Review: The Good Wife (Rough Draft)

The Good Wife is a show that airs on CBS and first aired in 2009. The show is a political and legal drama that was a commentary on the multiple political scandals between wives and husbands in the political world. The show began with the main character, Alicia Florick, being cheated on by her husband who was the governor of Illinois at the time. The show has since carried the plot of how Alicia responds and moves on. Each episode however also carries individual plots pertaining to either the law firm Alicia works for or the political scene being established by her husband.

The show at face value is a drama. However, the show also requires the audience to think critically of the information argued within each episode. The icons of wife, husband, lawyer, and politician are all examined and the roles of each are renegotiated almost each episode. As a whole I appreciate the commentary made on these different roles. In society, men and women are held to strict stereotypes of how to act in relationships. I think it is important that shows like this break gender stereotypes like who takes care of the kids, who makes the decisions in a relationship, and more.

The show specifically addresses the double standards between the genders in instances of infidelity. The show may have originated with the moment that Alcia’s husband was caught having an affair, but throughout the show, Alicia also finds herself in bed with someone who is not her husband. The commentary on this issue stands out the most. Society seems to market itself with values of fidelity yet the value of marriage continues to deteriorate. Right now in America, around fifty percent of marriages end in divorce. I find it interesting that fidelity is still presented as such a high value when the value of marriage itself continues to drop.

One attitude that has been recently addressed in the show that really caught my attention is the view that we as a society have on the limelight. We are constantly discussing celebrities and stars and the lives they lead. Part of those discussions fall on how we feel about youth that grow up in the limelight. There is a common attitude towards youth in the limelight that makes it look that we as a society see them as unreal and incapable of being normal. We judge children who are thrust into the media’s attention and mark them as future burnouts and delinquents but no one considers what they themselves are going through. The show recently addressed this topic when it followed the sub-plot pertaining to the daughter of Alicia Florick. The daughter has just begun high school and due to a high government ranking father and the scandal behind his name, she is being recognized as a pseudo celebrity name. Specifically she is being identified by her looks when a popular website lists her as one of the top ten hottest politician’s daughters.  

As a whole I believe that the show is effective in representing the world the way it truly is. It's not black and white or at least not to the degree that we would like. There are different shades of gray and it's our job to discern which ones are acceptable.

An Immobile America

Advertisers are now viewed to have more power over public opinion than the public themselves. I would like to argue that this is due to an inactive public, not because advertisers are abusing their access to main stream media. Consumers can argue that their privacy is being infringed on; that their information is being used against their will. I ask them how many social media accounts do they own? How many rewards cards have they signed up for? The general public, educated or not, has participated in the free market long enough that they should understand its most basic building block by now; NOTHING is free. Every time you click ‘Accept’ or create a media profile, you are giving someone the rights to your information. Until someone can come forward and tell me that they have truly abstained from the marketing game by separating themselves from the bodies that collect information, I will continue to argue that the general public not only had it coming, but they asked for it.

I’m not saying that I like the situation or approve of it. I do, however, believe that it is the responsibility of the public to take ownership and responsibility for the role they play in the game if they want to truly call it quits. It requires the same active dissension that massive government revolutions require. I recognize that the messages portrayed by mega-advertising companies are not always productive to the public psyche, but if a citizen is not part of fixing the problem, then they’re part of the problem. Mass media moves billions of dollars every day and we both benefit from that flow and we suffer. The only way to change the odds in our favor is to take control of the media. Your average American has accepted the life of a follower and has a strong dissimilarity towards challenging the status-quo. Until we as a society break this trend, then mass media is free to lead and shape everything they see fit. They didn't take the power from us, we gave it to them.