Whether we are willing to admit it or not, the large majority of us grew up gathered around a television.
Back in the day, we always knew the channel and time our favorite shows would be on. And as every ’90s kid knows, growing up in the best television era known to man made it nearly impossible to tear ourselves away from our glowing glass screens long enough to get our Saturday chores done.
As we got older, our taste in television changed, but our habits did not. Almost everyone has that one (or two) favorite show they absolutely cannot miss. As busy college students, sometimes we are more thankful for our DVRs than a full night’s sleep.
As all you television connoisseurs already know, The 2012 Emmy Awards aired this past weekend, awarding prime time television shows, actors, producers and other production personnel for their success this past year. Although we as viewers are not choosing the award recipients, the television shows that receive these high honors are not only popular and widely entertaining but also a reflection of our society and the values we live by today.
By simply glancing at the list of winners this year, generational values have undoubtedly changed since the dinosaur days when our grandparents ruled the entertainment world.
Back in their day, a show like “Homeland” never would have been allowed on national television, let alone win the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series. The show features the winners of Outstanding Lead Actor and Lead Actress in a Drama Series Damian Lewis and Claire Danes. In this psychological thriller, Danes is a CIA agent who suspects Lewis, a Marine sergeant who just returned home after missing for eight years in Iraq, of plotting an attack on America.
Intriguing plot — shows with agents and military scandals are nothing out of the ordinary to us. In the 1930s, however, a show like this would be a scandal, especially during wartime. During WWII, the only publicity war got was to promote American patriotism, not threaten it. War was a time for Americans to band together in everything they do and support our great nation. The government would never have tolerated a just-for-fun thriller like “Homeland” broadcasting into American living rooms.
That is no longer the case. Even while soldiers are deployed in the Middle East, “Homeland” and shows just like it have been airing on television. It even seems that, since the war began, this genre of television has gained popularity. Graphic shows like “CSI” are viewable by anyone with a television. Blood, guts and gore are normal now. In the past, people would have been appalled at how graphic our favorite shows are.
If “Homeland” isn’t convincing enough, just look at the show that took home an impressive four Emmys.
“Modern Family” is a well-known comedy series that portrays today’s “typical American family.” If you have yet to see an episode of “Modern Family,” check it out. You will be dying of fits of laughter for the full 30 minutes.
The family it follows is far from our grandparents’ “typical.” The award-winning cast portrays a man in his second marriage, a wildly outspoken mother with stereotypical teenagers and a gay couple with an adopted Vietnamese baby girl.
The family dynamic of the show seems oxymoronic, but this humorous bunch is the new modern. The mix of a second marriage, angsty teens and a gay couple raising a child shows how far from “normal” our society has strayed. Times are changing.
“Modern Family” shows just how different your typical American family is from the families of popular family series like “The Cosby Show” in 1985 and “Leave It to Beaver” in 1959.
The liberal idea of a gay couple raising a child in tandem would have been unthinkable to our grandparents. A second marriage to a woman close to the age of your daughter would have been equally appalling.
But in today’s society, different is starting to be more acceptable. Different is not even really different anymore. Our generation is more open to these eccentric lifestyles.
If a show where a man can be happily married and raising a family for the second time and two people of the same sex can be together is taking home Emmy Awards today, then society has clearly expanded its horizon. We are more open to deviating from the typical American lifestyle that we have been raised within.
The Emmy Awards Ceremony that all these actors dressed to the nines for is more than just rewards for producing a great television show. They serve as a small time-marker, showing us where our society’s values lie compared to our parents’, grandparents’ and even great-grandparents’.
