Blog Post #3

The focus of the media watched in class was power and ideology. We watched an episode of “Freaks and Geeks” to serve as an example. Rather than focusing on themes and signifiers like in semiotics, the focus was more on the characters themselves and what their choices reflected in the society they were in. One of the biggest examples is the mother, Jean, in the show. 

In the beginning and throughout much of the episode, Jean was enthusiastic about Halloween, which was quickly approaching. She bonded with the entire family during the dinner scenes, singing and acting goofy, and was eager to spend time with her daughter Lindsey on Halloween night. The Weir household becomes festive with creepy and cute decorations, and to top it off, Jean decides to make tons of homemade Halloween cookies to pass out instead of candy. Jean during these scenes is an example of a hierarchal elitist- one who holds the dominant power in the group. She is in control of her household and her husband, who goes along with her antics despite not wanting to. However, her role changes for a bit come Halloween night, when Lindsey decides to leave her alone to handle the trick-or-treaters. If that was not enough, Jean became humiliated and slightly distraught after learning that the homemade cookies were being thrown away by parents that believed them to be dangerous to their children. That newfound ideology was foreign to Jean, but is a widespread belief even until this day.

After being “defeated” like this, Jean decides to do what everyone else did and get candy to pass out, which she eventually stops doing because she’s having a miserable time. It is during this part that her character shifts to that of a fatalist- one who is out of luck in society. She reflects on how her childhood was not like that. But at the end of the episode when Lindsey decides to get into her costume and help her mom out, Jean bounces right back up, returning to her hierarchal elitist status. The episode was able to portray those focuses of power types and ideology even in a side character such as the mother.