Thursday 13 February 2014

The Oprah Winfrey Show





The Oprah Winfrey Show

Without a doubt “The Oprah Winfrey Show” is one of the most successful TV shows of the 1980's. From being aired on September 8th 1986, to becoming one of the longest- running daytime television show in history whilst receiving 47 daytime Emmy awards. It started off with Oprah’s first topic on “How to Marry the Man or Woman of Your Choice." To then becoming highly influential and focusing on topics directed to American pop-cultural whilst being a place where celebrities and news makers can share their intimate secrets.. The show provided inspiration, education, positivity, compelling interviews as well as world events. But what made it so influential and successful throughout the 80s as well as 25 years on air..

Well According to Tom Geoghegan who posted an online article of “Oprah Winfrey: 10 moments that made her.” Concluded that one of the moments was her “Sexual abuse claim” in 1986, in which the topic of the show was about sexual abuse, where Oprah confessed candidly that she was raped as a child. Oprah confessing and discussing this topic on live television, made America aware that rape is still happening and it’s not something to be ignored. Especially since rape was very high within the 70's to 90's.


Another moment was "The Wagon of fat of 1988", were Oprah Winfrey pulled and displayed a wagon of fat onto the stage which represented her loss of weight over the course of four months. Tim Tee man correspondent for The Times newspaper stated that “Oprah will be remembered for anything, it will be her body shape, which mirrored America's obsession with its own body shape.” "You could say it doesn't give out the right message but it does give out the real message. The way Oprah did weight is a real reflection on people's own struggles with it."This represents a time within the 1980's where the way you looked represented the way you eat and how you wish to be portrayed, notably within reference to the Yuppies of this era. 


The Oprah Winfrey Show represented female power, as that was the era where women exchange roles with the men and embody the true definition of power within a female with artist such as Madonna. Whilst Oprah, was the third women in the American entertainment industry to own her own studio named Harpo Studio in 1988. Plus being recognised within 150 countries internationally, and receiving more than 40 million viewers a week within the United States alone. “Her daytime television talk show turns Winfrey into one of the most powerful, wealthy people in show business and, arguably, the most influential woman in America.”
Not only did Oprah Winfrey represent success for women’s within the era but also a role model for African Americans. Within the sense that her identity was not defined by the area or place she was born into. Which took her away from her stereotypical background who was a child born in rural Mississippi to a poor unwed teenage mother.

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