The impact of TV shows and their ability to address social issues
I sunk further into the couch and started the second show in my weekly lineup of series that are actually live on TV with new episodes again. “How are they going to bring the shows back in a pandemic?” I asked myself weeks ago when I saw the first promo run for a new season. But of course, not only did they find a way to bring the seasons back. They made many of the shows I watch pandemic-present. Taking you inside hospitals and giving viewers a front-row seat to what healthcare workers and first responders are dealing with as they attempt to save those that are sick and dying.
Sure, some may argue that dramatizations of hospital plot lines are poorly done. My mom for one was famous for talking over my watching of ER or Grey's Anatomy when I was growing up to tell me how inaccurate the lighting was. How misrepresented the family members’ access to the procedures and surgeries were. She was a nurse in the ER back in the 80s and has worked in surgery centers since I was in grade school. She thought it was hilarious that I loved the show ER so much, but I never loved it for the scrubs or the doctor romances. I watched it for the patient plotlines and to humanize tragedy. To put things into perspective I guess you could say. Make you appreciate how good you have it.
But now I see that these shows play such an important role in highlighting what’s going on in society and calling viewers to ask themselves questions about the world around them. Last November I wrote an article: The Power of Mental Health Plotlines. I described the show This Is Us and highlighted how television creates connection and visibility into a character’s life and development at a level that movies don’t allow. Experiencing trauma from multiple character’s perspectives allows the writers to challenge viewers to consider things from different points of view. Making you personally invested in potential outcomes.
In the live shows that I watch today, they bring core issues out in the open and remind us what this year looks like for some people. Grey’s Anatomy, The Good Doctor, Station 19. These shows are illustrating doctors and nurses having to strip down in their garage at the end of a shift before taking a shower and then sleeping … in their garage, to keep their family safe. After working long hours to save others, some of whom didn’t even do a simple thing like wearing a mask to save themselves.
They show people dying. Alone. With nothing but family on Facetime and a lot of loneliness around them. That is an all too real experience for the friends and family of the 399,000 + people who have died from COVID in the US this year. I personally, however, didn’t have to say goodbye to anyone on Facetime this year. I needed the in your face reminder that I got from watching Grey’s Anatomy. And yes, I still watch Grey’s Anatomy.
Their new sister spin-off show - Station 19, took it one step further. Both Station 19 and Grey’s Anatomy have been addressing systemic racism and the struggles that come with being Black in America all season, but the last episode of Station 19 episode bravely portrayed human trafficking and the startling statistics about how Black girls are disproportionately targeted and trafficked, and also so often have their cases dismissed by law enforcement.
In the episode, a mom is looking for her teenage daughter. She hasn’t been able to get a hold of her for nearly 24 hours, but her fitness tracker shows that her current location is at a house in a random suburb. While this mom is making a scene, trying to get help, a group of off-duty firefighters discover her upset and ask what’s going on. They’re the ‘stars of the show’. When the mom is sharing her story you can start to notice some differences of opinion in the firefighters. Some of them are thinking that maybe her teenage daughter is just “being a teenager” and may be with friends having fun. The show writers almost have to create this sense of doubt in my opinion. There have to be characters who are brought along in the revelation as well. Who are shocked and horrified. These characters and their personalities are in many ways created to talk to the many fans of the show and their various personalities.
As the scene escalates, one of the main characters, a Black dad of a young daughter, starts to get visibly upset. As his colleagues try to calm him down he bursts with anger to not only explain to them the real dangers of the situation, but also share with them some of the startling statistics surrounding trafficking of young Black girls. In some instances, it may seem completely unnatural to drop statistics in a heated dialogue between 2 main characters of a show, but at this moment it was so perfect. The statistic took your breath away, but it also made sense that a new father would have these things memorized. Especially as a firefighter. That he would be worrying about them and the impacts of systemic racism on his young daughter.
To take it 1 step further, the episode escalates when the firefighters decide to call for police support, and when they arrive on the scene, they are portrayed as clearly not interested in helping or hearing out the Black mothers. Before the police officers arrived, signs of a fire had started at the home, and the off duty firefighters decided that they needed to break into the house in hopes of finding and saving the girls. Everything happens so fast, but some of the subtle cues when police arrive point to a connection between law enforcement and the man who was harboring the young girls, but regardless, the outcome of this particular episode was that the girls were discovered in the home. The man who owned the home (yes, of course, he was white) was arrested and simultaneously a fight broke out between one of the mothers and a police officer. They throw her to the ground along with 2 off duty female firefighters who tried to step in and help the situation. To make matters worse, the scene flashes to the 2 male (and Black) firefighters who decided to break into the home before police arrived to save the young girls from the house, and you can see they’re being arrested by the police officers and told they are being charged with breaking and entering and potentially arsen as well.
The episode didn’t provide much more beyond the startling images of police brutality and the immediate escalation that happened when power was asserted with bad intention. When race roles of this country were played out in the worst way possible. The takeaways of that episode aren’t over. Some of them haven’t even begun to be explained yet. But illustrating that these social issues are real, that they happen, and they can even happen between people of power, begins the dialogue around what’s really going on in our America. Makes people ask themselves if their version of reality is real, or just the beauty of suburbia.
You may think that watching TV is a waste of time and a mindless thing to do when you could be reading, working, writing, doing anything else more productive! But for me, it gives me a chance to see things from different perspectives. It illustrates and illuminates issues and topics that face our society in a way that is eye opening and at times heartbreaking. But it’s important. I’m so grateful that representation and important social issues have been at the forefront of major network shows, and hope that the writers of Station 19 and other dramatizations can continue to educate, or at least call viewers to ask questions of themselves.
After a holiday break for the show, I’m excited to see where the story goes this week. I’m sure they will show some of the legal process that follows the altercation, and some of the disparities in the criminal justice system. It won’t be black and white, and the main cast of characters definitely won’t agree. These different perspectives are important in helping us all identify our own biases and perspectives. So sync into your couch, pick a show, and see how it makes you think. If you need a recommendation for shows that cover mental health, racial and or social issues, start with This Is Us, A Million Little Things, The Good Doctor, or Station 19.
