My name is Daniel Puga and I am alumni at California State University Northridge. I am majoring in Computer Engineering and I am creating this blog for an assignment for my English class. In this blog I will analyze the show It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia that I have enjoyed because of its humorous style. The show has controversial topics that parody’s the egotistical views of people in America. In this blog I will summarize and analysis four episodes and their correlation with pop culture. The show premiered in August 4, 2005 and will be airing season 14 this year. Some of the featured actors are Charlie Day, Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, and Danny DeVito.
In this episode the setting starts at the bar where all the friends hang out. Dennis and Dee decide to quit their work at the bar because they are tired of working so much and want to pursue their dreams. They decide to use unemployment to work for their dreams but end up using the money on worthless things. After running out of money they decide to apply for welfare. During this Charlie, Mac, and Frank agree to use a Work for Welfare, government program, to hire potential welfare recipients to work for them for free. The workers are seen doing a lot of work while all three start to slack off. The episode transitions back to Dennis and Dee going to get welfare, the welfare worker tells them to have documentation to prove they need welfare. They turn to buying drugs to show that they suffer from an addiction but end up getting addicted and wasting all there money. They decide to go back to work at the bar to be able to recover from their addiction and get back to their normal lives.
This episode presents to us the ignorant perspective many people in society have about welfare. In the article Acting Out Culture it states, ” …we would next delve more deeply into these rules in search of what ideas they invite us to accept as norms, or widely held cultural ideas about what is proper thinking or behavior in a given situation.” The norm in society is that welfare has a negative impact on society because it enables people to act lazy. In the episode we notice how Dennis and Dee want to achieve their aspirations by cheating the system and obtaining welfare. Dennis and Dee represent the ignorant view people have because they believe that anyone can go and lie about having social problems like addiction and get welfare. When they get rejected they try to trick the welfare worker by using drugs to try to prove that they need help recovering. This leads to them getting addicted and wasting all their money which shows us the real suffering people with addiction face. The workers that are in the Work for Welfare shows us the difficulties they face when Mac, Charlie, and Frank exploit their labor. This scene can be compared to business who exploit government programs to increase their revenue. Welfare isn’t just given to anyone and people who receive it are trying to recover from the social problems they’ve faced and are trying to improve their lives.
The episode begins with the gang in the bar and Mac coming in and complaining about the state liquor tax. Dee tells them if they don’t like it they can vote to avoid these taxes. They complain that it doesn’t work because both sides have bad policies. Frank states that some politicians run to make money out of it by soliciting a bribe to drop out. This makes the gang decide to run for political position and make money out of it. Mac, Charlie, and Frank argue as to who should be Dennis manager for his candidacy. Dennis and Charlie go into the mall talking to people as to why he’s a good candidate and try to make a scene to boost his campaign. Mac tries to solicit a bribe from a union but they trick him into making Dennis drop out. When Mac tells Dennis to drop out, Dennis tells him that he wants to actually run which makes Mac and Frank ,who is mad about not being the campaign manager, to make an advertisement slandering Dennis’s campaign. He trades the tape for Charlies’ card collection but when he talks to Dennis he is told that he is dropping out of the race. Mac goes back to the union after hearing Dennis quit, but gets stop midway by cops who bribe him.
The episode deals with how politicians aren’t just greedy people and running for a government position isn’t just pandering to the public with small acts. Frank’s statement that politicians are just in it for the money can be compare to the public’s opinion that politicians are greedy. This idea makes people generalize all politicians as greedy which leads to some candidates that are actually running to better government policies to be viewed in a bad way. When Mac goes to solicit a bribe we see how the union leaders see how bad informed he is and decide to just prank him. Dennis and Charlie start to do what think politicians do to win by creating a speech and going into the mall to try to appeal to the public. These actions show how bad informed they are because they can’t even come up with a reasonable statement to attract voters. The show also repeats this statement “that’s how politics work” which shows how uneducated people are about the U.S political system. Politics is way more complex than people running to get money, and to generalize all politicians this way makes it hard to differentiate who has the better intention and policies. As the article “The Relationship Between Television and Culture” states about television in the 70’s, ” By the end of the decade, television broadcasting reflected a far more politically conscious and socially aware viewing audience. ” This episode helps its audience to become politically conscious by pushing them to learn more about the U.S political system.
The episode is set with the main characters entering a liquor store. As they begin to look for food a robber comes in demanding for money. Then they ask themselves what they are going to do about the situation. We then see the imaginary fantasy of each member as to how they would react. Mac sees himself confronting the robber and fighting off Yakuza members and finally dying a hero’s death. Dee views the robbery as a way to get rid of her friends who try to use her as a way to escape and then betraying both her friends and robber. She goes into witness protection and becomes a popular actress. Dennis’s fantasy is being able to survive the robbery and overcoming physical rehabilitation. Frank imagines the robbery as a way for him to eat as many hot dogs as he can. Finally, Charlie’s perspective shows him saving his love life as she comes inside the store leading to them living a happy life together. In the end they all agree to rush out of the store with as many things as they can.
The episode explains to us the fantasies we usually have and the outcomes we hope for such as glorification and obtaining our desires. Each character has an outcome that benefits and empowers them. Mac’s view shows him being considered a great fighter and a hero in the eyes of his friends. Dee obtains fame by taking advantage of the situation and finding herself working for a show that makes her famous. Dennis is able to feel great about himself because he is able to recover from the accident without anyone’s help. Frank satisfies his hunger by eating as many hot dogs as he wants while the police deal with the situation. Charlie’s outcome leads to him living a dreamy life with his crush. Each situation is meant to boost their self esteem and build their egotistic view of themselves but in reality the situation is much more serious. They all agree to not risk their life and go the easy route out. They escape the scene but not before satisfying their greed and stealing snacks on the way out. As the article “The Relationship Between Television and Culture” states, “…television has both reflected and nurtured cultural mores and values.” The show reflects the amount of value we put into our desires leading to sacrificing anything and anyone to obtain them. In many situations we always hope that we are able to gain something out of it and don’t care about the impact it may have on others. When confronted by an actual problem, people try to run away to avoid the serious consequences that can cause them harm in many ways.
The episode starts with Frank in the news talking about getting robbed but having guns to defend himself. He urges people to buy guns from Gunther’s Gun store to defend themselves. Charlie and Mac argue that owning guns helps people protect themselves while Dennis and Dee argue to get them off the street. Mac and Charlie decide to work as security at a school to protect them from shootings. While trying to teach the kids how to defend themselves they realize how crazy they go with objects and that if many people had guns the outcome would be worse. Dennis and Dee go to a gun store and try to buy a gun to prove how easy it is to get one. They get denied because of their background checks and they try to get one illegally but they get robbed. They come to the conclusion that to stop a bad guy with a gun a good guy needs a gun .When they all meet up they argue against what they first thought was right until Frank arrives. Frank tells them that he was just appealing to the public so that the stake he bought in Gunther’s Gun store would make him rich. Frank admits that he didn’t care about the gun issue at all.
This episode explains how much impact the news has on society and how the appeal to emotion works to push an agenda. People buy into these appeals and react irrational without trying to solve the issue at hand. People might exploit a political issue by creating narratives that persuade people to act without critically thinking about the problem to gain money. These people don’t care about actually solving the problem and are more concern on making profit. The show explains that to an extent both sides could be correct but the issue is never truly discussed. As the article ” The Relationship Between Television and Culture” states, ” Critics argue that partisan news networks cause viewers to have less understanding of opposing political opinions, making them more polarized.” The issue is that partisan news aren’t able to discuss the issue at hand which leads to people not knowing what the problem really is. The article “Culture and Hegemony” states, “Hegemony can only be maintained so long as the dominant classes succeed in framing all competing definitions within their range.” Frank represents the upper class who frame their arguments to maintain control over the lower class by making them fight over what should be done and not on other social issues.
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