Similarities Between Misogynistic And Anti-Feminism
The misogynistic depiction of women on television
When watching scripted television series, the lack of strong female characters immediately becomes clear. The women portrayed are essentially the same as they were in the fifties and sixties, as is the underlying message of most scripted series. The misogynistic and anti-feminist portrayals of women on television are a problem, because television is a major influence on how people see the world in general, and women and feminism in particular. By analysing several television series that represent different genres, a similarity between these genres is discovered, in that they all struggle to represent women as they are in reality.
A genre that has always struggled with correctly characterizing both women and men is the science fiction/superhero genre. A series that is typical for this genre is NBC’s Heroes, which ran from 2006 until 2010. A group of ordinary people slowly start realising that they each have a special ability and that this ability is crucial in protecting Claire Bennett, a high school cheerleader who seems destined to save the world (Hammer & Kring, …show more content…
Millions of girls will grow up thinking that this is the right way to act, that they can never be more than vacuous ninnies whose only goal is to look pretty, land a rich husband, and spend all day on the phone with their equally vacuous friends talking about how damn terrific it is to look pretty and have a rich husband. (Oakley, Weinstein & Lynch, 1994)
Lisa decides to take action and, with the help of the original creator of Malibu Stacy, she designs a new talking doll, Lisa Lionheart. This doll only has one phrase, but it is a fitting summary of Lisa’s feminist beliefs: “Trust in yourself and you can achieve anything!” While the series is not always this feminist when it comes to its storylines and characters, it does offer viewers a complex combination of the strengths and weaknesses every real-life human being
When watching scripted television series, the lack of strong female characters immediately becomes clear. The women portrayed are essentially the same as they were in the fifties and sixties, as is the underlying message of most scripted series. The misogynistic and anti-feminist portrayals of women on television are a problem, because television is a major influence on how people see the world in general, and women and feminism in particular. By analysing several television series that represent different genres, a similarity between these genres is discovered, in that they all struggle to represent women as they are in reality.
A genre that has always struggled with correctly characterizing both women and men is the science fiction/superhero genre. A series that is typical for this genre is NBC’s Heroes, which ran from 2006 until 2010. A group of ordinary people slowly start realising that they each have a special ability and that this ability is crucial in protecting Claire Bennett, a high school cheerleader who seems destined to save the world (Hammer & Kring, …show more content…
Millions of girls will grow up thinking that this is the right way to act, that they can never be more than vacuous ninnies whose only goal is to look pretty, land a rich husband, and spend all day on the phone with their equally vacuous friends talking about how damn terrific it is to look pretty and have a rich husband. (Oakley, Weinstein & Lynch, 1994)
Lisa decides to take action and, with the help of the original creator of Malibu Stacy, she designs a new talking doll, Lisa Lionheart. This doll only has one phrase, but it is a fitting summary of Lisa’s feminist beliefs: “Trust in yourself and you can achieve anything!” While the series is not always this feminist when it comes to its storylines and characters, it does offer viewers a complex combination of the strengths and weaknesses every real-life human being