How do the media and television influence and, thus help form Firoozeh's family's dreams?

For example, the father wanted to go on the show bowling for dollars so he joined a bowling league in hopes of becoming rich. The enjoyed watching the sonny and cher variety hour in hopes of stardom.excerpt from the book:

Unwilling to abandon his champagne wishes and caviar dreams, my father dreamed of ways to get rich

The big day finally arrived and my father was ready to strike it rich. He filled the Impala with gas and set off for the third and final drive to the studio. We waited anxiously at home.

My father returned that night looking sadder than I had ever seen him. In his two tries, he had hit a total of only seven pins, winning seven dollars. He had never before bowled so poorly. He blamed his poor performance on everything from the lights to the long drive. We didn’t care why he hadn’t won; we just could

Funny in Farsi 15 16 FIROOZEH DUMAS not recall anybody winning so little on Bowling for Dollars. My father had spent several times as much on gasoline just driving back and forth to the studio.

When the performance was aired a few weeks after the taping, we watched in silence. My father looked very nervous on televi- sion, especially after he hit his first gutter ball. After the second gutter ball, he looked positively panicked.

After this brush with fame, we no longer watched Bowling for Dollars.We didn’t feel the same emotional involvement. Who were we to criticize these people, all of whom managed to win more than seven dollars? Shortly thereafter, my father gave up bowling entirely, decid- ing it was a stupid sport, if one could even call it a sport. More important, his Wednesday evening bowling nights had forced him to missThe Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Now he was able to squeeze onto the sofa with the rest of us and catch up.