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'Do television programs really reflect the culture ?'
Your use of the word 'really' suggests that it is widely held that television programs reflect the culture. I think that is incorrect.
Most fiction, be it television or literature or films or comic books, whatever, is fantasy. Sometimes that fantasy doesn't even pretend to have a foot in reality, as with depictions of magic or time travel or super heroes with fantastic powers. Other times it keeps a toe-hold in our modern culture, but is still obviously fantasy. The average person depicted is too attractive and too well-spoken. There are far more police and detectives and criminals and doctors and soldiers and generally people who have professions that create high drama and/or are simply more interesting than the everyday lives of 99% of the population.
Is this really a surprise to anyone?
Essentially, fiction revolves around existential questions - life and death. Questions of relationships and sex, of legacy and life's meaning, of dreams and struggles, and so forth, all boil down to those questions. And those who create fiction choose characters and settings and scenarios in which such questions are readily considered. It should be no surprise that these characters and settings and scenarios are either rare or unknown in the everyday life of your average person.
I think its the other way around. TV, movies influence the culture. People think its normal to act like that. So they become more tolerant of certain behaviors. They think its the "new normal". The writers are exaggerating the truth to make the shows entertaining.
We watched a movie last night that was sort of a buddy guy meets girl loses girl gets girl in the end type of story and along the way there was lots of casual sex. The guys all had game so talking to girls at the bar was easy for them. The women were just as horny as the men. Is that real life today or did I just miss out on the NYC club scene when I was in my 20's?
Another thing we don't often see in movies is people at their jobs. In real life people have to work. There are so many of the characters in movies and TV that live in amazing houses or apartments and they have the money to party every night.
Then again who wants to see some guy plodding away in his cubicle...
Kramer on seinfled had a nice NYC apt and didnt even have a job!!!
sad even reality show dont have much reality in them, who in their right mind thinks pawn stars is really how a pawn shop operates.but tv reflects its own likes and dislikes.examples
1. there are 10's of thousands of towns and cities in this country but most shows especially in the 60' were set in either LA or NYC. in the 80' chicago became fashionable for a while to use as a setting.
2.minorities are rarely shown, asian make up 6% of the population but when was the last time a show had any asian characters?? hispanics make up 17% of the population but for the obligatory drug dealer in a cop show they dont exist much on tv.
religion, america is a very religious country but is rarely shown on tv shows , only the simpsons and king of the hill show tv shows characters attending church.
what do expect from an industry that calls america --fly over country.
I happened to see a few soaps in TV and Netflix as latest as Quantico, The attorney series and the Doctor series. Almost everyone is flirty and everything begins and leads to sex.
So the question is , do they reflect reality or is it being too exaggerative? I find them too exaggerative and dont think everyone in normal spheres of life would live like that.
Your premise and query do not match up IMHO.
Sex and or romance has been a part of all literature, entertainment or whatever almost since the beginning of time. Les Liaisons dangereuses was published in 1782 but do not think it lead to an uptick of arranged deflowering of young unmarried girls for sport.
Human beings are hardwired for sex, that is what "sells" if you will. Television programs have become more aggressive in inserting such behavior over the years in response to competition. Cable, film and now streamed programming largely free of the heavy censorship that once plagued television shows far more graphic behavior or all kinds.
Back to the original query; does television reflect the culture? Well it is more like things go both ways. That medium can and does have a heavy influence on American culture but also reflects what is going on as well.
Case in point you'd *NEVER* get a show like All In The Family on network television today. Archie Bunker's rants and discriminatory statements against gays, blacks, Hispanics, Catholics and so forth just wouldn't be tolerated by today's viewing public at large.
OTOH look how far gays have come in the past decade or so and much of that has come from the "top down" in that television has largely pushed the acceptance of homosexuality as a normal. Look at the forty or whatever years since the gay son on "SOAP" versus say "Modern Family" and you notice a stark difference.
No. TV reflects ratings and nothing more. There are some people in the industry who are interested in good quality shows but too many of them now grew up watching dumb things getting more and more raunchy and their only hope is to take it to the next level because they lack the talent to do anything but be "outrageous and shocking". It's like clickbait. I figure the lowbrow junk brings in enough views and $$ to pay for the good stuff, it's business.
'Do television programs really reflect the culture ?'
Your use of the word 'really' suggests that it is widely held that television programs reflect the culture. I think that is incorrect.
Most fiction, be it television or literature or films or comic books, whatever, is fantasy. Sometimes that fantasy doesn't even pretend to have a foot in reality, as with depictions of magic or time travel or super heroes with fantastic powers. Other times it keeps a toe-hold in our modern culture, but is still obviously fantasy. The average person depicted is too attractive and too well-spoken. There are far more police and detectives and criminals and doctors and soldiers and generally people who have professions that create high drama and/or are simply more interesting than the everyday lives of 99% of the population.
Is this really a surprise to anyone?
Essentially, fiction revolves around existential questions - life and death. Questions of relationships and sex, of legacy and life's meaning, of dreams and struggles, and so forth, all boil down to those questions. And those who create fiction choose characters and settings and scenarios in which such questions are readily considered. It should be no surprise that these characters and settings and scenarios are either rare or unknown in the everyday life of your average person.
your advertised relocation from one MN national forest to another strikes me as a potentially interesting miniseries plot...with a few key details embellished, of course. Deep-seated conflicts with the residents of the Leech Lake Indian Reservation would (presumably) have to be manufactured here, for one thing.
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