From Rosie To Lucy Analysis

Francia De Leon
Carlo Alaimo
Eng. 24 Sec 24
1 May 2015
Your Instagram Be Lien Society is a complex system that is composed of many parts. There are many divisions and differences amongst any large groups of people. James West Davidson and Mark Hamilton Lytle’ “From Rosie to Lucy” is a piece written to show the feminine viewpoint regarding the interpretation of the woman’s role in life during and after World War II. Actually the true issue is the media and how we determine its effects on us. During the World Wars, while the men were away fighting for the United States the media put its focus on women to take a stand in the working world. After the war, the media wanted women to go back to their original “home loving” position and the men to
reside over their previous jobs. Davidson and Lytle brought forth the idea of whose point of view does the media portray. The real question is does the media reflect society or does it shape society. I believe society creates an image of themselves due to what the media portrays in Television, Magazines and Social media. For decades television has been the main source of mass media that feeds the American people with lies and illusions. Around the times of WWII, most women were stay at home mom’s, like their mother before them. With many men heading to fight there were many open jobs that needed to be fulfilled. There were floods of commercials aimed at women in the home to feel a need to do their part to support their husbands overseas. A main image was Rosie the Riveter. A simple poster of a working woman flexing her muscles, it molded the new found power of women all across America into service in factories across the country, these women were a vital part of the economic force. Although things changed once the war ended, the poster is still used as a symbol of female power. Many women followed the advertisements they saw during their daily soap operas and joined the force. One has to give credit to the influence of the media because most women had not thought of working outside the home because they were not raised in a home where they saw their mom employed in the secular world. A power that when tried to be removed gave a difficult time. Betty Friedan commented in agreement in “ From Rosie to Lucy” stating “ Magazines, radio, movies, and television had all come to play a predominant role in the modern era. The exposed Americans to powerfully presented messages conveying the standards and ideals of the culture.” (Davidson, Lytle 347). After the war we get television sitcoms like “I Love Lucy”. With television still being very popular now the media wanted to display a different message. They wanted women to return to the home so their returning husbands can get their jobs again. The true influence was the method of making woman feel bad if they did not naturally have the desire to be homemakers. One who truly loved the independence of being in the workforce now has decided to come home because TV portrays women that are not homemakers as causing great danger to their families. Lucy is perfect character to frighten women who still want to try to explore beyond their expected horizons. Lucy was a woman bored with everyday wife duties. She wanted to prove that she could do anything her husband could but miserably failed. At the end of every episode she always appreciated being home and having a much easier job than the men out in the world. Every woman watched this show and did not want to make a fool out of herself as Lucy always did. On to a more modern note on the Media and its influence on society one can focus on magazines. The most popular of this generation are gossip magazines such as People magazines, Teen magazine, US Weekly, etc. Many are obsessed with celebrity life and aspire to be just like the rich and famous. Many complain that the women of the 1940’s and 50’s were represented in the stereotype that women should follow their role of barefoot and pregnant. In modern culture that is offensive to some woman. Women are more independent and live a more mixed role life. On the other hand nowadays women are more so portrayed as sex symbols. There are expected to have the perfect figure, be the perfect weight, have the perfect hair, etc. Everything portrayed is about image or sex or attracting a mate, at least those are the popular ones. The irony is seen in those whom are offended by the idea of a man wanting them to not work and solely upkeep the house and the children but accept the praise of half naked woman in magazines. An article on raising children mentioned some research they did on Teen magazine stating “Forty-four percent of the articles focused on dating or sex, and 37 percent on appearance. A mere 12 percent of the articles were reserved for advice about school or careers.” (“Magazines and Their Effect on Girls” 1). As popular magazine directed toward the youth those numbers are scary. The priorities of our youth should be education not how to get a boyfriend. The article also mentioned a survey given to young girls on if they felt that magazines led them to believe that they wanted to lose weight, more than half admitted it was true. One must open their eyes to what is in their surroundings. One might says its only an article, I wont let it change how I feel. More often then not young girls will stand in the mirror after “ just reading” an article to pass time but now are criticizing their image and planning on the next diet to make themselves look like someone in that Magazine. Furthermore, now we are currently living in the postmodern era.
What makes this century postmodern is the Internet. The Internet has been a godsend in many ways. All aspects of our life benefit from the Internet in some way; whether its getting news, shopping, paying bills, working, etc. A blog on The Huffington Post titled “ The Social Media Effect: Are You Really Who You Portray Online?” brought forth a fascinating idea. It expressed that individuals express an “ideal” image on social media. “As research suggests, your "real self" is what you are - your attributes, your characteristics, and your personality. Your "ideal self" is what you feel you should be; much of it due to societal influences” (Green 1). Everyone always wants more than what they have. They use social media to show the world what they want and who they want to be. Since social media is such a large part of our world it is portrayed to be the truths of our culture. After reading this article one can think how can they create a stereotype of our culture based off social media when social media itself is unauthentic. It is proved that social media is founded to be truth because it is even constantly referenced in the news which many receive their information. With the rise in suspected racially based killings between African Americans and law enforcement the television media post photos of social media that might show the victim portraying themselves as a “hoodlum” or displaying marijuana, but they will
never show the graduation photos or photos of accomplishments. Based that maybe those post are just to seem cool to friends and those in your neighborhood are disregarded when the media wants to create an identity for an individual or a group. There is no issue with portraying an idea self to the world. The issue arises when one is oppressed or denied opportunities because social media is the basis of their reasoning. Society will always have its pros and cons.
We cannot choose what generation or era we are born into so we make do with our surroundings. One cannot deny that society was influenced by other factors before the media because that would be naive. We are human and believe it or not we are influenced by factors outside ourselves. The power of the media might now fully control all individuals but even the most strong-minded are affected. We are all exposed to television and magazines and social media everyday. There is practically no escaping it. The key is to not let it identify you because their ideas of society are either false because they are established from a shady social media platform or they are fabricated in a television script by an individual whom is portraying his personal ideas to an audience whom takes it as a truth then reflects it on themself. They key is to be yourself. You can enjoy social media and entertainment from any media outlet you choose but always remember no one knows you better than yourself and don’t let any outside source define
you.

Bibliography

Davidson, James West, and Mark H. Lytle. “ From Rosie to Lucy”. After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection. 6th ed. Vol. II. New York: Knopf, 1982. Print.

Green, R. Kay. "The Social Media Effect: Are You Really Who You Portray Online?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Oct. 2013. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.

Unknown. "Teen Magazines and Their Effect on Girls." HealthyChildren.org. American Academy of Pediatrics, 11 May 2013. Web. 01 May 2015.