Media Journal

Today, media play an extremely important role, which affects the life of people and contribute to the formation of biases, stereotypes and ideology of the contemporary society. In fact, mass media has the power of the formation of the public opinion. In such a way, they have a considerable impact on the development of the public opinion and views of the audience. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the fact that the contemporary mass media are still vulnerable to the impact of racial biases and stereotypes. However, today, the contemporary mass media tends to develop multicultural trends that contribute to the formation of more tolerant relationships within the society. At this point, the development of the contemporary mass media mirrors the development of the contemporary society, which tends to transform from the white-dominated society towards the multicultural society. In this regard, it is possible to refer to contemporary programs and advertisements, which reveal the full extent to which the contemporary mass media are controversial and to which contemporary mass media tend to become more tolerant in relation to race and ethnicity.

On analyzing the contemporary mass media, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that the development of the contemporary mass media mirrors the development of the contemporary society. In actuality, the contemporary society tends to become more and more multicultural because diverse racial and ethnic group grow larger, whereas the dominant white racial group decreases. In addition, the number of immigrants, both legal and illegal steadily grows. As a result, the contemporary mass media develop concepts and convey messages stressing the multicultural environment, in which contemporary people live. In fact, the trend to the development of multiculturalism in the contemporary society and mass media still confronts a number of obstacles and barriers because racial biases are still strong and affect the perception of representatives of different racial groups by the audience. Nevertheless, the mass media has already started to get rid of race-related biases and stereotypes, although the transition from homogeneous cultural environment to the multicultural environment occurs slowly in the contemporary mass media.

Among the variety of programs and shows, it is possible to refer to “Army Wives” series, which focuses on the depiction of the military life of men and women. In fact, the series depicts women and men living in the multicultural environment. At the same time, “Army Wives” series depicts the life of men and women in the very specific environment. To put it more precisely, the series shows the military environment and complex relationships, which develop between the main characters in the series. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the fact that some of the characters have the experience of the participation in military operations in Afghanistan. They return back home to the US, where they have to start a new life or, to put it more precisely, to return to the normal life. In such a situation, a number of interpersonal conflicts emerge between the main characters. At this point, the conflicts between men and women are particularly strong (Bagdikian, 2002). In fact, the complex relationships between men and women in the “Army Wives” focus on the relationships between men and women serving in the military. At the same time, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that women are presented in the series as traditional housewives, which are waiting for their husbands but some of them do the military service themselves. However, whatever they do they still have to wait for their husbands. In this regard, the complexity of interpersonal relationships between men and women annihilates the complex interracial relationships. Moreover, women represent different racial groups but still they are united because they have husbands, who risk their lives and serve in the US army. In such a way, all of the female characters turn out to be the army wives that means that they all share the same interests and they face the same threats. In such a way, the belongingness of their husbands to the US army and their direct or indirect involvement in the US army as well leads to the elimination of interracial barriers and make them closer to each other, regardless of their racial background. Therefore, the US army becomes the unifying factor, a sort of the melting pot, where representatives of different racial groups serve and live together as members of one and the same community. Hence, “Army Wives” promote the idea of multiculturalism and cultural tolerance. In fact, in the context of the series, race does become secondary in interpersonal relations of the main characters. Therefore, the series conveys a very important messages of the transition of the contemporary society toward multiculturalism. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the fact that the concept of multiculturalism may be not clearly traced through the film but still, the film stresses the close relationships and the possibility of existence of equal relationships between representatives of different racial groups and, what is more important, they have their own specificities determined by cultural differences between diverse racial groups. The diversity of racial groups presented in the series mirror the actual situation in the US army, which becomes more and more diverse in regard to the racial representation. Nevertheless, the film makes the interracial relationships secondary compared to interpersonal relationships between men and women. On the other hand, in such a way, the film stresses the multicultural environment, in which contemporary people live. Therefore, “Army Wives” convey the audience the clear message that racial background of an individual is unimportant but what does matter is the relationships between people and the race does not affect interpersonal relationships in the contemporary society.