stereotypes on tv
...er figure of the family; she was characterized by being lazy and wasting Al’s hard earned money. Kelly Bundy was their daughter and the stereotypical “dumb blonde” character. She was characterized by being promiscuous and using her looks to get what she wanted. Finally, Bud Bundy was the youngest Bundy child, who was characterized with being a desperate adolescent boy. As you can see by comparing the Cunningham’s to the Bundy’s, gender stereotypes have changed to reflect the times in which they are set in. For this paper I studied My So-Called Life, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Boy Meets World and Lizzie Maguire. Boy Meets World is a show that revolves around a suburban Philadelphia family named The Matthews. The main character of the show, Cory Matthews, is in the beginning of the series portrayed by wearing a baseball cap, and loving sports. In one early episode, Cory is distraught over making only the second string on the basketball team; he presented it as this being the most important thing in the world to him. His brother Eric is portrayed as being focused on dating rather than schoolwork, and constantly dating different girls. Their younger sister, Morgan is shown usually wearing pink, and is shown playing with dolls and having tea parties. As the character’s developed through the show’s seven-year run, changes were seen in the way they acted. For example in the first few episodes, Cory and his best friend Shawn were repelled by the very notion of dating, however as they got older, dating became the central part of their lives. In My So-Called Life, Clare Danes gave a great performance as Angela Chase, a 15 year-old girl who broke the Hollywood conception that the teenage years are perfect. This show broke several stereotypes and ten years after its cancellation, it continues to attract a cult-like following. My So-Called Life showed Angela Chase deal with real problems such as homophobia, drugs, same-sex marriages, child abuse, teenage alcoholism, homelessness, adultery and censorship. Angela was characterized with wearing unrevealing and unfashionable clothing. She didn’t exude her femininity; she embraced herself as an individual firstly before she embraced herself as a woman. This show definitely broke a lot of cultural barriers, and of course, stereotypes. Degrassi: The Next Generation is an updated version of the original Degrassi, which itself broke several cultural stereotypes by introducing controversial topics such as homosexuality, AIDS, and drug use. The new version continues to deal with topics that affect the lives of teens everyday such as sex, drugs and dating. The characters wardrobe do reflect some stereotypes, however its not so much a gender stereotype as it is a modern adolescent stereotype. The emotional makeup of the characters however is a ...