We Blame Roseanne
This isn’t a recap show. It’s a cultural exploration, a dissection of learned behaviors and toxic patterns, and an examination of the intersection of historical events and entertainment. Because even though she may think she’s been erased from history, the fact is that her art and her public persona have influenced societal, familial, and political movements. It may be easier for some people to separate the art from the artist, but it’s impossible to ignore the larger impact when the artist decides to make their politics known. Art is inherently political, and while fictional liberties are taken, comedians who launch sitcoms based on their work are including some version of themselves in the writing. There are a lot of fans who label this as their comfort show and can relate to the Conner family because it reflects a lot of what they saw at home. Those same fans will also say that Roseanne’s current public persona “happened all of a sudden” and are convinced that she was red pilled after watching too much YouTube. But if you go back and re-assess the show, along with the connected media surrounding it, you see that she’s always been this way to some extent. We’ll be illustrating this through the lens of a specific phenomenon or problem each episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Before the debut of Roseanne, television shows depicted children without parents as a tragedy. But the Conners made light of the parentification of their children, even when the situation was objectively grim. The general theme of the show was "putting the fun in dysfunctional", which meant normalizing a lack of boundaries. Each one of the Conner kids display the long-term impact of parentification, but because it's viewed in a com...
In this episode, Diana and JR unpack why they blame Roseanne (both the show and the person) for perpetuating White Feminism. While Roseanne continues to be regarded as a "feminist icon", the bulk of her work only allowed for a feminism that primarily focused on the experience of cisgender, neurotypical white people. The show Roseanne has received a lot of critical acclaim for a couple of episodes labeled controversial or groundbrea...
Despite being blatantly homophobic, xenophobic, and aggressively unfunny, Bill Maher continues to be booked and blessed, making millions a year. Flying his private plane, although he claims to be an environmentalist. Being misogynistic AF while claiming to be pro-women. Spouting half-baked talking points without any research to back up dangerous rhetoric, without any consideration for the folks who are harmed by the language...the ...
In this episode, we talk about how we blame Roseanne for the magnification of mediocre white men, through the show onscreen and offscreen.
Important links:
Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America
Why does the world reward mediocre white men?
Why are sitcom dads still so incompetent?
Today's ParentJudd Apatow, Sarah Silverman, and Roseanne Barr Talk Judaism, F-bombs, and Radical Feminism
Diana and JR discuss the ways in which the show and the person amplified the "fun in dysfunctional" trope in comedy.
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A few resources:
Dysfunctional Family: Traits, Examples, Impact, Healing
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