to play by the rules," (709). It presents easy upward mobility and no sign of discrimination at all - hardly what anyone would call the "typical" black experience. If after watching The Cosby Show, White America takes the above statement as truth, blacks will have an even harder time gaining equality because whites will think that blacks are just lazy and don't want to better themselves when in reality it is a great struggle and an enormous challenge to overcome oppression. However, it does foster a sense of hope which is probably the center of black peoples' ambivalence towards The Cosby Show.In trying to apply the framework of the above studies to my own reception analysis study, I have found that concerns such as sexism, ageism, and standard of beauty all figure in deeply with my respondents. My project consists of working women's perceptions of the way women are portrayed on the TV show Ally McBeal. All of the respondents mentioned something about the sexy, young, pretty, skinny stars of the show. According to these women, if you don't fall into all of the above categories, you're not a "good" person. Only people who fall into the above categories are presented on TV and film, and when people outside of the "norm" are presented, it is for comedy or sympathy. Hardly ever is there an old, fat woman as the heroine. There is some exception such as Cameron Manheim on The Practice, but by and large it is a model's world. The standard of beauty today is a very scary thing. It is encouraging young girls to starve themselves, exercise themselves to death or throw-up after every meal. If you don't look like what society dictates you're headed straight for nowhere. I think sexism also figures deeply in the way women look at TV because all of the respondents pointed to the fact that women are regarded as sex objects on Ally McBeal. None of them enjoyed seeing the women portrayed this way, but they did say it seemed realistic. I th...
