What movies and television shows have made the most impact on society?

I'm doing my online course work for Humanities and this is one of my discussion questions:

What movies and television shows have made the most impact on society and why? How has that impact been felt? Be specific to the kind of impact, whether positive or negative and who in society it is impacting?


I thought it would be interesting to see what everyone's thoughts are on this.

 

The Jeffersons..

 

All in the Family was pretty groundbreaking for all the political issues and social taboos of the day it took on.

Braveheart might have unexpectedly risen Scottish nationalism and helped the referendum on self rule pass there(the previous one had failed)

The X files too, given the general mood of the 90's, along with the rise of the internet I think helped sparked a lot of conspiracy theorists.

Seinfeld among the top too in terms of social impact as so many things from the show came part of every day speech.

 

the simpsons is a nice reflection of american life.

 

The Adventures of Pete and Pete ruined my life. It convinced me that a daily heroin and jimson weed habit is ok. I think it was largely responsible for the first WTC bombing too.

 

great answers. Growing up I could always relate to Roseanne. My family went through a lot of the same issues. Also I would say Star Trek (even though I don't like it), it has a huge following.

 

Holy shit!! I almost forgot about that show. Are you afraid of the dark gave me nightmares for years as a little girl.

 

They have a few episodes on youtube :2thumbsup:

 

The Exorcist and Jaws, Both films got into the psyche of the audience and scared the shit out of people at the time.

I didnt really like the show but I guess you could say Survivor for ushering in that new era of reality tv. Real world and a few others were around before but it seemed Survivor really opened the gates for reality tv.

 

This post single handedly prompted me to watch this show again, starting with youtube... This show is pure genius

 

The Day After Tomorrow.. It had a huge impact: hahaah Go Green

 

Well while we're on Pete and Pete
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj9pFcUof7c"]YouTube - Polaris - Hey Sandy


Also to be serious, Star Wars, very few movie chains have had the lasting cultural impact that Star Wars had, in fact I'd say none probably have.

 

For American TV and women, perhaps Mary Tyler Moore. It had a self-empowerment for women kind of thing going on.

Going farther back, the 60s shows reflected much of the baby boomer needs of the time. People like Fred MacMurray (My Three Sons), Brian Keith (Family Affair), and Bill Bixby (Courtship of Eddie's Father) were all fatherly images playing to a young baby boom generation. All were single parents also.

I don't know if TV shows necessarily direct people to a particular course. I think they offer a sense of comradery to people in a particular situation and make them feel reassured that things can work out ok.

That last line of the Mary Tyler Moore show kinda sums it up: 'You're gonna make it after all'.

.

 

All in the Family..

Everyone hates Raymond.. < I hate that show, dumb cop brother and a fool sports writer, both dumb as shit... the old man makes the show though..

 

As modern of a film as this may be, I would like to mention Into The Wild. Though it's so new relatively, I've heard 1 if not 50 (usually 18-25 yrs old) people make comments on how they wish they could do that, and though not everyone is going to just say fuck society and go live in alaskan wildneress, I believe people may seek liberation from everyday mundane society in more subtle ways....Inspiration for something else, I guess is what im getting at.

 

:2thumbsup:

 

wong post..

 

1) the News
after that:
MTV, BET and Disney

 

Don't forget Univision

 

CNN, for not only being the first 27/7 news network, but for also being the first network to prove there's not 24 hours of news worth reporting a day.