David Morley conducted a study on audiences to investigate different decodings and interpretations of television texts and how different interpretations of the same text relate to cultural factors. If given the opportunity, I would conduct a similar experiment with an episode from The Golden Girls called “72 Hours.”
In this episode, Rose gets a letter from the hospital where she received a blood transfusion that the blood given to her could possibly be infected by HIV/AIDS, and she needs to be tested. She gets tested, but has to wait 72 hours for the results. The audience watched Rose go through a series of emotions as her friends try to comfort and support her during this difficult time. The episode aired in 1990 during the AIDS crisis, and The Golden Girls producers took a huge risk to air this episode during such a sensitive time. Reviews praised the progressiveness of the episode, and how it taught us how AIDS can be transmitted, that it can happen to anyone, and understanding the disease is important. They quote Blanche’s infamous line, “AIDS is not a bad person’s disease, Rose. It is not God punishing people for their sins.”
Nevertheless, the episode was not perfect. One of the women, Sophia, refused to drink from the same mug as Rose and to use the bathroom after her. In the end, she learns how wrong she is and that she needs to support Rose during her time of fear and not add to it. She even drinks from Rose’s mug. Despite learning her lesson in the end, Sophia’s behavior is unacceptable and would not pass if the episode was made today.
If I conducted an experiment similar to Morley’s, I would investigate TV audiences of different age demographics and how they interpreted the message of the episode. Possibly, young adults who did not grow up with the show and only found it on Hulu recently, may understand how the show is progressive for its time, but thought the episode could have went with a different storyline for Sophia. They may have more of a negotiated or oppositional decoding. People who grew up with the show, like my parents, may see the dominant message of the episode, remember The Golden Girls for being ahead of its time, and see no faults with the episode. I would be interested to investigate how television episodes labeled as “progressive” and “ahead of their time” hold up today.
One reply on “Is “The Golden Girls” Still Progressive By Today’s Standards?”
I’ve never gotten around to watching Golden Girls, though I probably should because it’s always quoted as one of the classics. To me, watching four old white women interact with the world has never been appealing, and I’ve already watched Sex and the City…are they not basically the same thing?
Thinking back to the summer, I remember seeing news about an episode of Golden Girls being taken off a streaming service due to a blackface portrayal. My initial thought was that there’s no way the show could be progressive, but then I realized the same thing happened with an episode of Scrubs (which I believe was a progressive show for its time and continues to be in some ways).
I think I am drawn to older television shows to see what is culturally different today: does the humor hold up, fashion trends, lifestyle choices, etc. The idea of conducting a cross-generational study on reactions to shows like these is a great idea. It could show what we have learned since then, and also unveil things that are deeply woven into American culture.