In America today the phrase "melting pot" is shown through television, films, music, and art. Diversity is big and is very important to the American people, this is why I have chosen the popular television show "Modern Family" as my focal point. This is a comedy with a family full of diversity in all shapes and forms. This show has a man who gets married to a woman who is Latina, he already has two children which his daughter is the same age as his new wife. The daughter of the man has a husband, two daughters, and a son. His other child is a gay man who is married and has an Asian daughter which they adopted. It is obvious to see that this family is full of variety from gender, age, ethnicity, and even sexual preference. This hints why this
Americans love their television, and television loves the American family. Since the 1970’s, the depiction of the American family on television has gone through many changes. In the 70s, the Brady Bunch showed an all-white nuclear family. Today, Modern Family, shows a family of blended races, ages, and sexualities. For thirty years, the sitcom family has reflected the changing society of its time and there is no exception of this for the families in The Brady Bunch and Modern Family. The lifestyle, social aspects, and economics situations of the Bradys and the Pritchett-Dunphys are similar in their attempts to portray the lives of families of their time, but differ drastically in the types of families they represent. The characters in Modern
In today’s society, Cultural diversity in the United States of America can be seen in all aspects of life, such as in the media, workplace, household, and schools. Cultural diversity is defined as the characteristic of diverse cultures, as contradicting to monoculture, as in a homogenization of cultures, affiliated to cultural decay. In this present stage America, most individuals inaccurately use phrases such as “American culture,” or “Western culture,” as if such common and standardized cultures exist. People, in general, neglect to acknowledge the presence of cultural diversity, and cultural differences within the American society.
Perhaps, the “Melting Pot” myth gained strength during the Industrial Revolution. With millions of immigrants entering the United States, culture was changing within the United States. Americans set a high standard for there society and everyone wanted to be accepted. There was a social requirement to live in a civil society creating together the “American Dream,” which leads to prosperity. Many immigrants moving to the United States brought with them various traditions of their culture and after moving, they repressed such beliefs and forged ahead with a new way of “American Thinking.” The rituals and traditions of such societies should have brought diversity to this nation’s culture however, these ways would soon become a part of the past. The “Melting Pot” myth heavily influences American society and people believe that everyone no matter what skin color or religious belief is created equal. This belief of the American Way of life is idyllic to say the least. Unfortunately, this myth has been thwarted due to a high level of racial supremacy within the nations past and even present. There are two particular events in national history, which will forever hinder equality: slavery of African Americans and Japanese internment camps during World War II in America. These substantial events shape our society and are only the tip of the iceberg when it
Diversity is part of the American lifestyle. America is a country built on capitalistic principles, where a countries’ economy is controlled by a small number of people. People who tend to have power in the society tend to separate themselves from the rest. Looking back at different time period of American history diversity has shaped up the lives we live as Americans, whether it is because of gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, socioeconomic background, and capabilities/ disabilities, there is always diversity in society. Although, diversity is increasingly being viewed positively, and as much as people are proud of their differences. There will always be a way for human beings to diversify themselves into groups in which share similar interests.
In the last fifty years television has evolved tremendously, especially sitcoms. For example, in 1969 The Brady Bunch aired a show that featured two broken families coming together to form a seemingly ‘perfect’ blended one. The television show emphasized the importance of appreciating your loved ones, as well as surmounting challenges that teenagers face in everyday life. In 2009, the perhaps ‘modern’ Brady Bunch aired on ABC, Modern Family. This show focuses on three families, and highlights non-traditional families, illustrating that there is no ‘perfect’ family. In the forty nine year gap between the two programs, social and cultural issues such as gay marriage, adoption, and multicultural marriages have made
America was widely known as a “melting pot” of sorts for many generations. The country earned its title by accepting immigrants of various cultures and molding, or melting, them into the American lifestyle. However, the “melting pot” idea of America is starting to dissipate. According to a Newsweek Poll on the public, “only 20 percent still think America is a melting pot” (Morganthau and Wolfberg, par.4). As more Americans push away immigrants and create stereotypes against said immigrants, America continues to lose its title as a “melting pot.” There is ethnic friction in America and people have begun to have a hard time assimilating (Morganthau and Wolfberg, par.18). .America is beginning to place a negative outlook on its culture. Authors Jack Shaheen, Richard Rodriguez, Peter Marin and Zora Neale Hurtson all shape American culture in a detrimental way.
Though not immune to criticism, Modern Family and Full House still claim glimpses of societal pressure when showing aspects of the “American family.”
The United States has been called the “Great Melting Pot,” a metaphor that indicates the blending or melting of different races, cultures, nationalities,
Although we have taken monumental strides in the past fifty years towards racial equality and diversity, it is still commonly argued that popular culture lacks some sort of racial representation. In the United States, the people who live here are vastly diverse when it comes to race and culture, yet in the media people of color get marginalized and stereotyped everyday in film, music, and etc.
Students attending American schools are taught clearly about the United States’ image as a melting pot; however, there is evidence to support that, while there is not an official federal stance on the matter (Sengupta), the amount of assimilation required to be legitimately considered a “melting pot” is not being reached. Although similar, there is often confusion about the differences between “multicultural” and “assimilated” communities. By definition, assimilation is the complete “merging of cultural traits from previously distinct culture groups” (Dictionary), while multiculturalism is delineated as the “preservation of different cultures or cultural identities within a unified society, as a state or nation” (Dictionary). Early to mid-1900’s America entertained the idea of a melting pot, where people from all parts of the world would join together and assimilate. It seems, however, that the growing trend has been to treat America as more of a “salad bowl” (Porter), in that people are joining together but instead of merging as one unit, are maintaining a majority, if not all, of their primary culture with little attempt to adapt. This underachievement has left America to unintentionally become a multicultural society. The clear differentiation between expectation and reality brings vast amounts of controversy among the nation’s people.
American families are becoming more diverse every day. The merging ethnic diversity in our country is becoming more apparent daily as we see different people of different cultures becoming involved with each other. America is a melting pot. The influx of immigrants and with their varied cultural backgrounds was essential in molding America’s identity. The United States became a refuge for all those suffering persecution for political or personal beliefs. America has become a shelter for a wide variety of faiths and beliefs.
prosperous from its diversity, epitomizes the "American Melting Pot". It is complicated to relate such different backgrounds, but with an overview of history, culture, religion, and integration on a small scale, a reader is capable of applying the values to the American culture as a whole.
Racial and ethnic diversity on television is not something that I have ever really noticed as a problem, but sitting down, and paying very close attention to the people, their roles in the show, I was able to see that there was a lack of diversity on TV. I chose a random TV channel, one that I probably would not watch, and studied the characters in the show and in the commercials for over two hours, I realized that I had never paid that much attention to the people in the show. I noticed after I was done that the largest group of people in the show and on the commercials, were white people, although there was some diversity, maybe one or two people of a different nationality, gender, or race, that overall the lack of diversity was minimal compared
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, however what is considered beautiful by some is not considered as beauty when discussing diversity within the media. Society is based on criticism of judging one’s characters body, shape and or race/ethnics background. In the media the society only sees one type that is only focused on perfection to the mind; however within the United States, it is very typical in that the media lacks ethnic representation, cultural identity and gender inequalities. There are no ethnic representation when it comes to the media world and that the media has been trained to believe that the ethnic groups are not valuable. African Americans and Hispanics writers are the minority group when it comes to a social group. According to journalist Prince and Television critic Deggans “CNN , let go one of its most high-profile anchor of color, Soledad O’Brien, replaced her with a white man, Chris Cuomo. Wolf Blitzer gave up one of his hours to another white man, Tapper. Though Zucker met with both National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalist to try and address their concerns, there has been no overt sign from CNN that it is bringing on any more anchors of color, ”(Mirkinson p.1).
Diversity. ‘Diversity’ is a single, nine-letter word that perfectly encompasses the identity of the United States. Since the beginning of time, the United States offered opportunity to all of those brave enough to seize it. Consequently, over time tidal waves of immigrants came to the shores of America and brought along their own varieties of ethnicities and traditions. As a result, the United States of America continuously became referred to as a “melting pot,” due to its mix of race, religion, and culture. Whether an urban city or a small-town, every area across the United States blends together to form the foundation of our heterogeneous country, with a never-ending mix of different backgrounds. Diversity is the glue that holds us together,