The contributor Leigh Shoemaker examines feminist male identification which results from the fact that “second wave feminism had taught me that, as a girl, I could do anything I wanted to do, but the backlash let me know that this was possible only as long as I wasn’t a girl — as long as I wasn’t soft and feminine and weak” (115). In addition, Jennifer Reed discusses the identification with characters in media in order to create feminist identities using the example of Roseanne. Moreover, Carolyn Sorisio addresses the need to include feminist history in contemporary culture in order to appeal to a wider feminist community. In conclusion, the contributors to this section defined the influence of media on the creation of feminist identities and feminist…
[3] Klumas, Amy L., & Marchant, Thomas. (1994). Images of Men in Popular Sitcoms. Journal of Men’s Studies, 2(3), 269. Retrieved March 23, 2010, from Research Library.…
I never knew who Mary Tyler Moore was until she died this past January. As the world continued to grieve over Moore and other such celebrities who tragically passed away in the last twelve months, I found myself surreptitiously Googling her to get some context for all the accolades people gave in memoriam. I had never heard of her solo show, or how groundbreaking it was for feminism, but when my Entertainment Weekly magazine came in the mail, I got a further glimpse into television history. As Dan Snierson observes in his article “Mary Tyler Moore, 1936 – 2017”, that beyond any other role Moore played, “it was her seven-season turn (1970 – 1977) as spunky TV producer Mary Richards on CBS’ The Mary Tyler Moore Show that Moore burned brightest,…
Does television have an impact on people’s everyday lives, yes television has an impact on people’s everyday lives because it displays certain social expectations like gender roles for men and women. For example, in the 1950’s, TV shows depicted men as breadwinners and women as homemakers. Whereas today, many contemporary TV shows challenge conventional gender roles. The social expectations of gender roles led to the “perfect” family structure in real life and society used television to represent the structure during time period. In addition, the family structure formulated the ideal wife for the 1950’s and contemporary times, which plays a huge role when it comes to the economy because consuming products imply for a stable life. An analytical…
The main lesson Brym and Lie draw from the story of baby Bruce is that…
Feminism been a cornerstone in American women’s history. Feminism commenced in the eighteen hundreds, with a movement referred to as women’s suffrage. In addition, this movement is what initiated women’s liberation and established women’s rights and further interest. It secured countless rights in this century for women and for years to come. The right to vote being the utmost right coming out of this era. In all honesty, women were once consider objects or property, with no rights at all. This has ultimately been a tremendous injustice for decades and in some fashions still is. Feminism has come a long way over the years, but still can be enhanced in particular areas. American television sitcom is one of the avenues that has…
Today’s television shows have made an effort to stray from the classic American family and the gender roles within it. While gender roles aren’t as evident as they use to be, that’s not to say they do not exist. The Brady Bunch is a perfect example of gender roles existing even in a non-traditional family in the 1970’s. In a more current show, Full House, we also see a non-traditional family without a mother, but after looking closer I found that gender roles are still there.…
Richard Butsch’s essay “Five Decades and Three Hundred Sitcoms about Class and Gender” had me thinking about what we are watching on television. He brought up amazing points saying that characters depicting working class men are shown to be dumb, irresponsible, messy, and unreliable (Butsch, 2005, p. 459). Those in the middle class are shown as sensible, intelligent, and mature. One great example that comes to mind is the show Yes Dear. It has two sets of parents living together because one of them cannot afford rent. The dad of the working class family is overweight. His wife constantly has to tell him how to take care of the kids. His children outsmart him and are shown to be out of control at times. On the other hand, the middle class family has a calm, brilliant child. He constantly has to give the working class dad guidance in his day to day decision making. The working class dad is represented as a failure at life, at supporting his family, and the main element highlighted in his role is how stupid he is. The middle class dad is always the calmer one, he takes care of everything whenever a crisis arises, he teaches his kids manners, and is shown as a loving husband. I cannot find any examples of middle class men that are portrayed in the same demeaning way as working class men.…
Furthermore, the series utilizes the voice-over technique, the omniscient narrator’s near zoological description of “the typical suburban household” makes the show appear as a glorified how-to guide instructing young women how to become perfect housewives. In, “Help, Don’t Save Me,” Samantha plays a small role in her husband, Darrin’s, advertisement campaign. Darrin sees his wife support as an act of emasculation. Samantha, a woman, had abandoned her domestic sphere and usurped his position as the “breadwinner” of the house. Television techniques such as cutting and editing are used throughout the series as a means to reinforce its surreal premise. The diverse target audience as well as the show’s relative success supports my hypothesis stating the general apathy towards gender equality across gender…
After binge watching all the seasons of Scandal, I have put thought into how gender roles and gender stereotypes are depicted. At first, I thought very positively about the show because it has an African American female protagonist (ABC Television Network). The fact that she is a female is significant, but that she is African American is even more significant, since 76.3% of speaking characters in media generally are white (Wood 237). However, as soon I got over the excitement of the show having an African American, I noticed that there are stereotypical gender roles depicted in the show. The protagonist, Olivia Pope, is portrayed as an “Iron Maiden” (Wood 213). She is independent, directive, ambitious, tough, and she gets the work done better…
TV sitcoms have existed as long as television themselves. They first aired through radios and then continued to evolve as our means of technology and views as society progressed. Based on the sitcoms we have watched, it can be stated that all sitcoms share the overwhelming theme of comedy, but at the same time carry a moral issue to the viewers. They also feature characters that seldom go through personality changes and focused primarily on domestic family life and real-life experiences allowing the audiences to connect. For example, we watched lots of shows such as I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Brady Bunch, The Simpsons, etc and all these shows shared these characteristics. They contained a father figure who was the single source of income and a stay at home mom who took care of the household. Not only that, but all these shows also shared a similar family structure; they contained an upper-middle class family living in a the suburbs in a single family home.…
Media today gives us gender stereotypes. From movies to television to even music videos, the entertainment industry gives people the image that males are more dominate over females by showing females as the foremost parental figure, homemakers, and sex objects. However, ABC's new hit show Desperate Housewives quickly made a dent in American pop culture not for these gender stereotypes, but the truth behind the most dominant female stereotype of housewives.…
Television is unrepresentative of the real world. Since most major directors on television are males, they depict a world, which agrees with their concepts of society on television. Young women see women in roles on television as being submissive to men or as not as intelligent as men are. For example, the case of the female mayor on the comedy shows South Park. She went to Princeton, yet she makes moronic decisions for the town and flagrantly poses for photos. The media should show positive roles that young women could identify with and imitate positive behavior from strong female role models. Television besieges women with portrayals of old women fearing the youth of young women. The result of these images is that these ideas create competition among women and divides women. The media should also be aware of the images of women depicted since young women in other countries also see the American television. In developing countries television ownership is rising and as much as seventy one percent of television programming is from more affluent countries .…
It is known in today’s world, that males and females are seen as two distinct separate classes, owing mainly to society’s expectations. Having been present throughout the history of mankind, reinforced and loosened over the ages, gender differences have been synonymous with day to day actions and are represented in every available medium. The notion that men and women are different is interpreted through their traditional roles. Men, being the dominant gender, is shown to possess heavy masculine traits, are physically stronger and are the ‘breadwinner’ of those around him, while women are seen to be fragile, require the help of men eventually and enforce a caring, forgiving nature. Having shaped itself from the simple thought that men are at the top of the food chain, they are thus given more opportunities in life, putting emphasis on their value above women. This is reflected in the roles of characters in sitcoms, as men usually take the form of the protagonist and are given main roles, with most of the issues and screen time directed around them. Women on the other hand are given stereotypical minor roles, such as the position of a housewife, or an assistant. Females also have their sexuality emphasized and objectified. Each gender is presented in a recurring pattern, enforcing how they are meant to act according to their sex. (Mattsson 1) Through analysis of this statement in relation to sitcoms, it is possible to view how gender roles are constantly reproduced and challenged, particularly in The Simpsons.…
The first ever television series to carry out this independent quality in women was dated back in the 1950’s. She was the famous ditzy red head named Lucy from the ‘I love Lucy’ show. Despite her efforts in being outrageous, Lucy doesn’t let her husband’s image of the ‘ordinarily perfect’ wife hold her down from doing the things she wants. Another show that followed was the Dick Van Dyke Show in the 1960’s, which unfortunately ended in 1966. The Dick Van Dyke show stars a 17 year old girl named Laura Petrie played by Mary Tyler Moore, She is married to a man name Rob and like Lucy she wasn’t your ordinary ‘stay at home wife’. She went out and did what she wanted. The next sitcom aired was the Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 1970’s. Mary Richards came back to television after starring in the Dick Van Dyke show. The series is based on Mary Richards facing life as a single woman after a breakup with her fiancé, she acquires a job as an associate producer and works hard to earn and maintain her position at a T.V station.…