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"Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class"

(Grand Prairie Union News)
Review by Mike Matejka

After a hard day’s work, most folks kick back to watch TV for a few laughs or drama.

When watching the tube, how many average working people appear?  Does TV reflect our lives?   Is Homer J. Simpson the most representative worker in TV land?

A new video (and soon a book by Pepi Leistyna), “Class Dismissed,” looks at the unflattering image of working Americans on the tube.  From Homer’s incompetent power plant accidents to working class “trailer trash” duking it out on talk shows, working Americans are seen as loud, stupid and stumbling.

The American media ignores the concept of “class” itself.   Despite the “rich getting rich and the poor poorer” daily, most Americans seat themselves in the “middle” class.  Economically, some workers with good union contracts reach that status.  But even then, most Americans labor for someone else – and are thus “working class.”

Since the 1950s sitcoms, TV has presumed suburbia is where middle Americans resides, with moms in nice dresses and dad coming home from “the office.”   These middle class moms and dads were usually wise repositories of knowledge and impeccable taste.

TV’s “average workers” are folks like Homer Simpson, Ralph Cramden, Archie Bunker, Fred Sanford and Roseanne.   They fight with their spouse, plot crazy schemes, and act childish before their obviously smarter children.  

If they are in a union, it is usually portrayed as corrupt or an excuse for laziness.  If there is a job action it is usually done individually or in a small group, not a real organization.

“Class Dismissed” raises some excellent questions – about why Americans ignore the concept of class, how “average” is presumed to be suburban and how workers are treated with contempt, stereotypes and base humor.  TV images of African-Americans, Hispanics and women in the working class are also analyzed.

This is a provocative video, making one look at TV with new eyes.  Two critiques I would offer: almost all the commentators are academics or journalists – no average workers are interviewed about their TV counterparts.   Working class Americans who have a positive TV image – fire fighters, nurses and police officers – are not analyzed.  Why does TV show these jobs in a positive light but not others?

Still, the video is worthwhile, simply because TV saturates our culture and our conversations.  There are basic underlying assumptions about workers and unions in TV land and as critical viewers, we should understand them.  “Class Dismissed” is an excellent first step in that process.

“Class Dismissed: How TV frames the working class," 62 minutes/DVD, Media Education Foundation, www.mediaed.org, Reviewed by Mike Matejka of the Grand Prairie Union News