Media Literacy and Representations of Class

Alright, so one of my suitemates was "strongly encouraged" to attend the Media Literacy and Representations of Class with Dr. Dr.Pepi Leistyna because her History teacher was the coordinator. So, I went with her. I figured it might be interesting or at least provide me with some insight. Well, I don't really feel like either of these things occured. First of all, it was pretty hard to keep up with Dr. Leistyna because that man talks fast. And its not just like he's rambling, oh no no. He talks a mile a minute and it all makes sense. The problem is, by the time you figure out and catch up to what he just said, hes five minutes ahead of you. So, it wasn't bad. Then we watched his "documentary-esque" film, Class Dismissed. Well, I wasn't a fan. I did not enjoy Christensen's article and Dr. Leistyna's film was along the same lines. The film discussed how different TV shows express the working class on 5 different criteria such as poor work ethic, lack of intelligence, etc. Alright, that's all fine. But as my suitemate and I both noticed and discussed, the film that Dr. Leistyna showed was all based on white, sitcoms and only white sitcoms. He did not use any shows that are of a diverse nature nor did he use different media, even though he mentioned both of those in dialouge. He brought up The Cosby Show in discussion as well as how television is not the medium for finding this "portrayal" of working class America. We were discussing how to phrase this in a question but couldn't think of in an appropriate amount of time (we had to leave early to attend our 2:00 classes on time, considering I get locked out of mine if I am late). Its not like shows on television that focus on non white or non mainly white families do not also involve the working class. For example, Sister, Sister, George Lopez, The Cosby Show, The Jeffersons (including all spin offs of Maude), That's So Raven, Smart Guy, Everybody Hates Chris, etc. I realize these focus on African American families, with the exception of George Lopez, but like we have dicussed in class, there are not many television shows that focus on non white families, especially those of Latino or Asain race. I feel like he also limited himself in only using sitcoms. If we are to look outside the spectrum of sitcoms, we are presnted with other shows such as Gilmore Girls, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Judging Amy, Smallville, Veronica Mars, etc. All of these shows discuss working class families (some are untraditional families, like Grey's) and all of them deal with a single, working parent...isn't this something you could have focused on Dr. Leistyna?

It also irritated me that people feel the need to interpret everything. There was an individual who made a comment about telelvision shows can give us "unrelaistic" aspects of life/goals. They used Gossip Girl as an example. Now, I am a fan of this show but I know it is just that. I know i have to work for what I get in life and I know the ewards of hard work. I understand that some people just have money but most have to work for it. But most of all, I know that it is fake! I know its a telelvision show and I move on with my life.

Dr. Leistyna also went off on crazy tangents, which made it hard to follow as well. I mean, he started talking about taxes, which was relevant partially but to me, I wished the discussion had been more geared to diversity and more about the portrayal of the working class.

The link below leads to a film review/synopsis of "Class Dismissed"

http://www.ilcaonline.org/ht/d/ArticleDetails/i/52798