Monday, October 20, 2008
Women on Television
Next week, when we return to media analysis, we'll be talking about the ways women, particularly on prime time network television shows, have been imaged historically. We'll read Susan Douglas's chapters that deal with this idea during the 50s and 60s, "Mama Said," and "Genies and Witches," but for this response, I'd like for you to pick a show that's on now, and read it for the way it depicts women. You can pick a particular episode, or a few segments from different ones, but you should use specific details from the show to tell us how the show is constructing feminine gender identity. This response is due this Friday, October 24.
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One of my favorite shows is Abc’s Private Practice. In the first season, Dell, the male secretary and soon to be mid-wife, has a hard time earning respect in the practice and with the patients. By the end of the season, Dell resigns from his position in the practice and leaves the group, which was supposed to be considered family, to join the staff at a local hospital. This week’s episode features Dell’s return to the practice, but not without preset conditions put forth to show Dell all due respect.
Even though Dell is obviously male, a very attractive male, he occupies positions “normally” occupied by females. Dell is both a secretary and a mid-wife. Society –and in this case, the practice- identifies these as feminine rolls. This is expressed when Dell tells the practice that one of the conditions that must be met upon his return is more male colored scrubs. He expresses his dislike for having to wear a girly colored pink scrub to work every day. The reactions as well as the comments and suggestions made toward Dell and his chosen field of study constructs his identity as female, when in fact it is very male. Private Practice is constructing an idea of feminine gender identity through a male, which in my opinion is a different but effective way of framing the gender issue.
In the early 1990’s, a television sit-com starring Steve Harvey, “The Steve Harvey Show”, first aired on the WB network. The central concept of the story line began with Harvey as a musician whose career as a member of the Hi-Tops folds. As he gives up years of life on the road, he realizes that the entertainment industry is not an option at that moment. After contemplating his next move, Harvey takes up a teaching position at Booker T. Washington High with his childhood friend Cedric Robinson. As the storyline makes progress, the female characters play an important role in the series. The gender roles in this television show are pretty much completely switched, where most of the men are incompetent womanizers, and the women have power and intellect. Regina, who happens to be the gorgeous new boss, is the principal at the high school and finds herself intimidating most of the male students and faculty. Because the television show is older, there have not been any new episodes, but I found one particular episode, “Steve’s Getaway”, to be very interesting. As the show opens, Steve Harvey is talking to his most misbehaved students about his remorse for being a teacher and the fact that men are not “cut out” to be teachers. Although he says it jokingly, the statement only reaffirms society’s opinion that women cannot do jobs like men do; such as firefighters, policemen, or directors because these jobs are masculine and men should have more physical and authority-based occupations. During a class presentation, one of the female students, Lydia, presents information about Barbara Streisand, and most of the male students booed her and found the information to be boring because there “was nothing interesting about this hag”. The lack of interest in a very influential woman shows objective representation of success with women compared to men, which emphasizes male dominance. Because she did not get the response she wanted, Lydia tries to get the audience’s attention by performing some of Streisand’s work, and is successful in doing so. Later in the episode, Steve Harvey leaves school to participate in a golf tournament, and influences the students to cover for him. Regina, being her intuitive self discovers his absence and investigates the situation. She has a meeting with him, and although she is attracted to him she remains asexual in the situation to remain professional and go against the typical stereotypes of women. I respected her decision to do what was right because there is an underlying stereotype that women are either in power for sexual purposes or to be malicious. Both Lydia and Regina showed how to be assertive without be considered what most would call “a bitch”. Also, Steve Harvey eventually accepted that he had a lower position and took his punishment for skipping work to participate in the tournament. He became comfortable with being a teacher, learning to take each day one at a time and developing a relationship with his students beyond the classroom. Unlike most television shows that mirror stereotypes and expected gender roles, “The Steve Harvey Show”, finds a way to emphasize a woman’s worth and uplift her without bringing the men down.
Rekesha G.
The medical drama House, M.D. is a series that debuted on the Fox network in 2004. It was created by David Shore and became a hit series during the 2007 season. I choose this show because there are not many series of dramas that convey a female as the highest authority figure. Fortunately, there are several women on this show who are major contributors to the medical field despite the constant sexist comments constantly received from the fellow coworkers which are men. The producers of the show decided to display women in a dominant career role, but still illustrating their characters as sex objects. Most of the women are very attractive and were hired because of their beauty and brains. I guess it would be absurd to think that a female could just be hired for her intelligence and it has nothing to do with her physical appeal. Lisa Cuddy played by (Lisa Edelstein) is the chief hospital administrator. She is also the dean of medicine at the Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital which is where the show takes place. While serving as a member on the hospital review board and having a high position on the organ transplant committee, she is still sometimes degraded to “just being a women”. The show focuses on the relationship between her and Gregory House played by (Hugh Laurie) who is the head of the diagnostic medicine department and the main character on the show reflected in his perfection of knowledge in the medical field. There is always an underlying attraction between House and Cuddy which shows that through a male’s intimidation, women are still expected to be submissive despite their high position. In many of the episodes House will make sexist comments on the way Cuddy is dressed or make fun of her rational comments about a particular case. Her character is very dominant in attitude when it comes to the final answer, although there have been episodes where producers have made her into a sex object for House’s own sick mental stimulation. House does not show her any respect for being a women and ostracizes her dependence on him in the hospital. He will make comments such as “your blouse is too revealing for the work place “, or make fun of her dating partners. I think her character should be reevaluated and focus should be on her knowledge of the medical field just as much as it is on his. Because she is a woman her accolades and accomplishments are not seen as more valuable than his. She has to work twice as hard to get the respect of being administrator, while House does whatever he likes just by being a good male doctor. This show confirms the same negative stereotypes displace on women as the media does. It proves women can have an education, high position in the work place, and dominating morals, but still be “just a woman” when it comes to the next man. Their sexuality is always exploited despite continuous strides to be noticed for the intelligence rather than their physical attributes. Despite the negatives, this is one of my favorite medical shows because the patient cases are so interesting to follow.
Desperate Housewives is a dark comedy television series which began production in 2004 and is still being produced today by ABC. The plot centers on the daily trials and tribulations of five housewives that all live on Wisteria Lane. The show displays a rare meaning of “happily ever after” and shows that the women’s lives are not always what they seem to be. The women assume typical female gender roles by being full-time housewives and by assuming the major responsibility of raising their children. The show emphasizes the women’s emotional and domestic struggles and how desperate the ladies are for love, attention, respect, help and appreciation. Since the show centers of these five women, their personalities are very strong compared to the men that play on this series.
Through the years, each character of Desperate Housewives has been through many dark and twisted events. My favorite character is Bree Van de Kamp, played by actress Marcia Cross, who truly takes on the image of Martha Stewart. She is your ideal happy homemaker and paints the picture of the perfect family which consists of a perfect wife and mother. Bree definitely lives by the motto – “a good woman, must be a good mother.” She has a classic obsessive-compulsive personality and is a perfectionist about her looks and her home. She is known for cleaning, cooking gourmet meals, gardening, ironing and reupholstering her own furniture. Bree is married and has two children, Andrew and Danielle, who resent their mother for her obsession with herself and her emotional coldness towards them. They also resent the “perfect family” image she portrays to the outside world. They would like to be your typical kids, but Bree would never allow that to happen. For example, the kids wanted to order pizza, but were never allowed to because she felt they needed to have a home-cooked meal. My favorite episodes deal with Bree and her children. Andrew becomes very rebellious in high school and decides to come out of the closet when Bree is trying to reconcile with her husband, Rex. Bree is sickened when she learns the news about Andrew being a homosexual. This definitely does not fit her “perfect family” image and she does everything in her power to change the situation. Unfortunately, Bree only succeeds is alienating her son further. She cringes every time Andrew brings friends home and they go into his room to watch movies. With the stress of Rex’s death and Andrew’s false accusations of child abuse, Bree becomes an alcoholic and begins attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. At these meetings, Bree hooks up with her sponsor, Peter, who is a sex addict. Bree will not allow Andrew to file for legal emancipation, so Andrew has sex with Peter to get back at her. She cannot cope with Andrew any longer, so she kicks him out of the house. After Andrew leaves, Bree’s daughter, Danielle, decides to run away with her boyfriend, Matthew. Bree’s perfect world is crumbling very fast, so she checks into a psychiatric clinic for depression. Here she meets Orson, whom she marries after a six-month relationship.
Again, Bree’s world is turned upside down in the episode when Danielle announces she is pregnant by Edie’s nephew. To avoid further embarrassment for Bree, she sends Danielle away to a convent until the baby is born. She announces to her friends that she is pregnant when she returns from her honeymoon. To avoid a scandal, she and Orson plan to raise Danielle’s child as their own. Bree wears false bellies and she and Orson struggle to keep her fake pregnancy a secret. After giving birth to Benjamin, Danielle allows Bree and Orson to raise him as their son. Unfortunately, one of the neighbors finds out the truth and tries to blackmail Bree with this information. Rather than being blackmailed forever, Bree faces the embarrassment and tells her friends the truth. Again, her image as the perfect homemaker and mother is diminished.
Even though Bree has been through many difficult situations, the feminine gender role has changed for her in the later seasons. In the earlier seasons, society laid down the rules that females were housewives and they took on the role of loving and caring for the children. Through the years, the show and society allows more choices for women. No longer a stay at home mom, Bree and a friend have opened a catering business and Bree is the author of a new famous cookbook. Her son, Andrew, is her assistant. He has moved out on his own and become a responsible adult. Bree works many long hours and Orson feels neglected. No longer a typical housewife, she still strives for perfection in her business life. Even though Bree loves her children very much, she realizes over time that every family faces difficult challenges and that no family is perfect.
I am a Reba lover. On the show Brock her ex husband leaves her for his assistant Barber Jean. And Reba is portrayed as a single stay at home mom most of the time although you hear her talk about the money problems you do not see her work that often. It shows that the workforce is still hard for women to provide for their families without the help of men. When brock runs into money problems instead of talking to barber jean about them he tries to sell the house giving Reba her first sell in real estate but when reba finds out she confronts brock about it and why is he hiding this from them. also brock still has his one bachelor's pad incase he ever wants to get away. but reba and b.j. have to stay and deal with the stress and drama of being a wife and/or parent.The show shows that things havent changed as much as we would like to think they did.
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