Saved By The Bell Character Analysis

As technology has advanced throughout history, it has had a greater impact on peoples’ lives as time passed, especially for America in the late 20th and early 21st century. As television grew to become a staple in the households of every modern family, the influence it brought spread out to affect the ideas and views people have about society. Depending on categorizations such as gender, race, class, age, and ability/disability, the media teaches spectators of its production how to behave and what to expect based on where the individual falls in each category, notably for young watchers in their formative years. In television shows such as Saved by the Bell, an early 1990’s slice of life romantic comedy centering on a group of high school students, messages regarding these classifications can be found along with their purpose. In episode 15 of season 3 “Date Auction”, examples of the media’s messages to the audience are

The episode starts off with Lisa receiving a mysterious letter from her secret admirer. After she reads it, she is ecstatic because she assumes when she finally meets him, he will provide her money to please her needs. It is hinted at here that men are primarily good to women for their material, and secondary for their emotional attachment; therefore, men should take the role of a provider to obtain the partners they want. Meanwhile, Zack and Slater make a bet to see who can get a kiss first from a stubborn girl named Tori. To do so, Slater uses the excuse of having her model for a school project to steal a kiss while Zack takes her on a date to show her a good time. Alongside the previous message, the episode also teaches men that to completely win a girl over they must show her respect to manipulate her feelings. This episode is much more centered on its ideas men and women view and approach the opposite sex in romantic