Nilab Ferozan

Nilab Ferozan

I am a junior historian, currently working on my dissertation on the social roles of lay confraternities of Rome. I am also a film and TV enthusiast.

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Latest Articles

Latest Topics

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The Impact of Family Channel shows on Pre-Teens.

Analyze the impact of family channel shows such as Jessie, Victorious, Girl meets World (just to name a few) on the attitude and behaviour of pre-teen girls. For example, "Jessie" shows a young girl Jessie the nanny, who is always dressed impeccably is made fun of by her charges. It always makes me uneasy about the message it sends to young girls. Is her dress not good enough? Why is her clothing a topic of discussion for the children in her care? Is putting down the nanny appropriate? Analyze the way pre-teens and teens idealize the stars of the shows and emulate the way they dress and act.

  • These days shows like Jessie are made to be comedy shows that you really don't have to think about. The problem with that being that the insults are often done as the popular jokes of the series. People don't understand that while the jokes aren't to be really though about as being much, it still becomes a part of teenager's experience in communication. – Kevin Mohammed 8 years ago
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  • If you were to discuss Girl Meets World, it would possibly be a good idea to compare the natural counter example of its predecessor, Boy Meets World, and its comparative cultural time and influence on pre-teen boys. – kdaley 8 years ago
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Is the popular media normalizing pot smoking or is it already a normal part of everyday life?

Analyze the cause and effect of the representation of weed in popular media. Lately, smoking pot has been shown as a normal part of youth's life. Is that normal? Do everyone, at one point in their life, smoke pot? Or the media the cause of that increase? While more countries are trying, or at least talking about, legalizing the usage of medical marijuana, is the media making the distinction difficult? How are people, especially the youth, supposed to learn that pot is bad for them, if the media makes it look normal?
For example, shows such as Weeds and That 70s Show have no qualm in showing young people smoking pot. Other numerous shows (Parenthood, Roseanne, Gilmore Girls, and Friends just to name a few (there are many)) all have an episodes where the adults find/or acquire pot and reminisce about the times they smoked when they were young.

  • It could be interesting to compare the treatment of smoking marijuana today in pop culture to the treatment of smoking cigarettes in past culture. – Marcie Waters 8 years ago
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  • 7% of Americans and 10% of Canadians smoke pot regularly. I would say it is definitely that smoking pot has been normalized first and then the media has taken it up. Could you add a few examples on TV or movies where pot smoking has been shown to be used by youth? – Munjeera 8 years ago
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  • Thanks for the comment and yes I will do that. – Nilab Ferozan 8 years ago
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  • Good work Nilab. I see you participating in the forum regularly. I look forward to your next article. – Munjeera 8 years ago
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  • Smoking pot appears in a bunch of shows as characters reminisce on smoking pot when they were young, but I think it's becoming more commonly just a thing that characters in TV do, like in Broad City. Is there a difference in how pot is treated from genre to genre? – chrischan 8 years ago
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  • While much of the world struggles to have enough clean water and food, others reminisce about the good old stoner days. Hmmmm.. – Tigey 8 years ago
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Latest Comments

Nilab Ferozan

To be honest, I have never looked at the Big Bang Theory from this point of view. To me that show is more about normalizing the “geek”. It also shows a mixing of the hip and the geek. But I would be interested to hear your point of view on the sitcom. However, Modern Family is an interesting one. While they push the boundaries in certain areas, I still see many of the old gender roles being reinforced. For example, Clair, while an educated woman, is a homemakers until her last child is a teenager. Gloria is a stay at home mom and never shows any interest in working outside the home. While Cam is working now, for the longest time he was a stay at home dad. I am not claiming that there is anything wrong with people who do stay at home with their children, but showing it as a “necessity” of sorts reinforces the traditional role of “mothers”.

Reinforcing the Traditional Patriarchal ideologies through Situation Comedies
Nilab Ferozan

Thanks for the comment Daniel. I am a little busy with getting ready for a research trip. I will give you a reply back soon. I do have some thoughts on it, which I will be glad to share with you.

Reinforcing the Traditional Patriarchal ideologies through Situation Comedies
Nilab Ferozan

Thank you so much Julie.

Reinforcing the Traditional Patriarchal ideologies through Situation Comedies
Nilab Ferozan

Such a great article! I enjoyed reading it.

X-Men, an Excluded Universe: the Changing Cultural Indication of 'the Superhero'
Nilab Ferozan

JakeRoslyn, I have not claimed any such thing. On the contrary, despite the many strong female lead roles represented in TV dramas, sitcoms, especially the ones depicting families are still way behind in that regard.

Reinforcing the Traditional Patriarchal ideologies through Situation Comedies
Nilab Ferozan

Thank Arazoo and yes, you are absolutely right. Even new shows still try to reinforce the idea that a woman is the primary child care giver and the man the bread winner of the family. Even though there are more representation of strong female lead roles in TV dramas, sitcoms (in my opinion) are still behind in that regard.

Reinforcing the Traditional Patriarchal ideologies through Situation Comedies
Nilab Ferozan

You are right Chrischan. Many of the sitcoms, especially family ones, portray the typical and traditional nuclear family with the father working and mother staying home, which does not represent the lives of so many of us. That is precisely my point in this article that despite having higher educations and work experience, the woman in most sitcoms stay home well beyond the time needed for child care (meaning the children are not babies anymore) and willingly become “housewives” and dependant on the husband’s salary.

Reinforcing the Traditional Patriarchal ideologies through Situation Comedies
Nilab Ferozan

Thanks for the comment. Yes, there are many different representations of women on TV nowadays. Strong female lead roles is becoming more common. and yes it would be interesting to include Orange is the New Black (even though I have not watched it) or any other ones similar to it.

Reinforcing the Traditional Patriarchal ideologies through Situation Comedies