Difference between revisions of "Suits"

Revision as of 14:58, 12 March 2021

Suits is a American drama television series created and written by Aaron Korsh. Suits is a legal drama about a fictional New York law firm. The show revolves around a Harvard educated lawyer named Harvey Specter and his associate that never went to law school named Mike Ross. The show primarily focuses on Harvey and Mike solving cases while trying to maintain Mike's secret. The show ran for 9 seasons on USA Network from 2011 to 2019.

Ethical Concerns

Femininity in Mass Media

Media has had an issue with the representation of women in the past. Many shows in the past follow stereotypes of men and women. In TV dramas and sitcoms, women tend to be represented more as mothers, nurses, and secretaries while men tend to be represented by dominant roles that display aggression, strength, and action (Chandler). Suits does a great job at breaking this trend. Many of the characters have traits that do not fit these stereotypical roles. Some very good examples are of characters like Jessica Pearson, Louis Litt, and Rachel Zane. Jessica Pearson is the head of the law firm that Harvey and Mike work at. She is portrayed as an intelligent leader that understands much of the world around her. Louis Litt is a partner at the firm that produces the highest billables. He appreciates things like ballet, mudding, origami, and tennis. Rachel Zane is a paralegal of the firm. Over the course of the series, she is shown to make it on her own without her parents’ success, be a part time employee and student, and an excellent lawyer among her peers.

Racism and Media

Racism has been a major issue with the media since the beginning. Many early forms of entertainment media films portrayed African Americans as savages, ignorants, and potential rapists. White actors would also be painted black to play the roles of African Americans, insinuating that African Americans were not good enough to play their own roles. This has had the effect of influencing peoples’ racial perceptions (Kulaszewicz). Suits casts many important supporting characters as African American, most notably Jessica Pearson and Robert Zane. These characters show multidimensional development through their struggles to become who they are today.

References

Chandler, Daniel. “Television and Gender Roles” http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/TF33120/gendertv.html#E

Kulaszewicz, Kassia E.. (2015). Racism and the Media: A Textual Analysis. Retrieved from Sophia, the St. Catherine University repository website: https://sophia.stkate.edu/msw_papers/477