Representing “America”: Changing representations of American society in quality television
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2016-08-15
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en
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Over the past decades, American television has experienced tremendous change. Commercialization and digitalization have completely reshaped the television landscape, making the medium more accessible and relevant than ever. This thesis focuses on ways in which American television represents the American society. 20th-Century quality TV shows are compared with contemporary equivalents in order to determine how representations of American family life, American law enforcement and American federal politics have changed. Aside from these three focal points, the case studies provide insights in several other areas of “America”. The sitcom genre currently repeats and re-affirms pre-existing representation of the American family, whereas the crime and political dramas have a tendency to represent American law enforcement and government in a more negative light than their predecessors. This suggests that contemporary quality television is shifting away from traditional representations in favor of a more critical perspective, which is coupled by global commercial success.
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