Written Analysis 5: Duck Dynasty

The theories that I feel are best related to my popular culture topic, Duck Dynasty, would be stereotypes and rituals. I pick these two because if you see a picture of the Robertson clan you see big men with long, dark beards who wear bandannas and paint on their faces. Most people would associate these traits with “hillbilly,” “poor” and even “dirty.” However, they are actually successful men who do shower, and are proud of their beards and their background. They are men who own a multi-million dollar company that started out because of their hobby of duck hunting. The father, Phil, who started the business, came from a family with no money, they barely could afford shoes for him and Christmas presents. He never gave up and he turned down playing Pro football to fulfill his dream of his hobby, which later turned into a multi-million dollar company. I also chose rituals as all the members of the Robertson family believe in God and they practice their religion and make it known on TV.  Especially how each and every episode ends with a prayer from Phil and him describing what they are thankful for; I think that it’s awesome they aren’t ashamed as they are proud of how God has blessed them and they make it known.

My most interesting findings when I was researching more information about Duck Dynasty was stated in one of the interviews, if A&E would ask the Robertson’s to stop talking about God and to stop praying at the end of each episode then the Robertson’s would stop filming. I thought that it was honoring to know that there are still people out there that aren’t scared to share their faith and will turn down more money and a successful show because of how strong their faith is. I thought it was completely awesome.

I will think of Duck Dynasty differently now rather than I did before because now I break down each episode and look for icons, rituals, stereotypes, beliefs, myths and so forth. I not only do it with this show but also with movies that I see, it’s crazy how this class impacts how I look at pop culture. This class really taught me a lot about popular culture and how it impacts us on a daily basis. I never would have seen Duck Dynasty the way I do now if it wasn’t for this class. 

Duck Dynasty: Formulas

Formulas

The theories or formulas that apply to Duck Dynasty would follow the conventional and inventional formulas of popular culture. Conventional formulas create movie plots and story lines where as inventional formulas are where popular culture changes and adapts over time.

These theories play a role in the A&E show Ducky Dynasty follows a conventional formula for each episode because the viewers that watch the show can expect and predict what is going to happen in each of the episodes. The viewers know this because at the beginning of each episode it shows all the men joking around and making fun of one another, which typically sets the plot for what is going to happen during the episode. Before the episode ends on every single show it shows the whole family sitting around the dinner table with Phil saying a prayer for what they are thankful for. The inventional part of the show is when the episodes show the “new plot” meaning that each show has something new as none of the episodes are the same or have the same plot. This show does not take each episode and tie them together as each episode is separate and it does not continue to the following episode.

I have learned that most of popular culture follows the conventional formula more often but the inventional formula is typically used to keep the audience interested. When reading books it is usually easy to know what is going to happen in the next chapter and the inventional part keeps the reader interested and makes it hard for the reader to put the book down. Same with watching a movie or watching a TV series as the conventional formula sets the movies and TV series up with a plot.