Today, our Western value systems are constantly being re-evaluated. The media, inclusive of radio, television, newspapers, film and the Internet, are having a profound effect on popular culture. The media is taking a prominent role in forming the mores of the day. Subjects once taboo are now discussed with increased frequency. Individuals are being left to form their own ethical conclusions on the messages conveyed by the media in the face of disintegrating punitive powers of school, church and family. Janet Cramer’s (2007) article “Discourses of Sexual Morality in Sex and the City and Queer as Folk” explores the divergent views on sexual morality portrayed in two widely popular cable television programs that viewers are left to decipher.
Cramer’s article would seem to be written for scholarly audience, one no doubt with a toolbox containing more than just the basic Introduction to Sociology or Philosophy course. Her prose continually sends one searching for definitions and background on scholars and terminology that she casually makes use of. From aesthetics to the “secularization theory,” her writing takes on a condescending tone more palatable to her academia associates than to a layperson. Cramer cites empirical studies as though they were artifacts of popular culture themselves and known to a vast audience.
While Cramer searches for a “moral framework” (p. 425) that Sex and the City and Queer as Folk espouses around the values of marriage, care of self, care of others, honesty, and dialogue, the reader must allow himself to look past the blasphemous disregard for traditional Western values that these two shows exhibit. As Cramer self-confesses, functional morals must be checked at the door if the discourse of these shows is to be analyzed. The question becomes then of the significance that can be placed on a show such as Sex and the City which implicitly extols the value of marriage while at the same time using the promiscuous escapades of its characters to ensnare the audience? Cramer seems to believe that it is the discussion of these conflicting views that will ultimately set the tone of our moral paradigm.
Cramer goes on to address how the two shows tackle the value of honesty. She makes the comparison of honesty as a continuum of duplicity in Sex and the City, to honesty portrayed as the bedrock of relationship in Queer as Folk. However, she doesn’t address how these two divergent views are to be reconciled by viewers to ultimately influence their own moral behavior. But it is the ensuing debate over this discourse that Cramer believes will be responsible for constructing a moral framework.
Cramer points to the self centered standards these two shows promote with regard to the morality of care of self, while basically ignoring the care of others. While these two shows may be responsible for initiating a public discussion on the care of self and others, both put a higher value on self and that is the image that viewers are undeniably left with. Finally, Cramer hypothesizes that the portrayal of having a dialogue between self and others (p. 423) is the most significant factor in the formation of moral standards these shows have. The process of developing our “story” forces us to organize our judgments and to come to a realization of just who we are in terms of our ethics.
Understanding that we are continually being left in the position of becoming our own “moral authority” (p. 411) is the key idea that a reader of Cramer’s article is left with. Discourse in moral issues is taking place daily through outlets of popular culture. Will viewers show the initiative to challenge the messages being sent by the media, or simply take the standards exhibited as the new gospel? Society’s open discussion of these moral issues is what will in the end determine our moral standards. It was disappointing that Cramer chose to simply look at the discussion of sexual morality in these two programs and left for further study and analysis just how the messages in these programs are received and internalized by viewers as they frame their own views on morality.
References
CRAMER, J. M. (2007). Discourses of Sexual Morality in Sex and the City and Queer as Folk. The Journal of Popular Culture, 40(3), 409-432.
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I do understand what the author of this article is saying when it comes to sex and pop culture. It seems to me that more and more sex is every where. It's in magazines, books, ads, billboards, television, and movies. I can see where the certain television shows can send the message to viewers and especially young viewers, that morals just don't matter. That anything goes and there are no consequences for our actions. There has been times when Sex and the City made my jaw drop from something that they put on the show. It just goes to show that parents really need to protect their children from stuff that they learn from television. They need to teach the morals that they value by setting an example.
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ReplyDeleteSexuality dominates every aspect of the entertainment business. I can recall the chock on my face when came across the HBO television show Queer as Folk. At that time I thought that kind of a show was inappropriate. But over the course of 10 years, our views and ideas has changed in our society. I think we are more acceptable of people and their beliefs.
ReplyDeleteHi, John. You chose a very interesting article. The shows discussed, Sex in the City and Queer as Folk, are certain to impact our collective moral values, especially those of young people. I agree with you that Cramer might have done better to examine our (the viewers) reactions rather than to focus on the content of the show. I don't personally like either of the shows because the characters are all so self-centered. It used to be that young people in their twenties were the only ones self-centered. Then came the show Thirty Something and all that changed. Great analysis!
ReplyDeleteI think most of the shows out there nowadays have some form os sex and bad values in them. So many of the HBO shows out there have this because so many people are requesting to see things like this.
ReplyDeleteAnd I do agree that Cramer could have 'toned' down the article a bit by writing it to where the layman individual would be able to understand it a little better.