American television programs can be seen as a cultural artifact that end up affecting the way social identities are perceived. When Kevin Jennings was a young adult television programs completely changed his beliefs on his own class. Growing up Jennings was taught to believe many horrible things about many different types of people; jews, blacks, gays, communists, liberals, and yankees. At no point growing up did he ever see his social class as poor, ignorant hicks. Before he was able to leave his bubble that he was living in, Jennings ideals of society were completely skewed by his families ideals therefore shaping his outlook on society.
As Jennings was preparing to go to school he tried to model himself after the image of a successful person, based of television. What he learned from television was that being from the south was not social acceptable. In T.V. whenever someone had a southern accent they were generally depicted as i stupid and illiterate. Very rarely, at the most, was there ever a smart southerner displayed on television. After seeing this Jennings believed that he would not be able to succeed in life if he acted like a southerner.
Jennings began mimic the television newscasters in order get rid of his southern accent. He did not apply to any southern schools just so he could get as far away from the south as possible and distinguish himself as successful person. Once in school Jennings did not bring his friends home so that they would never know that he was from a family of “worthless ignorant hicks” with inconsiderate values.
Jennings felt ashamed by this family and background. With members in the family belonging to the K.K.K and being extremely racist, prejudice, homophobic, confederates it was understandable for him to not agree with their values. It also did not help that he himself was gay. Therefore he also felt exiled from his home and southern background, because he grew up learning that being gay was wrong.
Many television shows depict southerners in a very negative light. Even today’s television shows southerners, not so much as ignorant hicks but rather as crazy Christians or crazy conservatives. For example MAD TV did a skit about a crazy Christian car sales man who sounds like he is from the south. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J__T2dvaWww. While shows are still making fun of southerners many people are trying to smash stereotypes regarding southerners, http://cornellsun.com/node/21713
Television shows were not the only cultural artifact that affected Jennings views of social identity. Langston Hughes’ poem “I, Too” had a considerable impact on Jennings outlook on gays and Americans. This poem helped Jennings realize he could both be a gay and be a successfully as an American. This concept is illustrated by the television hostess Ellen DeGeneres who successfully broke the barrier of homosexuals on television.
When Jennings first realized he was gay he felt that he would not be able to continue his American Dream if he was gay. Due to the environment that Jennings grew up in he believed that there was no chance of living out the American Dream if he was gay, so in response he attempted to end his own life. After his failed suicide attempt he decided to continue on to Harvard where he met a professor who helped him realize that he should not let his goal of achieving the American Dream control his life because it led him to reject his family, cultural and himself. It was the words in Hughes’ poem that helped Jennings final realize that could demand his freedom as a gay man, which was actually the most American thing to do.
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