dealing with seemingly simple issues like what to have at breakfast.
While Roseanne might initially come across as intimidating, unfair, or even plain unlikeable, mainly due to the ambivalent treatment of the children, we come to like her quite a bit. Unlike previous TV shows, which might have cast a slender, sexually appealing female in the role of wife and mother, Roseanne is not the most attractive woman. But her likeability does not hinge on her appearance. Rather, we find great entertainment and humanity in her abrasive exterior, sarcasm, and ultimately loving gestures. She is relatable as a mother and wife, and this might explain the tremendous popularity of the show during the late 80s and throughout the 90s.
Also noteworthy, of course, is the break scene in the factory, where Roseanne anchors a conversation among several other working women about men. One of these women confesses that she is “turned on” by masculine behavior and tendencies. Roseanne sets her straight by tearing apart a donut that symbolizes man. She tears away two major chunks before reaching the climax- the consumption of the male ego. This is a funny moment in the show and the women express their enjoyment without any consequences, which is also significant as the show portrays positive relationships between women instead of competitive ones.
In Roseanne, possibly my favorite show ever, The Conners are a white, lower-middle-class family living in a small town. The pilot and the rest of the show takes place in the same time it aired, so this episode takes place in 1988, near the end of Ronald Reagan’s presidency. The stability of the Conners’ middle class status is hinted at throughout the show’s plot and through Roseanne’s jokes. Roseanne and Dan both work outside the house, with Roseanne having the most stable job (at the plastics factory). Their family life is portrayed as being stable, but at the same time they just barely get by. Dan is searching for contracting jobs, he does not have a constant workload. For example, early in the episode, Becky, the oldest daughter, grabs a garbage bag and begins to take cans of food from their pantry for a school project to feed the homeless, which at the time was a very prevalent issue in America as well as a visible effect of Reaganomics. Roseanne then tells Becky to have the people collecting the food to drop some off at their house. This contrasts with the amount of food they have out on the table: coffee, cereal, milk, toast, butter, etc. Not that these foods are indicative of an extravagant lifestyle, but the Conners clearly do not have a problem with food insecurity, but aren’t doing much better (or well enough) to be expected to contribute to the cause, commentary on the position of the lower end of the middle class at this point in Reagan’s presidency. Roseanne goes to work and has to argue with her boss to get him to let her leave to go to meet with Darlene’s teacher. Her boss mentions that the factory is running behind on an order, and that he needs everybody working to try to catch up. Roseanne is not afraid of her boss, and is willing to stand up for herself even if it means her job is potentially on the line (as it is in later episodes). At her job, many of her friends (also all women) and even her sister work in the same place. Factory labor is shown to be one of the main sources of employment in their town, which at the time was becoming increasingly uncommon or flat out unstable. When Roseanne goes to meet the teacher, the teacher suggests that Roseanne’s lack of time spent with Darlene because she has 2 other kids and a job is a problem. The teacher, who wanted to cancel the meeting because Roseanne was late (from doing other things she had to do) so she could go play squash (a yuppie sport, in my opinion). The teacher regards Roseanne’s economic and family situation as something that could change if they all “tried harder.” This interaction depicts the growing gap between the higher classes and the lower-middle classes, both by income and understanding. Gender roles and class are also explored, Roseanne and Dan have a fight over Dan not fixing the sink like Roseanne asked him at the beginning of the episode. She decides to do it herself, but Dan objects because “it’s a husband’s job.” Roseanne then assumes he means that she’s supposed to do everything else, which leads to her questioning him on the last time he did any household work. The typical gender roles are blurred because both of them work due to their class situation, yet Dan almost expects them to be conventional. This represents the lower-middle-class as being different from other representations of the middle class we’ve seen before, it makes the lower-middle-class distinct. Also, unlike Maude, Roseanne is not confronting Dan out of ideals, but fairness. But in the end, they both work together to take care of and raise their children, after Darlene cuts her finger.
After a decade of major topical issues playing a large role in family sitcoms, such as race, feminism, and sexuality, the 80’s sitcom Roseanne takes a step back from making a significant societal statement, rather more moderately highlighting working class realities. However, the show notably returns attention to the role of women as the primary caretaker of the household, following years of representation aiming to create a greater female independence. Although Roseanne addresses the working class issues in a humorous manner, it still highlights the day to day struggles of both parents and kids in the class condition, and primarily draws attention to the female role in the household, reflective of fifties ideologies.
Titled simply Life and Stuff, the pilot introduces a seemingly average life of a white working class family. However, the show immediately draws attention to some of the problems rooted in the working class and effectively faced by the Conner family. As episode begins, Roseanne alludes to financial struggles by telling her daughter she is limited to donating two cans to the school food drive for “poor people” and jokingly tells her to have them drive the food to house. Although stated in a humorous manner, an underlying seriousness accompanies that statement implying issues faced by the working class. Later in the show, Roseanne more explicitly complains that she will have to lose an hours pay to attend a meeting with her daughters teacher. However, she later lightly addresses the problem with the offhand comment “well there goes the Porsche.” Essentially, the show acknowledges the struggles of the working class, yet portrays them as merely manageable.
More significant, however, is the large role the character Roseanne plays within the family. The opening sequence immediately brings each member of the Conner family to the matriarch with some issue, need, or question. The son wishes his mother to untie a not in his shoe, the husband Dan wonders if there is coffee ready, to which Roseanne informs that is a question he can answer for himself, and a daughter requires her to take time from her work day to attend a school meeting. The show places the female lead in a very demanding and central role. The character Roseanne not only works a full time job, but also demonstrates all the household duties expected of the stereotypical 1950’s housewife. Although her role is contested in the argument between Roseanne and Dan at the end of the pilot, she ultimately resumes her expected responsibility. Ostensibly, the show stresses problems more specifically faced by the working class wife and mother.
In Roseanne, Roseanne Conner is the mother of a white, American, working-class family with three kids. The show portrays Roseanne as a sort of leader in the family as she disciplines her kids with a loving, firm hand and drags her hubby, Dan Conner, along for the ride. However, it’s clear even from the pilot, titled “Life and Stuff,” that their life in not without conflict. As the Conner’s are working class—living penny to penny and job to job—many of the problems that arise in the pilot are financially based issues.
ReplyDeleteTheir life is hardly luxury which is even displayed in the opening credit sequence. The Conners and their friends sit around a family table animatedly talking and laughing as non-diegetic, bluesy, trumpet-heavy music plays over the sequence. As the blues evolved from the working/labor-class, it’s fitting that it’s paired with the Conners. The meal consists of a hodgepodge of containers and home-cooked meals scattered on the small table. It’s not meant to be fancy and impressive, but rather very homey and down to earth.
Then we come to the first scene. Roseanne embodies the firm-handed, sarcastic, hard-working (but a little exhausted) mother as she deals with her kids’ problems before they head to school. Her oldest daughter begins taking cans out from the pantry for a school food drive, and Roseanne makes the joke that they should “drive some of the food over here” before allowing her daughter to take no more than two cans. Then Roseanne learns she has to meet with her younger daughter’s history teacher that afternoon. She asks if Dan can go, but he insists that he has to go bid for a job today because he’s a construction worker. But she insists she can’t go either because she’ll lose an hour pay at work. However Roseanne resigned and went to the meeting with the deal that Dan would fix the sink.
Dan didn’t fix the sink. The last 10 minutes of the episode consist of a fight between Dan and Roseanne over their role as parents in the house stemming from that incident. Many of their problems arose from financial burdens (such as Roseanne having to be the head of the house and having to work a fulltime job). A family with a higher socio-economic status wouldn’t have these same issues necessarily because they would be able to live a more sustainable life style.
Since the 1970s, television shows started to address social problems. There was an increase in the portrayal of the working-class, women and African Americans. This shift in television programs was led by Norman Lear’s production of relevant programs. Even though sit-coms of the 1980s portrayed more middle-class families, near the end of the 1980s, working-class sitcoms appeared again due to social and economic issues. Roseanne was one of the typical working-class sit-coms of the late 1980s. The pilot “Life and Stuff” focused on the working-class Roseanne, who had to work long hours in Wellman Plastics. Even when she went back home, she had to a series of housework, such as preparing food for the family, take care of her three children, and fix the sink that her husband forgot. Through comparing the short scene in the workplace and the scenes at home, the show idealized the home while criticized the workplace. For instance, when Roseanne asked Booker, the foreman at Wellman, for permission to leave an hour early to meet her daughter’s history teacher, Booker immediately refused. Roseanne insisted but Booker only allowed her a half an hour break, and he would take out from Roseanne’s check. Even though the family contained many issues, the incident of Darlene accidently cut her finger showed that the family was warm and sweet.
ReplyDeleteThe pilot portrayed class conflict through Roseanne’s meeting with the middle-class history teacher. The conversation between the two appeared difficult. Roseanne did not understand what was the problem of her daughter “barking” in the class since her entire family barked. The teacher tried to explain that “barking” was a metaphor for internal problem. Then there was a pause before Roseanne reply “huh?” This implied that Roseanne were less educated, so she had difficulty talking to the teacher. Also, the physical appearances of Roseanne and her husband were less appealing. When the history teacher told Roseanne to sit, she skeptically stared at the chair and eventually sat on the desk because she could not fit into the tiny chair. The middle-class teacher, however, was skinny and she sat properly on the chair. In addition, Roseanne seemed more aggressive. When the history teacher asked if they could meet another day, Roseanne refused immediately. Also, during the conversation, Roseanne was chewing gum and moving her feet back and forth while sitting on the desk when the teacher was explaining the problem of Roseanne’s daughter seriously. This showed the contrast between the behaviors of a working-class and the behaviors of a middle-class woman.
As would be expected, this show generally frames class according to the “bad guys” and the “good guys”. For the most part, the perpetrators are perceived as lower class simply because they are the ones dealing with drugs. The cops, on the other hand, are higher class. They are the ones upholding the law and protecting citizens. The higher class, the cops in this class, is represented as more intelligent and almost manipulative. At one point, a cop was asking a suspect questions and said, “You don’t mind that do you?” The perpetrators appear to be less intelligent and more irrational and emotional. In the scene where the woman’s boyfriend runs from the cops, the woman seems crazy as she yells and struggles. I think these are examples of fundamentally how class differences are portrayed in this show.
ReplyDeleteApart from the basic and evident cop-criminal class difference, I think class is shown more through the relationships on the show, mainly those of the cops. First are the contrasting relationships with kids. The only time we see criminals with kids is when there’s a baby in a house that’s being busted. It does make sense that we don’t see a lot of this because the show does center around the cops, but it is an interesting comparison to the officer who helps care for his girlfriend’s kids. He is shown as being caring and loving to the baby, despite his admission that he was not prepared for them. The kid being raised in a house full of guns and drugs is clearly the result of lower class criminals while the cop is representative of higher class in comparison.
Similarly, the relationships men have with women are indicative of class in COPS. And this is where I think the show provides commentary that not all the cops are higher class, and that being a cop doesn’t automatically make them classier than the criminals. Both times we see cops in their homes they’re overrunning their wives. One cop runs home to make his wife get off the phone. The second time is a better example. The man and his wife clearly have communication issues and he clearly ignores her. In comparison to some of the criminals who call their mothers and girlfriends or try to protect them, he seems utterly classless.
I think that with a show like this that clearly has a bad guy and a good guy, it’s interesting to look into the more minute details, such as class, to observe class representations.
Roseanne is a sitcom about a white, working-class family living in Illinois. The show follows the traditional white family, however, it seems as though Roseanne is head of the family instead of her husband, as she works full time at a factory job, takes care of the kids, and the household. Her role is very relatable, as she is not the traditional "trophy housewife" we typically see in family sitcoms. She is very real, relatable, and can be identifiable as both a wife and a mother to the average American family.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of class is not explicitly brought up, but it can be easily inferred by the elements in the show's pilot, "Life and stuff", what class Roseanne's family belongs to. For example, the episode opens with Roseanne complaining about the sink breaking again, and her husband's lack of attention to fixing it, not fulfilling his "role" as a husband to fix it. Then, Roseanne's daughter complains her new book bag already broke, clearly a very cheap product, and Roseanne complains how she must get off an hour early from work to replace it, missing an hour of pay. Then, when Roseanne must meet with her daughter's teacher to discuss her behavior, she again complains how she took work off to be there for the teacher, compromising her paycheck. Finally, when Roseanne gets home from her long day at work, she complains to her husband that he doesn't pull his weight as a husband, and she does all the work. This change in family dynamic is much more reflective of working class families in the 1990s. It steps away from the ideal 1950s nuclear family, and provides a realistic perspective on the average American family.
What I find really interesting about Roseanne is that it had some of the highest Neilson ratings of the 1980s and 90s, and serves as a direct reflection of the average American family of the time. This represents a shift in family dynamic represented on television. Previously, family sitcoms represented an ideological family situation, where the white family was very privileged, had endless consumer products, and few interpersonal issues. However, Roseanne's family had limited finances, difficulty providing consumer products for all family members, and real life issues that all American families deal with. I think Roseanne provides perspective into a working-class we don't normally see on television, and the popularity of the show most likely derived from its ability to relate to the average American family.
Roseanne is a family, working class sitcom from the 1980s. It is centered on Roseanne and her family; her husband and three kids living their Midwestern, very typical American life. However, Roseanne is different than many of the previous family sitcoms. Instead of having a patriarchal family system, the sitcom surrounds her and her role as the head of the family. It follow hers as she goes to her job, to her roles at home, and anywhere else she needs to go to get things done. For example, one of the biggest points of contention in this episode was an argument of who does more around the house for the family: Roseanne or her husband? And Roseanne won. Therefore, the issue of gender and changing gender roles is very present. Additionally, when Roseanne was at work all of the girls were prodding Roseanne about her husband and how great he was. Where Roseanne, although I do believe she truly does appreciate him, demonstrated the truth that it is not all what it is cracked up to be. Therefore, marital status and gender do not necessarily play a large role in deciding your class, per say, but it very present in Roseanne that these things do play a role is status in society.
ReplyDeleteTo address the issue of class more specifically, the American, working class family is portrayed not all rainbows and sunshine like it had often been before in similar sitcoms. This idea is first addressed when the daughter asks Roseanne if she can take food to school for a food drive and Roseanne's response was that they needed to send food to their own family. This is the first idea of a monetary motif of sorts. The financial burdens of a typical, working-class family are again addressed with Roseanne needs to take an hour off of work to go to her daughter's school for a meeting and the notion of losing an hours worth of pay is quite large. Therefore a large connection is drawn between money and class.
Additionally, there is not much emphasis on race shown in this first episode of Roseanne. The only person of color was shown in the scene when Roseanne was at work in her factory, but the black lady was not a major character. Therefore most of the social commentaries on class are applied to the idea of a white, working class suburban family. However, I do not believe that there is any malcontent by not including different races. There is just not much of a connection between race and class in this episode of Roseanne.
Overall, the biggest notions of class in Roseanne are gender/marital status and money. Roseanne appears to be a pretty typical, Midwestern working class family of the time. (I was excited to watch this episode because I used to watch Roseanne when I was doing homework after school or when I was home sick so this was fun!)
Roseanne depicts a middle age working class woman who is working to hold her family together. Interestingly, she is the breadwinner in her household while her husband is apparently working on getting a job but otherwise stays at home. Despite being the busy earner in the house, she is burdened with household and motherly duties while her husband seems to generally be lazy and passive, offering excuses and giving into impulse rather than take care of necessary business. As stated, he doesn’t end up fixing the sink or making dinner and his only accomplishments are apparently cleaning the gutters and partially building a boat.
ReplyDeleteWhile they generally seem to be at odds, they’ll come together for the sake of their kids. Roseanne effectively heads up the household even though her husband is said to “sit on his throne”. Questions directed at him from the kids cause him to prompt Roseanne rather than answer for himself and Roseanne has a long spiel about how women need to break down and rebuild men since none come with a reasonable sense of decency.
Overall, Roseanne shows a woman in power and running her household. The usually trappings of a nuclear family are still clearly present in their working class household with Roseanne and her husband living together with 3 kids. The roles of husbands and wives are discussed in the argument between Roseanne and her husband in regards to household work verses patriarchal status but the fact the Roseanne is so clearly in charge and making money for the household while her husband stays home shows a change to that.
As far as her work environment, Roseanne is a line worker at a Plastic manufacturing company while her husband is looking for a job in physical labor. As shown by her argument with her boss, she’s docked pay at a half hour granularity after arguing for an hour. She’s clearly in a low enough position to have very little bargaining power and makes very little for it. Her husband is putting in bids for a potential job and looses to a lower bid, showing that he's trying to enter a work environment that values savings at the very least and presumably, with his position, not asking much to begin with. As working class citizens, they are treated with less respect and looked down upon like in the case of the history teacher talking down to Roseanne during their meeting.
Roseanne opens with a scene typical of the domestic sitcom: a family sits around a dining table. The husband and wife playfully banter as the kids bicker. However, the sitcom is contained to the Connoer’s house. Roseanne is about a blue-collar family and their blue-collar jobs. Roseanne is known for being to situate the working mother as the lead protagonist of a show, instead of simply playing off the husband. However, both Roseanne and her husband Dan have about equal amounts of time spent on their respective jobs. Roseanne works at a plastics factory, while Dan is a building contractor. Their respective jobs are one of the first explicit mentions of class within the episode. Roseanne has to deal with a boss who is angry that she has to take any time off of work, even for a perfectly legitimate reason like meeting her daughter’s teacher. Here Roseanne has to deal with someone of higher class, and he doesn’t seem to care about her plight, docking her pay for leaving work. In a similar capacity, Dan has to suck up to someone else in hopes of receiving building contracts. He mentions that this person got him his previous two jobs, so he has to hang around this friend hoping another job will come his way.
ReplyDeleteAnother instance of Roseanne dealing with class is when Roseanne goes to meet her daughter’s teacher. The teacher seems to represent someone of an intellectually different class. Her treatment of Roseanne is poor, and at first she wants to reschedule the meeting to play squash. She only relents after Roseanne demands the meeting, citing the job and traffic as her reason for being late. After this, the teacher talks down to Roseanne, suggesting that her home life is what is causing the daughter to act strangely. Roseanne feels this is a snub, as she has tried to balance three kids with her job. She then opts for a cut through the bullshit approach, telling the teacher she doesn’t believe anything is wrong. The teacher’s expression is almost one of pity, acting as a superior because of level of education.
There are a few other mentions of class, but most of it has to deal with home life. Leaky faucets and arguing kids are presented as an unfornutate side-effect of life in a middle class, suburban Illinois home. Because the Conners don’t always have the easiest time of making ends meet, this leads to some marital conflict between Dan and Roseanne. I haven’t watched enough of the show to know if this is a reoccurring theme, but I would imagine that money worries are a source of conflict on the show.
Roseanne is a situational comedy centered on a white, working-class family of three children. Much of the comedy in this show is based on the humorous portrayals of the lifestyle of this working class family. Roseanne is the mother and leader of this family, caring for the of three young children and her husband Dan. She comes across as abrasive, bossy and forward but her family is clearly her priority. Roseanne works and tends for children and her husband’s needs, seemingly never to be done with work. At one point she states that she works 8 hours at work and then comes home and continues to work another 8 hours. This tension leads to an argument and underlying tension with her husband as Roseanne accuses him of not doing enough. This idea of a working class family having to be held up by an overworked individual represents a struggle in the working class to retain a sense of balance. Roseanne has no free time while Dan has time to work on his ship and spend time with friends. Furthermore, Roseanne seems underappreciated but takes this in her stride, representing this as a normalized way of living for those in a lower class.
ReplyDeleteThere are several references to the family’s economic struggles but they are all portrayed in a humorous light. When Becky, one of Roseanne’s daughters, is taking food for a class food drive, Roseanne suggest that “they drive some of that food over here”. The episode is riddled with Roseanne making off-hand comments about wanting to get rid of the kids, implying how much of a hassle and burden they are to take care of. She suggests that they change the locks on the doors after they leave and jokingly says at one point that she understand why some animals eat their young. Furthermore, at work Roseanne makes several references to her lack of wealth. She sarcasitically comments “there goes the Porsche” when her boss cuts her assumedly already meager pay for leaving 30 minutes early for a meeting with her daughter’s history teacher.
Another portrayal of the working class is the stark contrast between Darlene’s history teacher and Roseanne. Darlene is Roseanne’s second daughter who has ben acting up by barking in school. The history teacher is dressed in more expensive clothing and rushing off to a squash game when Roseanne comes in a few mintues late for the meeting. The contrast is already apparent in their appearance, speech and first few interactions. Roseanne mistakes the squash raquet for a tennis raquet and explains she cannot come back another time because she had to get off work early and have her pay cut today. After agreeing to fit in the meeting Mrs. Crane, the history teacher, explains in complex, understandable terms to Roseanne that she believes the issue with Darlene is due to problems at home. Roseanne quickly shuts her down with her harsh, uncompromising manner and the discrepancy between Roseanne’s working class attitude and Ms. Crane’s middle to higher class attitude and décor are plainly illustrated.
This episode portrays Roseanne’s family, a representation of the working class, as hard-working, obtuse, loud and family-oriented. They are struggling to get by but still have core family values at heart. They are held together by Roseanne, the mother, who fulfills both the domestic role at home and the masculine role at work. The representation of their class role is clearly distinguished right form this first pilot of the show.
A 1980s sitcom set in the Midwest, Roseanne does not overtly address issues of class, but rather allows the viewer to draw inferences from various elements revealed throughout the show on their own. For instance in the opening sequence, we see a big family sitting around a big wooden table chatting animatedly and passing plates around. The food on the table and the set up immediately give away the fact that this is a very casual get together at home with nothing fancy. The non-diegetic soundtrack accompanying the opening sequence also hints to the viewer that it is a story about a working class family as Blues is commonly identified with the music of that class.
ReplyDeleteAs the scene begins to unfold, several key moments are especially indicative. Firstly, we have Roseanne jokingly quip, “how about driving some here” when one of her daughters wanted to grab a few cans from the pantry for a food drive at school. Furthermore, she is limited to only two cans, and none of the “creamy corn stuff”. Following that, we have another daughter complaining about how her new book bag broke. It is therefore only reasonable to deduce that it is not a bag of a very high quality.
During the scene where Roseanne and her husband fight about who will go meet with the history teacher, it is revealed that her husband works in construction, and the fact that he has to “bid” on that day shows that he is not likely to have a stable income. Roseanne further commented that she would lose an hour of pay if she were to meet the history teacher.
In addition, Roseanne’s appearance and behavior can be viewed as subtle comments on her social class. For instance, as compared to the History teacher, Roseanne is dressed in a blue t-shirt and jeans. Instead of sitting on the chair properly, she chooses to sit on the table, swinging her legs and chewing gum while talking to the teacher.
Lastly, the argument between her and her husband near the end of the episode is of a financial nature. She talks about how she has to put in eight hours at work and eight hours after at home, where she has to fix dinner, do the laundry and even fix the sink (since her husband did not do it). These are problems that are less likely to occur if her family did not need her to work full time to supplement the family income.
COPS is a show portraying the real life experiences of police officers across the nation by filming live on location. The pilot episode represents how the show portrays class within the program. COPS essentially defines two categories of people: law-enforcers and law-breakers. In doing so, they take a firm position on portraying the law-enforcers as upper-class whites and the law-breakers as lower-class minorities, often African American. This inaccurately portrays lower-class individuals as being morally bankrupt citizens and, as a result, misinforms viewers about the class breakdown in America.
ReplyDeleteThe law-enforcers in the pilot episode consist of a variety of police officers in Florida. Almost the entire force consists of white males and females who are cracking down on the ever-increasing drug problem in the area. As we follow the cameras into their private lives, we can see the families and homes of some of the officers. Through the documentary style filming, we can see how the law-enforcers are among the middle and upper class. The law-breakers, on the other hand, live in rundown houses and drive old vehicles, portraying how they are from the lower class. In addition, the criminals in the show are often minorities, further insinuating a connection between class and demographics. By analyzing the interactions between the two classes, a misconception about the lower class as a whole is revealed.
A perfect example of these interactions is when the camera crew follows Deputy Jerry Wurms. In the beginning of the scene, Wurms walks up to a vehicle with a black male sitting in the driver’s seat of a battered car and maliciously opens the door. Without hesitation, he asks the male if he has any drugs or weapons in the car and begins to search the vehicle. He quickly finds a stolen revolver below the seat. This sequence portrays a white male officer specifically targeting a black male under the assumption that he will have a weapon under his seat. By doing so, viewers only see how this demographic is targeted and almost always convicted of having illegal positions. As a result, it portrays minorities as being a danger to society.
Later in the show, Deputy Wurms says, “You see white guys come in here to buy their dope,” and soon catches two adolescent white males attempting to buy marijuana. However, he does not arrest them. Instead, he gives them a warning to stay out of the neighborhood because white people do not belong there. He explains how it is nothing to do with being white or black, but rather crimes against people. By saying it’s not about race, he inadvertently makes a direct accusation that the colored neighborhood is inherently more violent towards society. Further, he gives the white males, who are presumably from the middle or upper class, a break because of the color of their skin. As a result, it portrays the cops as giving leniency to higher-class individuals of the white race.
All in all, this show tends to represent class through the scope of crime and blames the terrors of society on lower-class individuals who are trying to make a quick buck. This clearly misrepresents the lower class as a whole and utilizes fear to engage its viewers, potentially leading to the harmful side effect of discrimination in society.
The classic sitcom, Roseanne, draws its allure in the idealization as well as the difficulties of the mundane, everyday life in as a middle class family. While the issues they deal with in the pilot are typical, they are also typified and thwarted into the middle class home and lifestyle. Roseanne has to deal with issues like maintaining a home, fixing dinner, making sure her children are fairing well in school, and helping her husband stay on the right path in search for a job, all while having to work full time at a factory—a less than upper class work environment to say the least. In a meeting with her daughter’s teacher, Roseanne says that she has three kids, and works full time, so she has no time to herself to ponder the deeper questions about her own child’s development. Rather, she knows that her child is alright, and that the educator is out of her depth in bringing up home issues to Roseanne.
ReplyDeleteOne instance I particularly was drawn to was the opening where Dan gets cranky about bread crumbs on butter, and once the issue is resolved, he reverts to a southern and low class impression to express his love for Roseanne. This actually mocks the even less educated in order to almost idealize and explore the happiness in middle class life. In other instances, the upper class is idealized, too, but Roseanne is more than willing to be happy about her own life. Roseanne’s co-workers fantasize about “visualizing” a better life and living the good life. For them it means being some sort of rich housewife, but Roseanne mocks them in the name of reality. By mocking them, Roseanne shows that she sees no idealized version of the upper class, and idealizes the life she lives in with rationality. As long as she has her husband, and her children, she sees good in her reality.
Roseanne has to juggle home life, her boss, and her children’s education in this episode, which urges viewers to contemplate their own issues in a middle class perspective. She fights with Dan about having to ask for the sink to be fixed over and over again—a battle that gets interrupted by a family emergency when their daughter cuts her finger. The family ultimately idealizes a memory they have of a monster truck rally, a middle class form of entertainment, as a remedy for the pain. In this moment, the family realizes each other in their own memories, something that strikes a chord with middle class viewers, as they do not have the material wealth of the “visualized” world, but rather riches in the typical mundanities. The “throne” that is alluded to earlier in the episode to mean an upper class lifestyle, is actually found for Roseanne, in the comforts of her own family and her own home.
Discounting the Norman Lear shows, which were more focused on representing African Americans in the working class community or using the working class setting as an excuse for more confrontational, “relevant” television, Roseanne is the first show that we have watched about a white family dealing with the problems typical of being in the working class.
ReplyDeleteThe characters, conflicts, and narrative engine of Roseanne, at least in the pilot, are all rooted in the working class setting. The episode begins with Roseanne juggling breakfast, her son who has a knot in her shoe, her daughter who is taking valuable cans out of the pantry for a food drive, and her husband, who is too busy searching for a job to help her with housework. Roseanne is stretched thin throughout the episode as pressures build around her until she snaps at her husband for not helping out more. The episode ends with Roseanne making dinner while her husband fixes the sink. All of the working class elements are present, but there is no social message or racial representation being pushed at the audience.
Where Roseanne does become more complicated is the mocking humor that it applies. Roseanne is constantly fed up with her family and living situation, threatening to ditch her kids and husband multiple times in the opening scene. Whereas the characters of the rosier suburban sitcoms that we have studied seem largely content with their picture perfect lives, Roseanne is perpetually frustrated and unsatisfied with the family that she has to hold up. The episode’s saving grace, and the moment in which hope is signified for the future of Roseanne’s family and marriage, is in the episode’s tag. Roseanne and her husband rock back and forth on the boat that he has constructed, joking about a post-retirement life where they will travel the Caribbean Sea together and eventually deciding to have sex. Although just as combative and mocking as many of the early scenes, it is a tender and even romantic beat to end the episode on.
Roseanne seems to be trying to do, it seems, is have its cake and eat it too. The show mocks the working class relentlessly, openly suggesting that Roseanne’s woes are often a result of her financial situation, but it also allows the enough heartwarming sentiment to suggest that everything is going to be okay for the family. What Roseanne becomes, therefore, is relatable.
"Roseanne" was a new and fresh sitcom at the time of its release because of the way it portrayed family life and its protagonist. Roseanne wasn't afraid to say mean things about her family and life in general. Her view of the world and those around her was informed by her and her family's class. Roseanne's family was a working class family who had trouble making money even when both of the parents worked full time and pinched pennies whenever possible. Little things add up to portray the family as barely able to make it such as the industrial-sized can of creamed corn, returning the backpack, as well as the small things Roseanne and her husband argue about. They don't have many large worries aside from making money, which allows for them to focus on smaller issues like toast crumbs on butter and what a teacher has to say about their children.
ReplyDeleteThere are some rather clear distinctions between class in the first episode of "Roseanne." Roseanne goes to work and asks her manager if she can leave early to which he responds that everyone needs to do their part and she cannot shirk her responsibilities. It's very easy for a boss to treat his employees like this when they are in different classes, which is made even more obvious by the comparison of their clothes and way of speaking (not to mention that the manager is played by George Clooney no less). Roseanne finds comradery with her fellow co-workers who are in the same socio-economic class as her. They even talk about getting what they want through something very similar to "The Secret," and revel in what they would spend their extra money on. It is a clear contrast to what Roseanne's life is like at home. She even talks about getting rid of her kids, which are a serious financial burden on her, and finding a new husband who could contribute to the family more than her current one does. There is also a more subtle comparison of classes when Roseanne goes to meet with her daughter's history teacher. The teacher feels as if she has everything figured out when it comes to child psychology despite most likely not being a mother at her age. The teacher appears more upper class and affluent even talking about going to squash. Roseanne cuts her down with sound logic and reasoning and sees through the teacher's pretentiousness, which gives her the upper hand despite her lower class. The show constantly shows that being in a lower class does not make one any less of a person than anyone else, but rather it gives one perspective and appreciation for the little things.
Roseanne, which debuted in 1988 and enjoyed nine seasons on the air on ABC, depicts a white, working-class family that sometimes struggles with the everyday run of things. The pilot, titled “Life and Stuff”, begins with an opening credit sequence that encapsulates the show and its characters. Roseanne laughs with her girlfriends, not paying to close attention to the kids running around the kitchen, and pushes her husband’s face away when he tries to kiss her. This title sequence establishes the family dynamic from the start, one that is distinct from other familial portrayals that we have seen in this class. While the show continues in the tradition of the white nuclear family, it does things differently than previous sitcoms about the family.
ReplyDeleteFirst and foremost, both Roseanne and her husband are overweight. This is presented to us from the opening frame. But instead of using their weight as content for laughter, as other shows might have done, it is never considered and therefore never an issue. It is simply a fact. Additionally, we learn that the couple work outside of the house. Roseanne works on an assembly line in a factory and her husband moves from construction job to construction job. There is another layer to this, however. While Roseanne has a steady, albeit low-paying job that (presumably) supports the family, her husband’s work is inconsistent and, as we later learn, he values masculine activities like working on a truck instead of doing his best to secure a job. Furthermore, Roseanne wears the pants in the family. The kids ask her the majority of the questions, go to her when they need help (e.g. replacing a backpack), and when conflicts break out between them, she is the mediator who defuses the situation. Even the father figure must receive Roseanne’s opinion and/or approval when dealing with seemingly simple issues like what to have at breakfast.
While Roseanne might initially come across as intimidating, unfair, or even plain unlikeable, mainly due to the ambivalent treatment of the children, we come to like her quite a bit. Unlike previous TV shows, which might have cast a slender, sexually appealing female in the role of wife and mother, Roseanne is not the most attractive woman. But her likeability does not hinge on her appearance. Rather, we find great entertainment and humanity in her abrasive exterior, sarcasm, and ultimately loving gestures. She is relatable as a mother and wife, and this might explain the tremendous popularity of the show during the late 80s and throughout the 90s.
Also noteworthy, of course, is the break scene in the factory, where Roseanne anchors a conversation among several other working women about men. One of these women confesses that she is “turned on” by masculine behavior and tendencies. Roseanne sets her straight by tearing apart a donut that symbolizes man. She tears away two major chunks before reaching the climax- the consumption of the male ego. This is a funny moment in the show and the women express their enjoyment without any consequences, which is also significant as the show portrays positive relationships between women instead of competitive ones.
In Roseanne, possibly my favorite show ever, The Conners are a white, lower-middle-class family living in a small town. The pilot and the rest of the show takes place in the same time it aired, so this episode takes place in 1988, near the end of Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
ReplyDeleteThe stability of the Conners’ middle class status is hinted at throughout the show’s plot and through Roseanne’s jokes. Roseanne and Dan both work outside the house, with Roseanne having the most stable job (at the plastics factory). Their family life is portrayed as being stable, but at the same time they just barely get by. Dan is searching for contracting jobs, he does not have a constant workload.
For example, early in the episode, Becky, the oldest daughter, grabs a garbage bag and begins to take cans of food from their pantry for a school project to feed the homeless, which at the time was a very prevalent issue in America as well as a visible effect of Reaganomics. Roseanne then tells Becky to have the people collecting the food to drop some off at their house. This contrasts with the amount of food they have out on the table: coffee, cereal, milk, toast, butter, etc. Not that these foods are indicative of an extravagant lifestyle, but the Conners clearly do not have a problem with food insecurity, but aren’t doing much better (or well enough) to be expected to contribute to the cause, commentary on the position of the lower end of the middle class at this point in Reagan’s presidency.
Roseanne goes to work and has to argue with her boss to get him to let her leave to go to meet with Darlene’s teacher. Her boss mentions that the factory is running behind on an order, and that he needs everybody working to try to catch up. Roseanne is not afraid of her boss, and is willing to stand up for herself even if it means her job is potentially on the line (as it is in later episodes). At her job, many of her friends (also all women) and even her sister work in the same place. Factory labor is shown to be one of the main sources of employment in their town, which at the time was becoming increasingly uncommon or flat out unstable.
When Roseanne goes to meet the teacher, the teacher suggests that Roseanne’s lack of time spent with Darlene because she has 2 other kids and a job is a problem. The teacher, who wanted to cancel the meeting because Roseanne was late (from doing other things she had to do) so she could go play squash (a yuppie sport, in my opinion). The teacher regards Roseanne’s economic and family situation as something that could change if they all “tried harder.” This interaction depicts the growing gap between the higher classes and the lower-middle classes, both by income and understanding.
Gender roles and class are also explored, Roseanne and Dan have a fight over Dan not fixing the sink like Roseanne asked him at the beginning of the episode. She decides to do it herself, but Dan objects because “it’s a husband’s job.” Roseanne then assumes he means that she’s supposed to do everything else, which leads to her questioning him on the last time he did any household work. The typical gender roles are blurred because both of them work due to their class situation, yet Dan almost expects them to be conventional. This represents the lower-middle-class as being different from other representations of the middle class we’ve seen before, it makes the lower-middle-class distinct. Also, unlike Maude, Roseanne is not confronting Dan out of ideals, but fairness. But in the end, they both work together to take care of and raise their children, after Darlene cuts her finger.
After a decade of major topical issues playing a large role in family sitcoms, such as race, feminism, and sexuality, the 80’s sitcom Roseanne takes a step back from making a significant societal statement, rather more moderately highlighting working class realities. However, the show notably returns attention to the role of women as the primary caretaker of the household, following years of representation aiming to create a greater female independence. Although Roseanne addresses the working class issues in a humorous manner, it still highlights the day to day struggles of both parents and kids in the class condition, and primarily draws attention to the female role in the household, reflective of fifties ideologies.
ReplyDeleteTitled simply Life and Stuff, the pilot introduces a seemingly average life of a white working class family. However, the show immediately draws attention to some of the problems rooted in the working class and effectively faced by the Conner family. As episode begins, Roseanne alludes to financial struggles by telling her daughter she is limited to donating two cans to the school food drive for “poor people” and jokingly tells her to have them drive the food to house. Although stated in a humorous manner, an underlying seriousness accompanies that statement implying issues faced by the working class. Later in the show, Roseanne more explicitly complains that she will have to lose an hours pay to attend a meeting with her daughters teacher. However, she later lightly addresses the problem with the offhand comment “well there goes the Porsche.” Essentially, the show acknowledges the struggles of the working class, yet portrays them as merely manageable.
More significant, however, is the large role the character Roseanne plays within the family. The opening sequence immediately brings each member of the Conner family to the matriarch with some issue, need, or question. The son wishes his mother to untie a not in his shoe, the husband Dan wonders if there is coffee ready, to which Roseanne informs that is a question he can answer for himself, and a daughter requires her to take time from her work day to attend a school meeting. The show places the female lead in a very demanding and central role. The character Roseanne not only works a full time job, but also demonstrates all the household duties expected of the stereotypical 1950’s housewife. Although her role is contested in the argument between Roseanne and Dan at the end of the pilot, she ultimately resumes her expected responsibility. Ostensibly, the show stresses problems more specifically faced by the working class wife and mother.