TV, RACISM and 30 ROCK
TV is a very important topic to me! I haven’t done enough posts about television. It’s a bit overwhelming because I feel as though I need to communicate something huge whenever writing. However, I’m going to take the moment to just write about tv .
Ranking television is something that inevitably happens, even if you’re not competitive or prone to thinking in such terms, the saturation of media has certainly led to a supply snd demand problem. Our attention is finite! So the best shows are the ones we choose to see. Or the ones that resonate uniquely with us.
I usually only watch comedy television. I have a few shows I can’t wait to discuss in depth . Some of my favorite shows are also deeply problematic shows. 30 rock is one of the most racist shows I’ve ever seen! At the same time it satirizes racism better than most anything I’ve seen as well.
This is a complex topic and I’d like to engage it once. Racism in media is a hugely important topic to me because I think it’s instrumental in dictating attitudes and the power to portray certain groups or people in specific ways, cannot be overstated. Racism exists in so many pieces of popular culture. My mom always used to say “if we were to dismiss art because of misogyny we’d have almost no art.” While I agree with their being value to overlooking certain things, the degree to which racism is interwoven inextricably with American media is powerful. This definitely colors my relationship with so many shows. Shows that I admire for comedic reasons even.
Shows that Have actually inspired me to create and had a distinct impact on my taste, have also deeply offended me for being racist.
This feels like the closest thing I’ll be able to understand in terms of what my mom was talking about. There are so many shows I’ve had to ignore racist jokes, comments and depictions to enjoy.
These shows still provided something of value, but there was something wounding that often seemed intentional in its demonstration of a hierarchy. I as the viewer, was always reminded of my otherness, lower hierachachal standing and non inclusion.
Anyways, I’m just realizing this now but I often do not write about many aspects of American culture I enjoy because of their racist overtones. I should definitely write about them and communicate them, but I should shed light on these issues.
Anyways, I look forward to discussing more media and television.
30 rock is an exceptionally funny show. It’s very tightly written, has through the roof
Rewatch value is very strong as it’s tightly written, fast paced and packs an wide variety of joke types.
It takes some getting used to the over the top acting style. There are many absurdist concepts and caricature like aspects to this show. This plays well into the often minstrel show nature of 30 rock. Anyways, I’ll definitely write about this again sometime, as well as some words about tv, mostly all comedy with some drama .