Abstract:

This article analyzes the representation of poor people through main characters in globally popular American serials. The study employs a systematic content analysis to identify and analyze the main characters who are representing poor people in four serials; Friends, The O.C., 2 Broke Girls and Shameless. We have chosen these American serials because of their popularity and high global rating. Before we started to analyze the serials, we gave an overview of the relationship of popular culture and serials, extremity, and researchers, statistics about poor people to have a realistic perspective. We also studied the latest popular serials and poor people’s representation through main characters of these serials. We have analyzed the serials under six categories to see how poor people are imaged. According to our hypothesis and the results, when American serials focus on poor characters, they are represented as extreme characters in a negative way generally.   

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