The scene: My living room at University Plaza. The time: Tuesday night, February 24th at 10:30 PM. I walk out of my room only to be greeted by faces flowing with tears. My roommates are watching the finale of Parks and Recreation, a comedy-show that ran a 7-season stint on NBC. I've never really watched the show myself but can appreciate the occasional meme on Tumblr or blurry reference in a random conversation. As I perused the internet looking for anything interesting to discuss for this week's blog, I found a piece on the representation of philanthropy in Parks and Recreations. The article, found here, expresses the different ways philanthropy came across through scenarios such as grant-making decisions, funding start-up non-profits, and the sometimes "misuse" of charity work to gain good publicity. It made philanthropy an approachable and relevant idea: "'Parks and Rec' was the only show to give philanthropy a turn in the
prime-time spotlight, making it funny while taking seriously its
increasingly prominent role in society." But with the show premiering it's final episode this past week, this begs the question where can I watch a show with philanthropy in it now?
Upon further investigation, I realized that the ideas of philanthropy and civic engagement are relatively under-represented in our media today. Occasionally a television show will make reference to it, casually playing it off as a one-time donation to a charity or something to put on a college application. When I tried to think about a TV show that had anything to do with philanthropy, nothing came to mind. I decided to search some shows and really only found The Philanthropist, a canceled mini action/drama series from 2009. The show revolves around a rich, white man, once absorbed in a materialistic life-style, who decides to dedicate his life to using his fortune to personally help others (here is a quick look at the show's promo if you want a laugh). Without even fully watching the series, I can already tell that it completely glamorizes philanthropy and probably stereotypes the needy. Why can't we produce something that positively and accurately shows philanthropy on TV? Why is there such a lack of awareness and understanding of the consequences that come from creating shows as ridiculous as The Philanthropist?
Social media seems to be opening conversations about philanthropic work and why it is important and how to do it effectively; we see celebrities endorsing charities left and right; there is more of an emphasis on giving back to your community taught in our schools. But why can't we see this on TV shows? I'm not necessarily suggesting that there should be a show that revolves completely around the life of a philanthropist, but there could at least be some acts of it in popular shows, instead of just simple mentions. What if the show Modern Family discussed and showed the family participating in community service? What if the girls from Pretty Little Liars decided to cut down on their wardrobe and set aside the money they clearly spend on clothes to communally donate it to a charity? I guess I'm mainly wondering about why our society doesn't think that showing actions like these are valuable or entertaining to viewers. Therefore, my questions to you all are: Why do think there is a lack of philanthropy depicted in our media today? Do you think that shows about philanthropy would be beneficial or harmful to our society?Also, do you know of or have seen any shows concerning philanthropy that I might have missed?
Sarah, this post is really interesting. I had never even considered the power a television show could have on the way the public sees philanthropy. As you said, celebrities promote their causes all of the time, but why shouldn't we see more of this from influential media?
ReplyDeleteWhen trying to connect television with philanthropy, the first place my brain goes is to that Nickelodeon shows the early 2000s. Remember, Nick News with Linda Elerbee (http://news.nick.com/)? I think that was a true attempt to educate and inspire children, an attempt to bring philanthropy to the minds of the young. The problem was, it was boring. When I asked some of my friends about it, one girl said “I changed the channel every time that came on!” Television is a business geared towards gaining money and popularity. I think it’s difficult to balance commercial success with goodness and giving.
I completely agree with you that television should feature more philanthropy. I also think it’s important to recognize the power of philanthropy on other social media. Jumping from Nickelodeon shows for children all the way to the immediate present, Facebook just created an update that I’m really excited about. Identities.mic reports that Facebook announced ”an innovative suicide prevention tool within the platform that will make it easier for fellow users to report posts that indicate a person may be in danger of self-harm”. Facebook worked with mental health specialists to install a button- yup, a simple button- that allows user to report if they think their friends are in potential danger of hurting themselves or others.
There are three clickable options under the new feature. You can choose to “offer help or support”, which sends your friend a message saying that you care. You can “reach out to a friend”, which sends a message to a friend asking for their support for you. Lastly, you can “chat with a trained helper”, which will connect you to experts at Lifeline you can talk to. This simple feature, these three tiny buttons, can actually save lives. Most people use Facebook, and this feature gives all of those people access to help and support they otherwise might not pursue.
Derick Clifton of Mic.com writes of the new Facebook feature that “social media is often accused of stifling human connection, so kudos to Facebook for using its platform for something so meaningful.” It is amazing that one of the most popular and lucrative social networks is making a huge leap that favors health and goodness over commercial popularity. So this proves it! The commercial, materialistic world has room and resources to help others. Television programs and other far-reaching forms of social media should also take the time to make small improvements that could help to improve our world. There is a balance between business and philanthropy, and it is important that the media finds it soon.
This is probably my favorite post yet since there is nothing more I love than a good television show. I have never really thought about philanthropy in TV before but your points are extremely valid.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your questions, first, I think there is a lack of philanthropy in TV shows because for some reason, philanthropy isn't the "cool" thing to do. Although companies are looked on a higher platform for their philanthropic efforts, it's quite odd that television does not celebrate the same attitude. I feel like on television shows, sex, violence and flat-out crazy drama are what's become glorified. I guess because there are so many television shows and network stations of there competing for an audience member's attention, philanthropy becomes pushed to the side. I myself do not completely understand this conundrum.
I think that television shows could become a great example of what it means to be a philanthropist if they added the element of philanthropy. The media constantly affects us and shapes our way of thinking, whether or not we are aware of it. Many have argued that the way we think about sex, relationships, gender role, violence and more has greatly influenced others, especially young children. Instead of further igniting bad behaviors, shouldn't we be enouraging our young people by showing a positive example of how to contribue to society?
Lastly, the only example I can think of philanthropy being shown in TV shows is the Bachelor/Bachelorette. I remember that during Andie's season (the one who pouted all the time and now broke off her engagement with Josh...oh my) she had the men perform a strip tease event to raise money for philanthropy. I think the show was more interested in showing off the men and their bodies, but it certainly still got the job done. If we could see more of that I think that could be beneficial.
Brittany and Ashley, thank you for your comments! You both brought up great points about philanthropy in the media! I'm pleased to see that I'm not the only one who recognizes the need for television shows to produce more positive and thoughtful showings of what philanthropy is and how to do it well. Going off of what Brittany said about "Nick News" and what Ashley said about "The Bachelorette", I agree that though there are slight hints of exposing the idea of philanthropy to viewers, there is a serious lack of proper representation of it. Just last night, I was watching an episode of "Fresh Off the Boat" and the family was attending a charity dinner. They were more obsessive over what they were going to wear and how people would perceive them at the event rather than focusing on the act of charitable donation. Even once they got to the event, there was a running joke that nobody knew what the charity was that they were "supporting". Its something very subtle, but because of my post I most definitely took notice. Small situations and remarks like these can set a precedence for misrepresenting philanthropy and I think this may be almost worse than not showing philanthropy in a show at all. For me, I feel like it paints philanthropy in an almost nonchalant, comical light which can make viewers think that charity is something light-hearted and done on a whim. As this can be done sometimes, I think that, for the most part, philanthropy should definitely be something that you research well to see if your money will be used to its fullest, to see if the charity actually does what they said they were going to do with your money, and to see if the charity itself is effective. Philanthropy should also be properly discussed and not something that should be made a joke of. Its important to make philanthropy fun and approachable to viewers, but in the way that shows are doing it now, I don't really see any benefits from it.
ReplyDeleteWhile we would all love to see more philanthropy on television, it is not very likely to happen. The problem with news stations and television in general is that it is all ratings driven. Therefore, the news channels are more likely to be talking about a store robbery than a local organization helping people of the community in need. This bias towards news that grabs attention reminds me about what some politicians would say at Eagle Scout courts of honor. These events are put together to honor a scout making the rank of Eagle. Often times, local politicians will come down, present a citation and say a few words. There is one politician in particular who always says, "It saddens me that no one will hear about this boy's achievements through volunteer work and dedication because it is not an attention grabber. News always seems to want to talk about the bad guys of society, and not the ones who are making a difference." I think his words illustrate the problem very well. Whenever I turn on the news at the top of the hour, it is always about people getting killed or other local problems. Very rarely, some acts of philanthropy can be seen near the end of the news.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a problem we as a society need to fix. While we as students cannot change a company’s mindset against ratings, there are things we can do. Posting on social media such as Twitter and Facebook are good ways that we can spread the word about what we are doing. We many not be reaching large audiences, but any publicity is good. Even if we cannot get philanthropy in the spotlight at the top of the hour, I don’t think that it is a huge deal. I have always thought of philanthropists as the unsung heroes of society. I think by continuing to work in the background, we will be making a big difference whether we get airtime or not.