I Love Lucy (1951)
The sitcom “I Love
Lucy” aired in 1951. During this time period women were seen as “inferior” to
men. This is displayed by the clip above, which consists of clips showing
Lucy’s husbands dominance and controlling behavior. The sitcom portrays a
stereotypical white woman of the upper to middle class as having little to no
power in the home. Final decisions are left to the male especially when
handling money. This is because women, especially in the upper class, did not
work and relied solely on their husbands for money. This caused a hierarchy
between men and women causing society to label women as not equal to men. Teens
and women were exposed to “I Love Lucy” and the “image” of men having the
dominant role in marriage. This “image” was forced into societies minds,
molding their view of white women of the upper and middle class.
Full House (1987)
The sitcom “Full House” aired in 1987 and it introduced to
society a new family dynamic, one where all family affairs and childcare were
not left for women only. The sitcom portrayed men having the “motherly” role, which
redefined women’s role as well. “Full House” directed society towards a family
dynamic that consisted of equal parenting roles. It showed society that men
could perform the same tasks as women. This is also displayed in the sitcom
within the family members career choice, one of the main characters (Danny
Tanner) worked as a host for a morning television show and his co-host (Rebecca
Donaldson) becomes Danny’s close friend and roommates (Jesse Katsopolis) wife.
The characters careers emphasize the theme of equality among gender, changing
the view of white middle class women’s role within society and the family.
I found this blog entry that addresses the stereotypes that
are very present in the very popular and widely watched sitcom, “Modern
Family”, which aired in 2009.
The sitcom showcases three different family dynamics and
they are all very stereotypical but the interesting part that the author of
this blog points out is that each stereotype is challenged with humor. First,
the typical middle class “happy family” that includes a mother, father, and
three children. The mother takes care of
the children, drives a minivan, cooks and cleans. She is perfect example of a
feminine mom that performs gendered normative tasks. Second, an older overweight male (technically
a grandfather) is married to a young, hot, Latina women with a young son. The
young wife is the stereotypical foreign character that is also very sexualized.
The third and final family dynamic consists of a gay couple with a young
adopted daughter. Both males assume the typical feminine or masculine role in
the relationship, this is very stereotypical and a way for gay couples to fit
into societies normal view of a couple. All three family dynamics are very different
and show different stereotypes that are created by society but the sitcom uses
humor in order to challenge this and tell viewers that it is okay to be
different.
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