Maybe Roseanne Can Be a Good Thing

Last week, the tenth season of Roseanne premiered on ABC to surprisingly high ratings and critical praise. A continuation of the original Emmy-winning sitcom that originally ran from 1988 to 1997, one unmistakable difference marked the show’s return: the main character, Roseanne Connor, is now a fervent supporter of Donald Trump.

"The popularity of this reboot is linked to the growing sentiment that our media doesn’t reflect the population of this country accurately."

This show has achieved enormous success for legitimate reasons. More than 18 million viewers tuned in to watch the premiere. This was a relief for ABC, which has been losing viewers to other television channels and online streaming platforms. These numbers have led the network to already order a second season reboot from the show’s creators. The popularity of this reboot is linked to the growing sentiment that our media doesn’t reflect the population of this country accurately.

A majority of television shows portray rich, white people and their lives, and while people of color are not included in this narrative, neither are the experiences of working-class white people. Roseanne is something that they can relate to: they are able to see themselves and their experiences validated in a internationally televised show. These are the people that make up a significant portion of Trump supporters—they are the working class that our politicians have ignored, whose financial regression into poverty we have watched for years, as this country’s top 1% get even richer in return.

One problem with Roseanne is Roseanne Barr, producer of the show and the actress behind its titular character. She doesn’t represent a lot of American Trump voters; for one, she is a rich Hollywood star. On Twitter, she has also expressed a range of abhorrent far-right and conspiracist beliefs, such as accusing Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg of performing the Nazi salute; retweeting an Infowars report on the “5.7 million illegals that voted in the 2016 presidential election”; and supporting conspiracy theories that were tied to the “Pizzagate” scandal, a bizarre conspiracy falsely claiming that members of the Democratic Party participated in a child-sex ring.

Everyone is entitled to their point of view, but that perspective should always be supported by factual evidence. We should not normalize her behavior by ignoring it or dismissing her as another right-wing nut. Instead, we must examine her opinion and hold her accountable for the falsehoods she spreads under her influence as a celebrity. Under the spotlight of her new reboot, she has faced intense media criticism and subsequently deleted her tweets. Hopefully this continued media attention will render her more responsible for the consequences of her actions.

  However, despite the producer’s personal beliefs, I still believe that Roseanne’s target audience—also known as the “silent majority”—deserve representation, just as we all do. We shouldn’t be trying to deny them a platform, because that is precisely the reason why they voted for Trump: they feel as though their beliefs and issues are invalidated and that their voices are silenced. To refuse the representation of these people in the media would equate to censorship. Too often, their problems go unaddressed and it is that frustration bubbling underneath the surface that led to Trump’s rise.