“We missed all the shows about black and Asian families,” Dan notes. Groggily Dan asks what time it is, and Roseanne informs him that they’ve slept from “Wheel” to “Kimmel.” Then again, maybe you noticed it: Dan and Roseanne Conner (John Goodman and Roseanne Barr) are seen waking up from a nap on the couch.
We see this in the some of the breathless media coverage of Trump voters and in a lot of the online chatter about the ‘Roseanne’ reboot.”įor more on what to watch on video and TV follow us on Flipboard.Īnd Linda Holmes, host of NPR’s “Pop Culture Happy Hour,” criticized the show as only dealing with a certain segment of America’s electorate – even within Trump world.One zinger embedded in Tuesday’s episode of “ Roseanne” flew by so quickly and was delivered with enough casual ease to downplay its significance.
They are ‘real’ and their problems are ‘real’ problems, as if everyone else is dealing with artificial obstacles. “When a lot of the mainstream media talks about the working class, there is a tendency to romanticize, to idealize them as the most authentic Americans. In giving this platform to a white working class family that hopes jobs return to its Midwestern town, there is a missed opportunity to humanize other voters who haven’t been as much of the focus of stories.Īuthor Roxanne Gay wrote in The New York Times about what some call the mainstream media’s obsession with “real Americans.” Hollywood has an opportunity to help those who don’t understand Trump supporters outside of the white working-class caricature see what it was about his message that resonated with more than 60 million Americans, all of whom were not white and working-class voters.
Double-digit percentages of voters in Los Angeles (23.5), Philadelphia (15.5) and Chicago (12.4) were drawn to his message. Yes, Clinton won urban areas, but there was still some support for Trump. But this is uncommon in Hollywood when portraying Trump supporters. Trump won most men, most white millennials, about half of wealthy Americans, most college-educated white voters and most independents. But exit polling did not include how people earned a living. In fact, 1 in 5 white Trump voters without a college degree live in households where the income exceeds $100,000. The American National Election reports that nearly 60 percent of white Trump supporters without college degrees were in the top half of the income distribution. Between rallies and focus groups, a case could be made that no demographic from the 2016 election has received more airtime than white, working-class Trump supporters.Īnd as a result many viewers are left with the false impression that most of the president’s supporters were white, working-class Americans in small, Midwestern towns like Roseanne’s.Įxit polls from the 2016 election showed that the majority of voters without college degrees backed Trump, but lacking a college degree is not always the same as being “working class.” Allen has said he felt it was canceled because of his politics.īut presenting the stories of white, working-class Americans who support Trump is not actually that rare on the small screen. Tim Allen’s “Last Man Standing”, which had a conservative lead character, was dropped in 2016. (And we know how much Trump loves good ratings.)ĭuring a time where sitcoms like “Blackish” and “The Good Wife” have dedicated episodes to address the current political climate, having a sitcom where the main character is white, working-class Trump supporter is rare. The president agreed, and reportedly called Barr to congratulate her on the show, which averaged more than 18 million people on its debut night.
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