TV MYTHS

TELEVISION AS A MEDIUM FOR MODERN DAY MYTHS

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s television programming developed rapidly into more than an assortment of fact and fiction narratives; it became itself a social text for an increasing population, “functioning as a kind of code through which people gleaned a large portion of their information, intellectual stimulation, and distraction” (Danesi, 240). Since its inception in the mid-1930s, many of television’s programs have become the history of many cultures. French semiotician Roland Barthes (1915-1980) claimed that “television shows are often based around a mythologie, in reference to the fact that the original mythic themes continue to reverberate residually in modern-day societies, especially in discourse, rituals, and performances” (Perron, 35). In other words, television is a medium through which modern day mythologies become constructed, developed, and eventually discarded. Programs like Saved by the Bell, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Guy and The O.C. exemplify this concept by reinforcing or undermining traditional family structure, dictating the latest fashion, and moulding the ‘ideal’ teenager. As a result, society plans their daily routine around these modern day ‘values’.

The mythology of fatherhood that TV constructed and developed from the 1950s to the early 2000s began with the traditional patriarchal family structure. The produced father figure was one who was in charge of the family, with his wife working at home, making the husband comfortable. This mythology of fatherhood reflected the social mindset of the 1950s (Danesi, 229). In the 1960s and early 1970s the perspective changed drastically and the new view on the patriarchal family was that the father was an “opinionated, ludicrous character” (Danesi, 229). The deterioration of the 1950s father figure myth was most prominent in many of the sitcoms in the 80s and 90s. A typical example would be The Simpsons, “a morbid parody of fatherhood and of the nuclear family” (Danesi, 229). Homer Simpson, the father of the Simpson family, was boorish, idiotic, immature and disgusting. His wife, Marge, was still a stay-at-home mom and his son, Bart, was a menace, whereas the daughter Lisa was a brilliant second-grader. The males of the show were portrayed as shallow and despicable. The Simpsons (1989) and Family Guy (1999) and other “similar sitcoms co...

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...al values of society must keep up with the changes that occur constantly. The irregularity of television only emphasizes the mythological effect that television shows attain, especially the power of change. Using television as a medium of projecting history and culture, also gives opportunity for technology to dictate our lives. The social standards of our culture are represented through the glass or LCD or plasma screen of a rectangular box. It can reinvent our entire culture, as indicated through the obvious change of family structures, fashion and lifestyle requirements, and teenage ideology. Be that as it may, television functions our way of life.

Bibliography

Danesi, Marcel. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Semiotics, Media, and Communications. Toronto. University of Toronto Press, 2000.

Danesi, Marcel. Messages, Signs, and Meanings: A Basic Textbook in Semiotics and Communication Theory. Toronto. Canadian Scholar’s Press, 2004.

Maasik and Solomon, The Semiotic Thoeory. www.cgjh.com/barthes/social/theory, 2002.

Perron, P. and Danesi, M. (eds.) Classic Readings in Semiotics. Toronto. Legas Publishing, 2003.

Thorton, G. Ronald Barthes Mythologies. NY, New York. NY Publishing, 2000.