It's (Not) Always Sunny in Philadelphia

  In the hit comedy show, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, crazy antics and adventures take place throughout the twelve seasons of the series. The cast of a family and two childhood friends entertains the audience with various amounts of episodes that are not only hilariously funny but also point out moral and political issues our society faces. This show is a good example of what a satire should look like with constant hinting to controversial issues. A satire is known to have comedic base with a splash of emphasis on moral goodness. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia does just that throughout the series, by being able to call out certain immoral and inappropriate aspects of society. The creators of the show do this in a way where the characters aren't aware of their intended mentions of political issues or their effectiveness once its said. This creates an easy flowing stream of satire that the audience are able to understand on an intellectual level.
  Another key aspect of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, is the nihilism present in the series. This show takes on a different path compared to the popular sitcoms airing or have aired while the show has been on air. An avid watcher of the show could make the observation that the show is half satirical and half nihilistic. The wildness that goes on in the show is due to the characters' ideologies and how they, most of the time, view life as meaningless. They tend to take on a more pessimistic perspective by immediately shifting to a negative conclusion prior to even solving a problem. Each character has gone through an episode where they have had a cynical view on an event occurring in their lives. The other characters fueled these cynical thoughts by either agreeing or adding on to the negative thoughts. This is usually how the relationships in the cast goes due to the lack of empathy, hopefulness, and care of others and the world around them. This leads the characters' lives to have no progression or growth throughout the series. A good example of this is the lack of success the bar has compared to other businesses around it.
  In one episode of season nine of the show, the self-titled gang (Dennis, Dee, Frank, Charlie, and Mac) go to a bar that has won muliptle awards for being of top quality. As they look around at the lively, well lit and clean bar, they begin to wonder why their own bar hasn't received the same amount of success. As a constant watcher of the show, you would quickly be able to understand why their bar has not gained any popularity. The dark, unclean and very unpleasant workers of their bar are to blame for the lack of customers. This is due to the characters unwillingness to care for anything but themselves while keeping a despairing point of view.
  The series as a whole beautifully incorporates nihilism in an already satirical setting without the overspilling of one onto the other. The balance of the ability to point out political issues in a way that calls out the wrongdoings of society, while still keeping the characters' personality as cynical and nihilistic is the reason why the show is able to be on for twelve seasons.

Roseanne and the Marx

      Although Karl Marx’s theories were formulated in the nineteenth century, his ideals still are true and exist till this day. One way we can see this is in the media and how they portray class. The media does a very good job at bringing up marxist theory in either tv shows or movies.In the episode of Roseanne titled, Let's Call It Quits, a critique that supports Marxist criticism is pretty evident if the audience analyzes the episode. In Marxist criticism, there are three classes, Aristocrats, Bourgeois, and Proletarians. 
In this episode of Roseanne bourgeois is seen in form of the supervisor and proletarians is present in the form of roseanne and her co workers. The proletariats work at a plastic manufacture and are of the working class. At the beginning of the episode the proletariats (roseanne and her friends), support marxist criticism by stating what the supervisor really deserves is to have to work for himself. By bringing attention to the lack of work done by the bourgeois (the supervisor) and the proletariats, this episode emphasized the disparities between economic classes.
Later on in the episode, the supervisor interrupts the girls lunch break by asking them if they are enjoying their break. Roseanne and one of her coworkers jokingly says that they are enjoying their imaginary veil and other fancy meals. Their mocking focuses on how they portray the upper class to act when they do not have to work for their earnings. Since the girls have not experienced such lavish living due to their economic status, they create an imaginary scenario on how they think they would be living. 
Another instance that supports Marxist criticism in the episode is when Roseanne decides to clean up her friend’s workplace, because the supervisor believes it’s too messy. As the supervisor is attempting to stop her from doing another coworker’s work, Roseanne refuses. This reflects the ideology present in Roseanne and other proletariats. The notion of sticking together and working as a team is a long time ideology of the working class since they have been the largest group for ages. Roseanne’s ideology is attempting to be halted by the supervisor’s own ideology. His beliefs stem from his position as a bourgeois and the notion that things should be done independently.
One key scene in the episode is when the coworkers are at the bar for the first time. While at the bar, one of Roseanne’s coworker complains about the unfair pay and the unrealistic expectations they are given. The supervisor gives them a goal that is too difficult for one human being to do in such a short amount of time. For the girls (proletariats), they are able to criticize the class system because they are being treated unfairly by it. However for the supervisor, since he receives plenty benefits with little hard work, he is unable to criticize the economic system he is on top of.
Towards the end, Roseanne finally quits realizing that she is unable to reason with someone economically above her. When the supervisor tries to remind her of this she makes the decision to quit her job. The supervisor warns others in the cafeteria that they can choose to stay and make money, or leave and quit. After this statement, Roseanne’s coworkers begin to get up and quit. The ending part to this episode emphasizes that the proletariat are able to use marxist criticism in situations like these.

White Fragility in the Workplace: How does this apply to Critical Media Studies

       This popular video posted by AJ+ discussing white fragility in the workplace is a great piece of media to analyze. As a media scholar this video gives me various theories and concepts that are talked about in the book. One outstanding theory is the Political Attitude that is featured in critical media studies. The video points out that white people have more privilege than those of color, and by using satire they emphasize the power structure in our society today. The comedic approach to white sensitivity to racial topics, sets up a political attitude for the entire video.
       Another aspect of the video that is included in the book is the social justice perspective. By poking fun of white fragility from being called a racist, an awareness of inequalities faced in the workplace by people of color is added. The point of the video is to make white people understand that  being labeled a racist isn't as hurtful as the oppression people of color go through daily. To put a term equal to systematic oppression faced by non white people is invalid. The video makes this point across by adding comedy to the subject. By making the audience laugh it will exaggerate just how ridiculous white fragility is.