Behind the Scenes

The working class is seen as a comic relief within our media, but someone pointed out a good point, which is we have to look at the people who are writing, directing, and producing the show or film. These are the people who are creating the content and the reason why we see the working class in a comedic sense is probably because the people behind the scenes don’t know nor have experienced being in the working class. (Ehm, privilege). So something that people do to write for something that is unfamiliar to them is either follow what everyone else is doing or make a joke about it. This basically adds to stereotyping which we discussed previously. It’s a faster way to capture the audience and get their point across so why not use it? Class is something that can be uncomfortable to talk about because well, no one likes to talk about their financial situation. It’s kind of a taboo topic in this country, I’ve noticed. But then again it’s also hard/sensitive to talk about racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, etc.

But let’s also consider the fact that seeing class or rather the working class in the media can be a sensitive topic to some. But let’s remind ourselves that the media is just for entertainment. We use media as a form of escaping our lives, so if we see the reality of a family or individual in the working class, would it be so fun to watch? In this regard, there is the element that we must recognize and that’s the genre of the TV show and/or film. In drama, we see the working class as sad and depressing family/person and for sitcoms the working class is the comic relief. Now I have to ask, is the story of the working class in real life just as “normal” as the middle class families/person? I mean why not? Yes, the working class do face situations differently, but aren’t all situations different and solved differently?