PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

I love and appreciate deep reflections on cultural experiences. Especially popularized ones. I also learned something here about the real world road runner and coyote that I didn't know. That insight further exposes a symbolism in the whole ridiculous Roadrunner vs Wiley E. Coyote melodrama: The desperate and ever more hungry coyote participates in mass consumption of products from a huge corporation, hoping to fill a void that he had all the power to fill on his own. The product consumption actually interfered with the consumption he truly needed. It also swallowed up all of his time, to accomplish less. Perhaps there was a cryptic message that mostly went unnoticed by the audience of children. Or perhaps it was brainwash? I don't know. It's fascinating, though.

As for Fonzie, who was he cool to? The high school kids, mostly. Which makes sense. High school kids and young adults in westen society were immature, if not downright incompetent, in judging the world (and are arguably even more so, now, in our near-completely electric society). I should know, I was once one : ) He was probably one of the lesser harmful characters to carry an illusion we need not learn, but he was also the one that probably opened the door for mass messaging on this front: "Being smart and responsible is uncool." My generation was hit really hard by this message in the 1980's and early 90's. Saved by the Bell, probably the most popular Saturday show when I was a kid, as well as Friday's popular "Family Matters" both portrayed the most book smart person as being otherwise a total baffoon, and extremely uncool. The most positively portrayed characters - certainly in shows like Saved by the Bell - were the slackers who knew how they should look, but didn't give a damn how they should act towards others (Zach, most especially). As jobs were being shipped overseas and the world was about to move into a massive technological bump that meant less hardworking, responsible and intelligent people were needed (and would therefore only make competition for the ruling class), advertisers were very happy to support shows with these type of storylines. 

I also think about how, by the late 80's, nearly every show was portrayed in an upper middle class to very rich home. Family Matters, to it's credit, was one of the few that didn't do this. So at least it had that redeeming quality. But whereas earlier television, for what little it could offer, largely focused around working class family scenarios, this shift towards wealthier portrayals was part of the steady and increasing erasure of the story of the working class and their struggle from media. Music would follow suit as the 90's came to an end. Even "The Fresh Prince", whose main character was a teenage boy from the projects, had his entire story instantly transported to a wealthy home in one of the richest areas of the country. This, of course, comes full circle the road runner and coyote, as well, as it only helps to encourage us to chase the carrot and seek a life of consumption.

Side note on Fonzie: His creeping on high school girls is fairly disturbing in our time, but back when that show was written, the legal age for such relations was only 14-16 across most of the U.S., so it does require some context in it's time (it is actually still 14-16 in some states, believe it or not). This was a left over echo from an agrarian time which was followed by world wars and the Great Depression, when people matured more quickly, due to great burdens when young, so sexually maturity was generally closely linked with adulthood. In many second and third world countries, it's still generally viewed this way, because a teenager might already be running a farm and tending to younger siblings like a parent. Historically, I would imagine, 15 year olds were probably a lot more mature than I was even at 25, and my family struggled relative to modern American standards. Obviously, none of this to excuse rising pedophilia movements, sex trafficking that runs through the halls of the richest and most poweful, and so on. I personally think the age of consent between adults should be risen to at least 21, due to how immature our society has become since the advent of television, than the internet, then smart phones and of course from mass consumption.