√Over the last 60 years may things have changed; technology, traditions, culture, and of
course the way a female is seen in eyes around the world. Television itself dates back to the 1920’s
(these television sets were extremely limited during these years). In 1950, only 9 percent of
American households had a television set, but by the 1960 the figure had reached 90 percent.
During this time, women were introduced in a completely diverted way then a male actor. Women
took stereotypical roles such as the housewife, mother, maid or even nanny. While other women
took on a role of a dumb blonde or a petite young women trying to please a man. Women were
meant to be submissive, obedient, and futile. In the past, TV portrayed women as sex symbols, less
intelligent, and more vulnerable; however, with time, women roles have changed and women have
become equal to men.
In classic television women played the role of the domestic guardian and men had the
responsibility of providing the money, shelter, and food. Shows that portrayed women like this
were I Love Lucy (October 15, 1951 – April 1, 1960) and Leave It to Beaver (October 4, 1957 –
June 20, 1963). These shows characterized the female main characters traits to be shallow, simple
minded, and obedient. In I Love Lucy, Lucy and Ricky, her husband, switched jobs (season 2,
Episode 4, Switching Jobs) Lucy had a tough time “bringing home the bacon.” Since Lucy was
considered ignorant, silly, and in need of her husband, Ricky, she was expected to stay home and
take care of the household duties. She was also the one who caused the trouble because she was
ambitious, and wanted to become famous in show business. Ricky, the man of the house was
expected to take care of Lucy and...
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...xy Marilyn Monroe from the 60’s to
movies about how a female main character changed her life to be with the man she’s deeply in
love with to the women who doesn’t need a man at all to be with her to get exactly what she wants
with her life. Women now compared to the Lucy and June are two complete different people. Even
as simple as the change is who’s watching the child is different, now modern days we have head
starts all around the world and programs to help you if you’re in need compared to the women
back then when they stayed home and cooked and cleaned. More than half the population of the
U.S are the female genders rather than the male. Today, women can be as equal as a male now.
Although Sandy, June, Rizzo, Lucy, and finally Marilyn are all different, these women all have
one thing in common, they were all a part of a man’s world through television.
because it would anger her husband. She was afraid to go back to school and
In the early fifties, young people watched TV more hours than they went to school, a trend which has not changed greatly since that time. What was portrayed on television became accepted as normal. Shows like What's a My Line debut on CBS, Your Hit Parade premieres on NBC in 1950. In April of 1950 5,343,000 TV sets are in American Homes. In May of 1950, 103 TV Stations in 60 cities were operating. In September 7,535,000 TV sets in USA. In October there were 8,000,000 TV sets.
Like stated earlier, gender roles in the 50’s were very strict and narrow-minded. That being said, women were extremely limited in their role in society. First of all, women were expected to be homemakers. By homemaker, I mean the women w...
In the current era of progressive feminism, a hotly debated topic has been what constitutes a strong woman, whether fictional or real. One side of the discussion argues that women must be shown as equal to men and therefore display manly or ‘macho’ traits. On the other hand, some women contend that, instead of filling the mold of what society deems strong (which often happen to be traditionally male traits), women should instead break that mold and redefine strength. In Elizabeth Alsop’s article, “Why TV Needs ‘Weak’ Female Characters,” she describes how female characters in some specific television shows today prove that other traits, particularly vulnerability, are just as important to display as strength. Alsop discusses how television shows
In 1970, CBS premiered a new television series called The Mary Tyler Moore Show. By no means was it considered the first of the “working woman” sitcom to air during prime-time, but it is “generally acknowledged as the first to assert that work was not just a prelude to marriage, or ...
The man’s role had a duty to support the family financially while women had the duty to tend to
Gender roles and stereotypes can many times intertwine because of our western culture has taught us since the first radio broadcast show, “Father Knows Best” which was based on the father, Jim who was the ruler of the household and the wife would do whatever he said. Gender roles in the 1950’s were that the men worked hard, brought home the money, and had all the power in the home. Women were seen as the homemakers who can’t make their own decisions and are portrayed as a week. According to an article called Gender Roles in 1950’s America, “men were expected to be strong, masculine, and good decision makers, which served as a natural counter-balance for the feminine and maternal role of women” (White, Retrieved
Paul S. Boyer. "Television." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Retrieved November 24, 2011 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-Television.html
During the 1950‘s suburbs such as Levitown were springing up all across the country, and the so-called American dream was easier to achieve for everyday Americans than ever before. They had just come out of two decades dominated by The Great Depression and World War Two, and finally prosperity was in sight. The need for women to work out of the home that was present during the war was no more, and women were overwhelmingly relegated to female-dominated professions like nursing, secretaries, and teachers, if they worked at all. Televisions became very popular, and quickly became part of the American cultural canon of entertainment. Leave It To Beaver is a classic American television show, encompassing values such as respect, responsibility and learning from your mistakes. But, at least in the episode used for this essay, it is also shockingly sexist to a modern viewer. This begs the question, what does the episode The Blind Date Committee1 say about the gender expectations of the 1950’s?
The influence of the media on women is not unknown, but it was especially prevalent in the 1960s. According to David Croteau and William Hoynes, both professors of sociology, “Media images of women and men reflect and reproduce a whole set of stereotypical but changing gender roles” (quoted in Mahrdt 1) and, as society changes and opinions are altered, television shows adapt. However, the television show Mad Men is unique because it does not show life today, but the life of the 1960s. It shows what life was like for the women who lived during a time when the “feminine mystique” controlled society.
These movies allowed female characters to embody all the contradictions that could make them a woman. They were portrayed as the “femme fatale” and also “mother,” the “seductress” and at the same time the “saint,” (Newsom, 2011). Female characters were multi-faceted during this time and had much more complexity and interesting qualities than in the movies we watch today. Today, only 16% of protagonists in movies are female, and the portrayal of these women is one of sexualization and dependence rather than complexity (Newsom, 2011).
The use of original practices, the costumes and male characters used to play the role of female characters are due to the different gender identity attributes and sexuality concerns from the play. Although the producer insists that the use of male characters to play female roles was mainly to show case the original set-up and forms of acting it can also be attributed to the producer wishing to raise different sexualities from the audience. The different actors who play the roles of females while they are male characters have been used by the producer to raise different sexualities since the heterosexual people in the audience view of the audience since gender as asserted by Bulman is performative rather than
Women’s roles in movies have changed dramatically throughout the years. As a result of the changing societal norms, women have experienced more transition in their roles than any other class. During the period of classical Hollywood cinema, both society and the film industry preached that women should be dependent on men and remain in home in order to guarantee stability in the community and the family. Women did not have predominated roles in movies such as being the heroin. The 1940’s film Gilda wasn’t an exception. In Gilda, the female character mainly had two different stereotypes. The female character was first stereotyped as a sex object and the second stereotyped as a scorned woman who has to be punished.
...ision. Although Jeannie doesn’t quite show the wit and cunning of a Samantha in Bewitched, and Tony Nelson doesn’t seem to be quite the oaf that Bewitched’s Darrin, the roles of each hold an important place in television sitcom history. The key takeaway of this analysis is that even a role full of feminine stereotypes on television can result in the exact opposite of what it may seem to show. Jeannie showed that a woman can be second-rate to a man figuratively while at the same time not have to be second-rate in reality. As feminists worked to gain prevalence in the second wave of feminism in the 1960’s, shows like I Dream of Jeannie may have seemed to be counter-productive to the cause, with the show having a woman in servitude to a man. However, in the end, I Dream of Jeannie has proven to be an accurate portrayal of the feminist cause in the world of pop culture.
Another major factor that influences millions of impressionable females and males is television. Not only does the television teach each sex how to act, it also shows how one sex should expect the other sex to act. In the current television broadcasting, stereotypical behavior goes from programming for the very small to adult audiences. In this broadcasting range, females are portrayed as motherly, passive and innocent, sex objects, or they are overlooked completely or seen as unimportant entities. Stereotyping women is not only rampant in the adult world; it also flourishes in the kiddie universe as well.