Humble Lifestyle TV
Constantly, major television shows enforce cultural norms through stereotypes. These shows create an environment that aligns with the typical cultural norms of society. American Dad is similar in this way. This show is a comedy that’s goal is to make their viewers laugh. In most cases, they attempt to do this by making stereotypical jokes and references. Sometimes this can lead to a lesson learned about how a stereotype is not true like in the episode like in the American Dream Factory episode of American Dad. However, other times these stereotypes can reinforce cultural norms without a lesson being learned. In the episode “There’ll Be Blood”, American Dad actually shows a cultural transmission by showing that not all of the 1% are snobby and look down on others in lower classes.
Despite how a person acquired their riches, most wealthy people in television shows are portrayed as stuck up. At first this is fully embraced by Stan Smith and his wife, Francine, in the beginning of the episode. The show begins at Smith’s house with the entire Smith family in the living room. The alcoholic alien who lives with the Smiths, Roger, enters the scene and says, “Now, then, where is the good booze that you only pull out to show off to your half brother?”. Stan defends himself by stating, “I don’t pull out the nice Scotch to show off”. Unfortunately for Stan, others agree with Roger and say “Oh, please, you have them over every year just so you can feel like a big shot. Roger’s right, Dad”. This sends the message that Stan’s half brothers family is poor and doesn’t have the luxury of having nice things that a upper-middle class family would have, but it also sends the message that Stan is an upper class jerk who likes to flash off his nice things, typical to many other upper class characters of television shows. The viewer is left thinking that many, if not all, upper class citizens are pretentious braggers, but it doesn’t stop there. The scene continues with Stan agreeing that he might be wealthier than his brother, Rusty, but “it’s not like I rub it in his face”. Seconds later, Rusty’s family arrives. Stan opens the door and greets them by literally rubbing his sleeve in Rusty’s face and says “Hey, feel this, it’s cashmere”. This again sends the message that Stan is jerk, but does so with comedy after rubbing his cashmere sleeve in Rusty’s face directly after he said he doesn’t rub his wealth in Rusty’s face. Viewers are left thinking that most upper class people are snobby people who like to show off their wealth to lower classes. It also sends the message that Rusty doesn’t know what cashmere is because he is poor. Hereby, reinforcing the cultural norm that upper class people don’t respect the lower classes in addition to them being stuck-up. It only continues from there as Stan brags about his “big ass house” and how good his television and game system is while Francine brags about how many burners she has for cooking.
After American Dad reinforces cultural norms about upper class people, the episode fast forwards a year and takes a turn as Stan decides to take his family to Rusty’s for Thanksgiving after he comes to the conclusion that his children are ungrateful, which is actually a pretty humble thing to do. Rusty picks up Stan and his family and drives them off to his house in Arizona. They finally arrive at his house and the Smith family is astonished when they see that Rusty owns a gigantic house that’s built into the cliffs of a rock structure. Rusty then admits that he makes eighteen million dollars per year from pulling out copper from the ground. It turns out the Smiths are the poor family and they have been showing off useless things to Rusty’s very rich family. Stan tells Rusty, “Rusty, I, I always thought you were poor. I-I actually brought Steve here to try to make him appreciate what he has”. Rusty responds to this by saying, “That is truly funny because I have been bringing my family to your house every Thanksgiving for the same reason”. Although Rusty could show off all the luxurious things he has, he decides to try and humble his family by bringing them to Stan’s house every Thanksgiving to show how lucky they really are. Not only that, but Stan had no idea that Rusty had so much money. Stan was actually under the assumption that Rusty was dirt poor. Rusty didn’t even tell his own brother how much money he has or show off any of his nice things. That implies that Rusty doesn’t brag about his luxurious life style or money to anyone. This scene sends a new message. It sends the message that Rusty is very modest and nice rather than someone who shows off his riches. Now, the show gives a new impression and viewers now see that the 1% can be modest and humble. This shows a cultural transmission by showing that upper class people can actually be nice to other classes rather than looking down on the poor as media reveals.
Despite the show, American dad being a comedy, they send an important message that creates a cultural transmission about how rich people are not jerks, but they can actually be very humble. Take Warren Buffett as a real life example. He lives in a normal house instead of a mansion. The show portrays Rusty as a humble man. This is important because it lforces the viewers of the show, who are typically very impressionable teenagers, to change their thinking about the upper class and believe the cultural transmission insinuated by American Dad. Although it portrays the upper class in a negative way at the beginning of the episode, they get the important message across that wealth doesn’t determine personality. In order to encourage progressive cultural transmissions like this one, television shows need to not promote stereotypes about people and follow in the footsteps of this American Dad episode and look to change the way most people think about a group of people. This will positively affect the way their viewers think. Especially since American Dad’s viewers are typically impressionable teenagers. People may not consciously recognize the cultural transmission that is being sent, but it will positively affect how they think and how society thinks and there needs to be more of that on television.
