Week 5 / Blog 5

My favorite part of this course was that we got to watch television and then write about it, all for a grade! If that is not the best class ever, I don't know what is. I liked reading what my classmates observed while watching their shows and some even peaked my interest to watch those as well.

I feel like I definitely gained a greater understanding of the television shows I was analyzing. Of course, I notice things when I watch it purely for entertainment, but I grabbed so much more insight when I actually analyzed the show I was watching in depth.

I think it is value to study pop culture so that you can get a better understanding of the culture that is happening right now. Studying pop culture allows you to understand the ways of society and how it works at the moment.

Week 4 / Blog 4

I am unable to find the clip that I will be discussing today since it is a Netflix series and it's not on YouTube.  Thirteen Reasons Why has faced harsh criticism due to "unnecessary" scenes in which I am referring to is Tyler's sexual assault. In the clip (that I cannot find), Tyler is brutally assaulted by Montgomery and other boys. Tyler is assaulted with a broken end of a broomstick, and the audience can see blood--it's a hard moment to watch and for me to describe it right now which further shows how stigmatized sexual assault is among males.



I feel that this stigmatization of sexual assault among men is due to the fact that they feel so much shame for the unwanted sexual contact. Hammonds, Fewster and Ioannou's (2017) research says "Male reporting of sex offences are likely to vary considerably from female reporting, although there has been little research into what these differences might be," (p. 134).  There is a huge difference in the numbers of women and men who have dealt with assault, but perhaps a huge number of men have not come forward due to this shame? I feel that it is stigmatized because of the way that society views men in the way that society constructs gender. I think that people fear that with the discussion of a man's sexual assault, it could possibly emasculate them. If this conversation were to take place comfortably, it would change the course of conversation for what a man "should be" (if that makes sense).

Thirteen Reasons Why maybe included this scene or felt that it was necessary to spark a conversation and perhaps send a message that sexual assault, especially among men is nothing to be ashamed of.  I think the show addressed the issue as accurately as they could. Later, when Tyler is seen in his bathroom on the toilet, when he finds blood (presumably from his anus), the audience can see how horrified he looks, maybe even horrified with shame. Obviously, this was the last episode of season two, so there was not much discussion in the show about the subject about how Tyler will heal, but even in the show the topic is still stigmatized. Hopefully, in season three we can see how Tyler deals with this and the discussion about it. I feel that some people who see this topic refuse to want to talk about it and others want to have a discussion about this. I think the best way we can approach a male victim of sexual assault is to maybe treat them as we would a female victim. The influence that this can give society is to treat all victims with the same belief and understanding.


Hammond, L., Ioannou, M., & Fewster, M. (2017). Perceptions of male rape and sexual assault in a male sample from the United Kingdom: Barriers to reporting and the impacts of victimization. Journal Of Investigative Psychology & Offender Profiling, 14(2), 133-149. doi:10.1002/jip.1462

Week 3 / Blog 3

For this week's blog post in our discussion of villain, demons and evil portrayed in television, I am going to talk about the Vampire Diaries again, and it's spin-off.

Throughout the Vampire Diaries, the main villain for a long time is the Mikaelson family, or rather just Klaus. Klaus is portrayed as the bad guy because he does evil things in the name of protecting his family, because he values family loyalty above all else. So, even though he is doing all of these bad things, he is actually doing them for the good of his family (sometimes). In the clip above, Klaus is addressing his siblings because of their betrayal toward him even though he has been keeping his word on not doing such devious things lately. The show in general is full of different kind of villains, and in each of their eyes, the villain does not think they are the villain because of the circumstances. I think this show is trying to say that just because someone is doing bad things, very bad things, it doesn't make them totally evil. For people of society, I feel like the show is communicating that everyone sees heroes and villains differently. Whoever may be your hero could be a villain to someone else. Both heroes and villains can be complex characters with both good and bad qualities to them.

Even though Klaus does a lot of deviant and evil things, he wasn't born evil. He was faced with so much trauma and loss as a child which led to severe abandonment issues and "daddy issues." There are lasting effects on mental health from children who have faced childhood trauma. Stephanie Lake's (2016) statement in her research says that this trauma carries well onto adulthood and can cause detreimental effects if not dealt with properly. (p. 46).He puts up this evil front in a way of self protection from really getting his feelings hurt. In the clip above, it is the first time that his character shows real, raw emotion in both The Vampire Diaries and its spin-off. His siblings understand why he does the things he does, and they understand where his hurt is coming from (their hurt stems from the same place, but Klaus' history is a little more complicated as he is half vampire and werewolf due to infidelity, and his siblings are vampires). So because of this, his siblings are so quick to forgive him unlike the other characters on the show.

Understanding where a person comes from and what they have experienced does not excuse a person's actions, but it can help us better understand why they do the things they do and what we can do to help them.

Lake, S. (2016). The lasting effects of childhood trauma on mental health in adulthood: Current knowledge and practical next steps for clinical practice. UBC Medical Journal, 8(1), 46-47.

Week 2 / Blog 2

The Vampire Diaries features no shortage of death, loss and pain. The death, losses, and pain definitely take a toll on the shows character's mental health. Medical dramas like, Grey's Anatomy has a patient death in almost every episode. However, on The Vampire Diaries, almost every death is a close friend or family member. In the video clip above, Elena who is the main character has just found out that her brother really is dead. She is so consumed with this unbelievable grief she wants to burn her house down because prior to this video, all of her family members have died and she is the only one left alive. She is so affected by her brother's death, she cannot even be consoled by her friends. Caroline (the blonde woman) I feel like is put in the position of not knowing what to say to Elena because she has no experiences this much loss. Elena cannot handle the death of her brother, so because she is a vampire, she turns off her humanity allowing herself to not be able to feel this loss. Paul Boelen (2009) talks about the sense of unrealness when losing a loved one. From what is not in the clip above, the scene before, Elena is unwilling to believe he is really dead (she thinks he is coming back to life... there is a lot of resurrection in this show). Elena has diffuculty accepting this loss as a real one (p. 242).  ** clip of Elena unwilling to accept her brother's death ** Throughout the series, many of the vampires often turn off their humanity so that they do not have to deal with their pain. Almost every time that someone loses a loved one, they turn off their humanity (if they are a vampire, humans can't). To the public, it suggests that losing someone is unbearable which can be true in real life circumstances, but it really suggests that there is not amount of consoling that will heal a person. It may seem like the show is promoting its viewers to "turn off their humanity", become indifferent and abandon emotions when put into similar situations. But throughout the series, every instance where someone turns off their humanity, the other characters fight tooth and nail to help them turn it back on so that they can deal with their emotions and eventually come to terms with what has happened. So really, I feel like the show is saying that turning off your emotions may be the easy way out, but the best way to deal with grief is to confront it and take however long you need to heal. This could help us with communicating with people we know who are dealing with situations of death, loss and pain. The show suggests that the best way to tackle death, loss and pain is head on and to talk about it. Obviously, everyone handles their grief a little differently. Sometimes the best way to talk to someone who is coping with a loss is to talk it out with them and let them cry, or like Caroline in the video, offer your support in a silent kind of way. BOELEN, P. A. (2010). A Sense of ‘unrealness’ about the death of a loved-one: An exploratory study of its role in emotional complications among bereaved individuals. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 24(2), 238-251. doi:10.1002/acp.1557

Week 1 / Blog 1

The clip from above is one of the first scenes from Freeform's (formerly known as ABC Family) The Fosters. I could not narrow down a specific clip, but I feel like this one gives a nice introduction to the nature of this family on the show. For one, this show is a pretty popular show among teens and young adults since it airs on Freeform. Although this is not the show I will be analyzing for my project, this show raises a ton of political, social and family issues while still being entertaining and enjoyable to watch, which is why I chose this show to talk about for this blog today (and because it recently aired its series finale this week). I think that because the show does a good job talking about and raising awareness to the issues I listed above is why the show is popular. 

A story line/topic that the show brings up is gender identity and transgenders who are trying to find their way through society. I feel that this is an issue that a lot of people may not fully understand because maybe the feel indifferent towards it or they are just not educated or given the proper information regarding it-- and maybe because people may only get their information through the media and pop culture which is why there are so many stereotypes out there for transgenders. There is even a lack of research for transgenders on television since I struggled finding any information to use for this topic. However, hrough the characters in this show, they offer more of an understanding of what some people go through, I think that this is one reason why the show is popular since sometimes resources can be limited. 

Another reason I believe this show is popular is because of the nature of the family within the show. I wouldn't say the Fosters is an dysfunctional family, but an unconventional family since it isn't the "normal" family that the American culture is used to. I feel that there is a growing number of families that are unconventional, and this show is popular because the show brings this different kind of family onto the screen. For one, there are two moms in this family who are a lesbian couple, adopted and fostered kids within a bi-racial family. I think there is a lack of gay parents on television--even though I can name a few shows that feature gay parents. Jeffery Epstein (1999) agrees that same-sex couples have rarely popped up on television, and if they do, they are not there for long (p. 103). However, this research is a little bit out dated, but there still isn't an abundant amount of same-sex couples on television which is maybe why this community feels under-represented which could be why this show is so popular. 


Epstein, Jeffrey. (1999). Prime Time's Final Frontier.(television programs rarely depict gay parents)(Brief Article). The Advocate (The National Gay & Lesbian Newsmagazine),103.