Nowadays, people interact daily with many media sources that depict specific workplaces. This interaction creates many biases toward some professions that can lead to group polarization, intolerance, or unjust treatment. One such media manifestation is Brooklyn Nine-Nine, an American situational comedy that portrays a police station where employees deal with mysteries daily. By connecting eight seasons to various crimes, this TV show positions the police station as an inclusive workplace that saves people’s lives and promotes dedicated workers.
Since media is always demand-driven, where preferences and audience choices affect its success, content creators generate suitable plots to attract more viewers. Regarding TV shows, producers choose primitive focus as a particular workplace, making it more appealing to the audience by evoking positive emotions. While people enjoy these media sources, they shape a one-to-one match mindset where characters with their values and beliefs correspond to real-life people. Therefore, they trust specific stereotyping in media and continue labeling professions daily.
The passive consumption culture without analyzing real-life situations causes counterintuitive consequences. The most important is that people treat others according to the TV shows. For example, there is a general stereotyping trend that police officers are careless employees eating donuts. Since this picture is portrayed in various TV shows, the audience believes in the uselessness of officers and marginalizes their help. However, there are cases when an image derived from media serves as a dream for its viewers and forces many people to apply for job positions as their favorite characters from TV shows. This initial positive attitude helps people become more involved in the workplace and succeed. Hence, these two conflicting sides demonstrate that people should analyze real-life correspondence of their media sources and terminate passive consumption.
Regarding Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the TV show’s plot revolves around the life of Jake Peralta, a professional detective who used to act immature before meeting his new commanding officer, Captain Raymond Holt. Since the show illustrates how each character starts as an officer before being promoted to the detective, it points to the realistic aspects (Goor & Schur, 2013–2021). This phenomenon creates a picture of a workplace where everyone’s efforts are praised.
The most realistic aspects of this sitcom relate to the problem of inclusiveness in a workplace where a strong focus is placed on equity and diversity. Captain Holt’s character justifies this inclusiveness by being a black officer from the LGBTQ community (Goor & Schur, 2013–2021). As an officer, he faced discrimination and mockery from his colleagues. Unfortunately, racial and gender discrimination remains a critical social issue. Additionally, Captain deals with power abuse from the person with more authority who deprives him of a position. As in real life, people lose their positions when they interfere with more influential people.
Meanwhile, the unrealistic aspects of this TV show appear when the audience compares it to their own experience. During its eight years of shooting, Brooklyn 9-9 touches on crimes such as murder and drug trafficking that frequently remain neglected in real life. However, Captain Holt and his detective team unmistakably resolve any issue in their area without any problems in one episode. Moreover, the show lacks any demonstration of corruption, while this problem persists. It hints that the TV show provides a perfect view of police stations, where they save lives without hesitation.
To conclude, media shapes the audience’s understanding of workplaces by providing a concrete picture of human interactions with imposed values and beliefs. When the audience does not examine the correspondence of TV shows to their experiences, it fails to recognize its realistic and unrealistic aspects. Brooklyn Nine-Nine, where police officers resolve all cases but continue to discriminate against its workers, is an example of a TV show that affects people’s views.
Reference
Goor, D., & Schur, M. (Executive Producers). (2013–2021). Brooklyn Nine-Nine [TV series]. Fremulon Dr. Goor Productions.