The Representation of Women in Music and Films


Music

Men have always had a bigger role in music. As producers and singers, men have always been the most successful. When looking at the billboard top 100 charts over the last couple of decades it is clear that most of the popular songs have been sang or produced by men. It is easy to see why men are displayed as superior to women. They are degrading women and are reinforcing negative stereotypes. Since music is so important in our culture, the messages that are being carried out through songs greatly impact the attitudes and behaviors of American society.

Over the decades it seems that more women have entered the music industry. Many female singers have had great success especially in the 90s and 2000s oppose to only a couple that can be named from previous decades. Although there are more female singers and producers, the majority of producers are still men. This means that women are not being heard and men are still deciding what society gets to see and hear.

40 songs from throughout the fifties until now were evaluated. All but 3 songs have reached number one in the billboard top 100 charts. Many similarities were found in music lyrics throughout the decades. Most of the stereotypes and themes that are found in music are: the portrayal of women as evil, women shown as a man’s possession, focus on female body, women shown as needing a man to be happy, women as sex objects, and most commonly women described as attractive. Not only do lyrics describe women as attractive to make a successful record, female artists must also be attractive if they want to be successful as well.

Womens role in music seems to be based more on looks. The importance is seen in female singers having to be beautiful, which often means a sexualized thin girl with large breasts who is seen in the latest trends. Most successful women in the music industry fit into society’s definition of beautiful. There are very little women who have had success who are considered to be unattractive by the media. Missy Elliot became a big success in the early 2000’s despite her weight but like other artist she has lost a large amount of weight. Women in the media are always being criticized for gaining weight or losing too much weight. These women are always being pressured into looking perfect. From the fifties till now the most popular women in the music industry have been attractive. More recently female artist have turned to plastic surgery as a way to fix their flaws and appear perfect. When searching for images on women in music throughout the decades I came across beautiful women who looked provocative. The media has also pressured women to sexualize themselves for success. It seems that the beauty of some female artist also make up for the lack of talent. While there are others who are clearly more talented who do not have much success because their looks. Because these women are the role models to our society it is easy to see why most American girls feel the need to be beautiful by sexualizing themselves, turning to plastic surgery, extreme diets and workouts and shopping for new clothes and make up.

In lyrics and videos emphasis is given to a woman’s looks. In almost every song that talks about women and is sung by men, it is mentioned that their partner or girl they are pursuing is attractive. Out of the 40 songs that were evaluated 18 of the 20 songs that were sung by men talked about a woman’s looks. Songs like Pretty Woman (1960’s) and Venus (1970’s) show that this is not a new trend. More recently lyrics on a woman’s appearance focus on her body parts, depicting women as sexual objects. Sir Mix A Lot’s, Baby Got Back makes it clear that “shes gotta pack much back” or he wants nothing with her. More recently songs talk about women in vulgar manner. While listening to songs that were sung by women, not one song talked about males being attractive nor did they mention a man’s private parts. The stereotype that women should be beautiful is reinforced by music and it is hurtful to women.

Women who do not live up to society’s standard of beautiful are greatly affected. As it is heard in many songs that a man is in love with a beautiful woman, the girls who are not considered attractive feel that they are not worthy of love and often have self esteem issues. Janis Ian’s 1975 hit At Seventeen is an example of how these girls may feel. she says, “I learned the truth at seventeen That love was meant for beauty queens and high school girls with clear skinned smiles who married young and then retired The valentines I never knew The Friday night charades of youth were spent on one more beautiful At Sseventeen I learned the truth And those of us with ravaged faces lacking in the social graces desperately remained at home inventing lovers on the phone.” In 1999 the female group TLC released Unpretty. This song is about a woman who is being put down by her boyfriend and changes her looks to make him happy and the lyrics also say that that she was never insecure until she met him.

As mentioned earlier one of the stereotypes that was given to women was that they are portrayed as evil. Women are usually seen in this light when they go against the stereotypical norm of being caring, delicate and passive. In many songs they are portrayed as evil for breaking a man’s heart by sleeping with other men, this is shown in the song Runaround Sue by Dion which released in 1961. Dion says, “She took my love then ran around with every single guy in town Ah, I should have known it from the very start this girl will leave me with a broken heart now listen people what I'm telling you A-keep away from-a Runaround Sue.” While women are seen negatively for being promiscuous and are referred to as “sluts” and “whores” men are praised for doing the same thing.

This double standard is reinforced in music and although more women are challenging this by exploring sexuality in their songs like Britney Spears new 2009 single 3 ,which is about a three some, these songs are considered to be for “sluts”. Women who are promiscuous are said to have no respect for themselves and it seems that these women are not given respect by men in music as well. In snoop dogs song, It Aint No Fun, he says, “When I met you last night baby Before you opened up your gap I had respect for ya lady But now I take it all back” saying that women cannot be respected for giving it up to easily. Although this problem has always been around, it is seen more recently now that hip hop has become part of the mainstream. Hip hop has become popular for degrading women by calling them “bitches” and “hoes” and by turning men into pimps. There is no degrading word for male promiscuity.

Almost every song that is sung by a woman is about a man. Most songs are about wanting to be in a relationship because to the media that is a woman’s happiness. Songs like Linda Ronstadts , When Wwill I Be Loved which was released in 1974 show women as needy and desperate for a man. in britneys spears 1999 hit song, Baby One More Time, she says, “My loneliness is killing me I must confess, I still believe When I'm not with you I lose my mind Give me a sign

Hit me baby one more time,” she is pretty much begging the guy to come back . In 2008 beyonce released single ladies which repeats the phrase “if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it.” this song shows the importance of marriage to women. The stereotype that women need to be in a relationship and ultimately Marriage to be happy are still being played out in music today.

Movies

In movies just as music, most directors and leading roles have been men. Women have been restricted to the role they get to play. It seems that most women in movies are given the same stereotypes as those in music. They either have the characteristics of a caring woman or are depicted as evil. The same stereotypes are shown: the importance of being in a relationship, women being materialistic and women being attractive.

In most movies women are seen as needing to be saved by a man. In 1959 Disney produced the movie Sleeping Beauty and showed princess aurora as a beautiful delicate woman who was saved by the princes kiss and was brought back to life. Although the movie was about the princess, the prince took over the movie by playing the active role fighting the witch meanwhile the helpless princess waited to be saved. In the 60s Audrey Hepburn starred in Breakfast at Tiffany’s which shows her as a helpless girl who needs a man to take care of her. More recently, in 1990 Julia Roberts was a prostitute in Pretty Woman who was saved and became a lady with the help of a man.

Being in a relationship and marriage seem to be in movies as the ultimate factor of happiness and of great importance to women. In the princess films that Disney has brought us there is always a relationship between a woman and a man which by the end of the movie turns into marriage. In Hes Just not that Into You which was released in 2008 women are shown as obsessed with men and the idea of being in relationship and are needy. In 2008 the movie Four Christmases was released, at first Reese Witherspoon and boyfriend of four years Vince Vaughn try to challenge the idea of marriage saying that they can be in love without ever having to be married or have children. By the end of the movie Witherspoon realizes that she does want to be married and have kids one day. By not continuing to challenge the norm that is seen in movies it shows that there is something wrong with women who do want marriage and children.

Not only are these stereotypes being played out by women but also by animated films which are targeted towards children. Not only in Disney princess films is this seen but also in movies like Madagascar, Ice Age, Shrek, and Alvin and the Chipmunks. These movies always show characters in relationships even though these films are targeted at kids. These movies stress at an early age the importance of being in a relationship. Many times even when the characters are animals they instill the same message and often show cartoons as flirts and show them kissing. These films also show female cartoons in a sexualized way giving them attributes like big lips and long lashes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMcLn6YjsBg


Beauty in film is very important. In most if not all movies it is a beautiful woman who captures the leading man’s heart. Instead of showing women as they really are films only hire women who are very beautiful and are often extremely thin. As in music, movies also add on to the stereotype that a woman should be beautiful and look a certain way. Many actresses are pressured into being very thin and often turn anorexic. Many women in our society wanting to look like their favorite actress also fall into this unhealthy habit.

Women are also seen as materialistic. Movies help to reinforce this stereotype. In Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Hepburn is obsessed with the Tiffany’s jewelry store and is obsessed with wanting to marry a rich man. In a more modern movie, Confessions of a Shopaholic shows Isla Fisher as a rich girl who is obsessed with shopping then suddenly goes broke after her cards are declined.

Women in music and movies are given limited roles due to the fact that most producers are men and put out what they want to be seen. These stereotypes label women in a negative manner and put down women who try to challenge society’s norms. It seems that the stereotypes that were prominent in the 50s have carried out throughout the decades. women in the media still have a long way to go to be up to par with men.

- Jessica

Survey Part 2: Popular Opinion

SPREADSHEET OF SURVEY RESULTS!

^^^Click to view spreadsheet of all results aquired.


Remaining Questions in charts:
3. Do you watch TMZ?

4. Do you listen to KISS FM and AMP radio?

5. On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being alot, how much do you follow celebrity gossip?

9. On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the most, how attractive do you find women in rap videos?

              I started the survey off with simple questions such as age and sex to get a grasp on what type of audience I was dealing with. Though I left the question open-ended, respondents only consisted of males and females with the ages ranging from 16-41, with the median age being about 20. Through questions three, four, and five I aimed to find out how much of the respondents were aware of popular media such as TMZ and KISS FM. These media outlets focus mainly on celebrities and the gossip about them, with most of the main stories coming from starletts such as Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan. Asking these questions gave me a better understanding of their grasp on popular culture and if they saw the way women were represented in this day and age. Though the results were moderate for each question, I could tell that most people had a grasp on at least one of the three catagories and were familiar with the mass media and how women were represented in some form.
              Question 5 helped me jump right into question 6 which further went into detail about celebrity gossip and the lines that it draws. The question was whether media focuses too much on personal information when it comes to celebrities, and it recieved an overwhelming response of yes and absolutely. In our day and age, celebrity gossip has become another form of news media that is followed religiously by many with fan sites such as Perez Hilton and TMZ.com left and right. There are hundreds of websites devoted to the every step of celebrities with constantly streaming news feeds and updates. How does this affect the representation of women you ask? Women in the media now more than ever have much more to uphold than just their looks. With paparrazi around every corner, women in the media must be sure their every move is well kept so not to get the wrong image in the media. Women in the 50's had to worry about their glamour and beauty, women today have to worry about their image and where they're photographed. Paparrazi today have reached a whole new level of invading privacy, with pictures taken within a celebrities own home without even knowing it. Celebrities must worry about who they're with, where they're going, how they're photographed, and what people know about them. These things can change the entire representation of a women from starlett to slut, as in the example with Paris Hilton below. When she first hit stardom she was seen as a beautiful, priveledged heiress. But once stories and photos that crushed her image were leaked, no longer did she hold the image of beauty but disgust. All these features of celebrity gossip make it so much harder for women to present themselves in a good light. Even someone as young and innocent as Miley Cyrus can have one bad photo shot of her and suddenly she becomes the "promiscuous partying teen". Women must fight much harder than they used to to keep this solid image in the media, making the "representation of women in mass media" much worse than before.
               In questions seven and ten I aimed to find out what the respondents found as "sexy" on a woman and who they found these features in. Getting a grasp on their views on women and who they thought the best in Hollywood was was important to figuring out how women were seen in Hollywood. Question ten asked what was the sexiest thing about a women's body, and the top three answers were

1. Curves/figure
2. Legs
3. Eyes

                 Other top answers included face, confidence, and stomach with butt and boobs not so common on the list, which I found fascinating. I found it as either not wanting to admit that there were "most important" or possibly a shift from men just thinking about T&A. Either way the overwhelming response was curves and figure of a women that was sexiest. In accordance to the sexiest celebrity woman in hollywood, the top three responses were

1. Megan Fox
2. Angelina Jolie
3. Scarlett Johanson

                  Though the second and third did get quite a few votes, the overwhelming response was Megan Fox with over 27 votes. This ties in with question ten because its obvious that Megan Fox has a nice figure and curves, so at least the answers matched up when it came to the sexiness of a woman's body. What I found interesting about the winner was that many people who picked her said it like a question. Either they guessed it was her, didnt really know her but assumed that was it, or said that was the answer but did not believe it. This brings us back to the media and celebrity gossip to why she became the overall winner. Megan Fox is constantly in the media, winning many "Sexiest Woman Alive" awards in magazines and tv shows, portraying her as this massive sex symbol that cannot be stopped. At the same time, she is portrayed through gossip as this ungettable, God-like creature that no one could possibly grasp, making her that much more desirable in the eyes of men. The way she is represented in the media makes her seem like the sexiest woman ever to walk this earth, when in reality it is simply because the package she is wrapped in. Judging her appearance, she is in fact a beautiful woman but many would agree she is not "the most perfect creature ever created". This is why I assume the responses for her came in questions, because they thought that was what they were supposed to say since the media is constantly bragging about her beauty, since her package is seen on ever magazine, since her image is seen as "the most sexy". We are told by the media that Megan Fox is the sexiest woman alive, that she has a nice figure and curves and we should have them too, and we wonder how were not brainwashed? This question really brought insight into my study.
                Questions eight and nine were created to bring insight into the portrayal of women in the media that did not exactly attain "celebrity" status. The women we see on runaways, the women pictured in music videos, the women that are in the public eye but are not yet under the media microscope. The questions were if you found Victoria Secret models attractive, and did you find the girls in music videos attractive. The questions went from a strong yes for the models to a strong no for the music video girls. This also does a great deal of explaining representation in mass media. Victoria Secret models are shown in a positive light in mass media, as beauty icons and symbols of perfection. Everyone is made to envy their looks and bodies and they are seen as goddesses. Music video girls, on the other hand, are called "hoes" and "tricks" in music videos and are put in horrible positions where they must be treated as inferior. They are shown as "objects" and their "representation" of the clothes they wear and the verbal abuse they take is horrible. On the topic of clothes, its interesting that even in the most scandalous music videos girls are wearing more clothing than any Victoria secret model, yet the music video girls are seen as "trashy". These models walk in front of millions of cameras in their underwear and not one word of ridicule is stated, while the rap videos wear more clothing and are the "whores". Its because the media tells us that we must find underwear models as goddesses and these rap video girls as trash, because the "package" that was created for them tells us its unacceptable. Again bringing us back to how hard it is to have a good representation of yourself in the media, because you need to watch your every step, you need to trace every word ever said about you, and just plain hope the mass media likes you enough to make you a star.

Survey Part 1: Comparing Pictures

                   Facebook Wall Photo: Comparing Pictures

10 hours ago - Sam Katz Is this a joke? Paris


10 hours ago · Michael Dorman slutty paris

10 hours ago · Christian Trebon The left, I hate blondes and paris is too skinny.

10 hours ago · Brandon Metten right

10 hours ago · Joe Aldor paris b/c the of the photoshop.

10 hours ago · Christina Clancy left because it's classier. Sexuality is beautiful when done tastefully.

10 hours ago · Lauren Perez Left. The right is trash.

10 hours ago · Chris Potrykus even tho paris hilton is a trashy slut, i say the right.

9 hours ago · Oliver Burke the left.im kinda obligated to say my mom looks sexier though. haha. honestly the left though. lets the imagination run a little more and paris is always a negative.

9 hours ago · Rachel McGowan left

9 hours ago · Eric M. Garcia i say the right.

9 hours ago · Jake Willison The blonde one is way sexier, the one on the left looks rather mannish.

9 hours ago · Nathan Prodigalidad I would go with the right

8 hours ago · David Carver yep right for sure only cause the left one looks nasty

7 hours ago · Melissa Jamero the one of the right. maybe because the picture is clearer?

6 hours ago · Jj Jessup The left- because brunettes are always better.

6 hours ago · Geneva Mueller This is hard. All personal reputations and picture clarity aside (Betty Paige is classy, Paris not so much), I would say the right. Her body looks elongated more, thighs/butt accentuated by the light and/or airbrush technique (which makes a significant difference in the cognitive perception of an image), and more flesh is being shown. However, IMO, brunetttes usually ALWAYS take the cake. Sorry, Betty. Its just not a good shot.

5 hours ago · Christa Keizer left- she's classier, showing less skin (there's more to take off haha)

5 hours ago · Anthony DiSano Paris. Even though she's usually ugly. Her curves, the position, the skin tone and the look she's giving is much more sexy.

4 hours ago · Eddie Javier right. right. right. ...right?

4 hours ago · Melissa Jamero my boyfriend says right--the way the left is sitting looks like she's "whoring" the right is more seductive.

3 hours ago · Jocelyn Cruz I think the right. Mainly because the left picture is more posed. The right one looks like she is caught in action.. likelaready crawling towards a guy. also, the body position. It make her look longer

about an hour ago · Donny Campbell Girl on the right... color better accentuates the curves and contours of her body. She has a more sensual pose... and not to mention the fact that I love blondes hahaha



           Although this only represents a very small portion of the young adult age group (ages 18-25), this example was meant to show how women represent themselves in the mass media and how this representation is ever changing over time. I picked two random "sex symbols" from two different time periods, both the 50's and now, and chose photos that fit in the "sex appeal" catagory. What I wanted to represent was how sex appeal is different in every time period and what might be provacative and scandalous at one point becomes discreet in another. What was seen as obsene back in the 50's, a scantily clad pinup girl poised seductively on a couch, now is seen as minimal compared to obscene photos of the present. These photos were chosen at random to see what the young public thought of the representation of "sexy women" and who in fact was "sexier" and why. In trying to sample which women would be more attractive to both men and women, I found much more than a common survey of appealing looks. Since as they say a picture is worth a thousand words.
             What I first noticed when I looked over the responses on the photos was the language used to describe each woman. The one thing I was sure to do was pick woman that were well known media figures, because a woman's representation is not only how she looks but the reputation she holds. The words associated with Paris' representation included "slut, ugly, nasty, and skinny". What's odd is that even though Paris was the clear winner of the sexiest picture, many said that they picked it because of the "light" or "position", not because of the woman herself. Its odd that many picked Paris as having the sexier picture, while adding "even though she's trash" or "even though she's ugly". With the image of Paris also comes the reputation of a "slut" and the scandals from her past, making her entire package come together. With a sexy photo of Paris Hilton comes the immediate reaction of "disgust" in some cases. Although Bettie Page was an obvious second, its odd that the majority of women that responded picked her, using words such as "elegance and classiness" to describe their choice. This points out a big difference in the way that men and women find a woman "sexy" and the differences between appeal. Men have been known to like a raunchier side with less work for the imagination, while women look for confidence as well as poise with a glint of seductiveness. This is both proven and disproven with these photos, with many of the women following the norm in saying that they like the class of Betty Page while some women agreed the contours of Paris' photograph was better. There were also a few examples of men taking the "classy is better" stance for Betty Page, however the majority stayed with men for Paris Hilton and women with Betty Page. This however cannot be pulled as a norm for it usually deals with the person and their idea of "sexy".
              Another key aspect that swayed the choice had to do with both the pose and the look of the photographs. Many pointed out how the positioning of Paris' body was what won them over, with a much more seductive and elongated pose. Its obvious that the poses differ between the photos, with the 50's photo being more reserved and inward while the current photo is posed to be sprawled and looming towards you. Many of the pinup photos I found in 50's were similar, with provacative poses facing away from the camera and body language seeming very enclosed. This may come from the fact that "provacative" was at a whole different level back then and to even pose away from the camera was pushing the envelope. Photographs, although scandalous, were much more tasteful in the 50's. Today, pushing the envelope is hard to accomplish with our bar of "scandalous" being much higher, since the Bettie Page photo can be seen much worse in any Victoria Secret catalog. Along with the positioning came mention of the lighting and designing of the Paris photo. Photoshop is an important tool of our time when it comes to mass media, and when it comes to photos such as these never do they go untouched. Everything from the way the light hits their body to the look of the skin is important in a final pitcture, and photoshop makes it possible to alter and perfect each and every aspect. This is a huge difference from the photographs of the 50's to now; back then a photo was real and as perfect as the scene itself. Nowadays it doesnt matter what the model even looks like with the wonders of modern technology. Many agreed that they chose the right photo because of the look as whole and the editing of the picture, which makes a huge difference in how women are represented as "flawless" when in reality this perfection only exists on a computer screen

-Ashley Loera

Women Progress

Women’s history in the United States is a topic that can be overloading with information, so I decide to create a timeline that will help facilitate focusing on important events that took place. For instance, I will be concentrating on the roles of women during the Seneca Falls Convention, the 15th amendment, 19th amendment, equal rights amendment, equal pay act, civil rights act, reproductive rights, the world wars, and women’s liberation.


During the 1800’s slavery was common and was being practiced throughout the entire country. However, there were individuals that frowned upon this practice. Among these individuals were two very important women who helped spark the beginning in seeking equality for women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were two American women who traveled to London in 1840 to attend the world anti-slavery convention. To their surprise they were denied entry to the convention because of their sex; because they were women. Infuriated by this, these two women organized the Seneca Falls Convention that took place in New York 1848. A few hundred women gathered and thus began a quest in gaining equal rights for women. During this convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton introduced the Declaration of Sentiments that demonstrated the unjust tyrant control that men possessed over women. Some of these sediments included but are not limited to taking property rights from women, depriving them of a thorough education, giving no voice or say and turning then “civilly dead.”

The objective of getting women equal rights and suffrage was put on pause with the civil war. As a result of the civil war, three new amendments were added to the constitution. The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments are also known as the civil war amendments. In 1865 the 13th amendment finally abolished slavery from the United States. In 1868 the 14th amendment stated that all those born or naturalized in the U.S. were considered citizens. The 15th amendment stated than no citizen could be denied to vote due to race or skin color. However, the 14 amendment is the amendment that had the biggest impact on women’s suffrage in the United States because it specifically grated ‘males’ the right to vote. Women played a major role in helping abolish slavery and when the final ratification of the 14th amendment occurred they expected to also be recognized as rightful voters. The 14th amendment brought nothing but betrayal and disappointment to the feminist community, especially to Susan B. Anthony. Susan B. Anthony was an important woman who was also an advocate for women’s right to vote. She traveled throughout the country, and was an active woman who lobbied at state capitols, met with congressmen, and attended suffrage conventions. After the ratification of the 14th amendment, Susan B. Anthony was determined to cast her ballot in the elections of 1875. To the surprise of many, her ballot was accepted; however she was later arrested for this action. Anthony argued that the 14th amendment granted American citizens the right to vote and therefore women should be allowed to vote.

In 1851 Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton met. Both women, passionate over gaining women’s suffrage formed the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869. Later in 1890 NWSA united with the American Woman Suffrage to form the National American Women Suffrage Association. Susan B. Anthony was the president of the association and Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the vice president. Together, along with many other women, they where determined to help grant women the right to vote. In 1920, with the ratification of the 19th amendment, women were finally granted the right to vote. Unfortunately neither Susan B. Anthony nor Elizabeth Stanton were alive to see their goal accomplished but they were the initiators in a long battle for women’s suffrage.

With the arrival of the two world wars, women roles in society dramatically changed because they were filling in for the men that were sent out overseas. Women on the home front were encouraged to leave their homes to help out as much as possible. During WWI women began to work to the military, although they were not in combat, they did take clerk related jobs. The Red Cross trained nurses to go to France to help attend the injured. During World War two in 1942 Rosie the Riveter became a popular symbol in representing strong, patriotic, independent, working women who where keeping up the fort at home. These women were working in factories dedicated in making supplies such as ammunition, and airplanes for the war. American industry was becoming dependent of women. 15000 American women served in the Women’s Army Corps. They took jobs such as weather observers, forecasters, cryptographers, radio operators, control tower observers. Women were also managing food supplies, providing healthcare, and food services. Women role where essential during the worlds wars.

During the 1960’s and 1970’s a second wave of feminist movement took place. This was known as the women’s liberation. During liberation, women were encouraged to step out of their domestic roles and seek complete equality. For example, when it came to wages, women were considered to be cheap labor because employers could get away with paying women half of what men were paid. In 1963 the Equal Pay Act was passed and thus put an end to unequal wages. It stated that both men and women were required equal pay for equal work. With the passage of the act, employers used it as an excuse to hire more men. They argued that they might as well hire men for jobs if they are required to pay women equally for the same jobs. This quickly became an issue because women were not only losing jobs, but they were also having an extremely difficult time facing employment discrimination due to their gender. But have women really over come unequal wages? We are definitely closing the wage gap between women and men however it has taken us an extremely long time to do so. Unfortunately women are still coming up short in their paychecks in comparison to men. According to Deborah Kolb, back in 1975 women only made 63 cents for a mans dollar. In 2000 women only make 78 cents for every dollar. Yes, it is an improvement but it is definitely not equal.

Employment discrimination was also a problem because it was preventing women from gaining employment. Employers did not want to hire women because they preferred men. In 1964 the Civil Right Act Title VII was passed. This title prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex in employment. Many state laws regulating women’s work was removed in the 1960’s and 1970’s. However it seem like discrimination against women in the workplace still exist today. For instance the glass ceiling theory can be seen; although it is slowly narrowing. According to Gary N. Powell women in American labor force was 46% in 1998, representing a 1% increase since 1990. Women in management positions position was 44% in 1998, representing a 5% since 1990. The proportion of female corporate officer in FORTUNE 500 Corporation was 8.7% in 1995, 10.0% in 1996, 10.6% in 1997 and 11.2% in 1989. As we can observe women ONLY hold 11.2% of management positions.

Another important milestone during liberation was reproductive rights.

Abortion for the most part was not illegal but after the civil war many state legislatures illegalized it. Margaret Sanger was the first woman to introduced birth control, she opened up a small clinic but it was quickly shut down. She saw the economic hardship, hunger, and physical strain of repeated child birth. Women like her believed that they deserved to have control over their own bodies. The only way a woman could have an abortion was if her life was in danger. Roe vs. Wade made abortions legal for women. Justice Harry Blackmun wrote “…right of privacy is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision to terminate a pregnancy.” Thanks to this, women now have the ability to decide whether or not they wish to give birth.

Hey there,

I am back with my final post.  There was a typo in one of the author's name in the American way of Death article.  It should read Sharon "Crook" not Sharon "Cook."

Rebecca C. Hains, “Power Feminism, Mediated: Girl Power and the Commercial Politics of Change”, Women’s Studies in Communication 32, no. 1 (2009): 89-113.

In this article, the author talks about how feminism has driven away a lot of the female population to its cause because it is so intent on using scare tactics. She states the reasoning behind this type of thinking is due to the fact feminist believe that since men have the power in the public sphere such as politics and business, they will not give it up, meaning in order to get what they want they will have to take it by force. So where do females turn to? The answer is the media and we all know that the media only interest is in capturing an audience. One such way is through the use of children’s programming which was gaining speed in the 1990’s. But what seemed to attract children the most was programming, which included girl power. Such shows were Powerpuff Girls, Kim Possible, My Life as a Teenage Robot, and Totally Spies. Most of the time she talked about the villains which represented what she called “victim feminists” for example Femme Fatale, a villain feminist robot attempted to turn the girls using the idea that they were being “kept down” by the males of Townsville. Eventually, the girls came to their senses and realized she was using the “victim feminist” excuse for her actions and lock her in jail. The other big thing is that “Girl Power” merchandise has also been introduced around the same time, but she believes that by doing so you have changed the meaning to “Buy this.”

Sharon Crook West and Joseph P. McKerns, “Death and Communists: The Funeral Industry’s Attack on Jessica Mitford’s The American Way of Death”, American Journalism 26, no. 1 (2009): 31-53.
The big topic of the article was how the media received the “American Way of Death” by Jessica Mitford and how funeral directors and the Right Wing attacked it in a desperate attempt to save their reputations. Funeral directors described the American Funeral as a “beautiful memory picture;” while Mitford described it as “the pickled and prettified corpse arranged in a suitably costly box.” The main argument Mitford made in her book was that many times when burying a union worker, the unions would provide for the service but little would go to the widow, mainly because the funeral was so expensive. One solution Mitford provided was cremation, but funeral directors knew this would lose them money so as a counterargument they would call her a communist, because of ties with a Communist Party she had ten years ago that she is no longer part of. What was more amazing was the fact that when the funeral directors would fund for a journal article to go against Mitford, they would immediately see flaws not because Mitford’s book was very popular when first published, but because her work is so well researched that any argument against it would be futile unless it was also well researched. But because they were intent on making an argument to invalidate the book, they made stupid errors. This is probably most amazing because the media sided with a woman and her ideas rather than well respected men in high paying jobs in 1963, when the feminist movement was only starting to gain momentum.

Kathleen Endres, “In Their Own Voices: Women Redefine and Frame Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964”, American Journalism 26, no. 1 (2009): 55-80.
This article deals with the author going through newspaper articles written by NOW members such as News and Opinions of Women, NOW Hear This, and Women Are People, as well as articles written the radical right wing such as Voice of the Women’s Liberation Movement, Everywoman Is Our Sister, Pandora, and It Ain’t Me Babe. Her main goal was to look at the articles and show how they defined Title VII of the Civil rights act. The background began when Lyndon B Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act and the EEOC was created to create equal job opportunities for those of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Unfortunately, it did not have time to enforce Title VII for women. So of women of NOW and the radical right wing create newspaper chapters in the major cities of the US. NOW articles referenced different people of race such as Jo-Ann Gardner’s one summary relating her plight to Malcolm X. The radical right wing articles mainly focused on how NOW was doing everything completely wrong. Funny how both had so different views on how each other was trying to get what they wanted.

Barbara Friedman, “Unlikely Warriors: How Four U.S. News Sources Explained Female Suicide Bombers”, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 85, no. 4 (2008): 841-859.
The idea of this article is to look into how US media responses to female suicide bombers. Originally, male suicide bombers had a motive such that there were “72 virgins in heaven” but the media had no explanation for why women did it. Eventually, they concluded that there were five possible reasons such that a female would become a suicide bomber: (1) strategic desirability, for example nearly all news items studied displayed that a women could get through to many places undetected; (2) influence of men, for example one new report stated that there were traces of heroin or morphine; (3) revenge, for example one women caught before she committed the act said she was going to do it because Israeli soldiers pointed a gun at her father’s head and killed him; (4) desperation, such that one Palestine bomber came under control of the Israelis leaving her with little choice; and (5) liberation, such as many women in these countries were considered second-class citizens and wanted to send a message. All of these motives have come from the idea that since men are the dominant sex to be suicide bombers with them being masculine, the only way to describe a female suicide bomber is to make her more masculine. It shows how media feels the need to explain what is not already explained even if it means removing a women’s femininity.

Karen Slattery and Ana C. Garner, “Mothers of Soldiers in Wartime: A National News Narrative”, Critical Studies in Media Communication 24, no. 5 (2007): 429-445.
What is an archetypal patriotic mother? According to this article is it a mother that supports the both her child fighting in the war and the actual war itself. With regard to past war, we have no record to disprove of any mother being an archetypal patriotic mother, but he says that it is not as important as being an archetypal good mother, where the mother supports her child but may having conflicting issues with regard to the war. The author goes into detail about the qualities of an archetypal good mother in the sense of the different modes she may be in and the type of support she gives to her child. For example, the “in danger” mode is where she will give mostly material support such as food, blankets, and clothing where as the “captured or injured” mode she will give mostly spiritual support according to the study. Of the 134 mothers done in this study, he has found that all are archetypal good mothers but only a third of the mothers are archetypal patriotic mothers. This is big because it was originally said that most mothers fit the archetype of the patriotic mother, but we in this war have seen a shift in the thinking of the idea of war to nurturing mothers and need to make a definition to define what it means to be maternal.

As you can see a lot of these articles are based on femininity and the media.  If I could make one generalization about the articles I have read, it is that they tend to focus either on one particular one moment in time such as the Betty Ford article or The American Way of Death, or they include a lot of separate yet unimportant articles to the public such as the Suicide bombers article or the Mother's of Soldiers articles.  I don't know if that is what is considered necessary for an article to be published, but a general tend makes it look so.  Also they tend to repeat a lot of what has already been said earlier in their articles.  However with most articles regarding femininity and the media, I also have noticed how they tend to glorify femininity and make journalism the bad guy, every time.  It makes me wonder if media is so bad, then how would femininity have grown rapidly without it.  Sometimes it makes me wonder how a journalist can be objective when he writes from a biased stance.  That is all I have for you, thanks for reading.

Chris

Happy Days - Notes and Analysis

Happy Days

Intro

Jukebox plays. Girl spills the drinks all over the police because she got frightened. Girl’s hair gets caught in the convertible top. Two kids start kissing and fall out of the car.

All the Way-1

Fonze is cleaning his bike and two girls fawn over him. The boys gather around to check out a hickie. The boy’s talk to each other about girl and talk about how she has a reputation, she dates a sailor. The date consists of sitting at the ice cream parlor and Richie read out loud from a book to make him see older. Rich get to baby sit with Mary Lou. Mother tries to talk to her husband about her son because he seems worried. Father blames it on growing pains and then talks about how he is upset because he will be shorter than his sons. The Fonze snaps open all the hooks on the bra. Richie goes over to Mary Lou’s house expecting to go all the way. Mary Lou wants to talk, Rich seems stumped. Mary Lou turns down the lights and says that they can talk any time. Mary Lou plays with her hair and gets close to Rich as he reads a seductive part of the story. Mary Lou asks if he wants to neck. Rich sticks a piece of gum in his mouth and then spits it out. He tries to kiss Mary Lou and he kisses funny. He tries it again and then they give up and play chess. Mary Lou doesn’t know how to play and when explaining how to play she just grabs the king and says I win! The next day the boys at school pressure Rich into saying that he had sex. Mary Lou wants to see Rich again. Rich talks his father about his lie that he told to his friends. Mary Lou is not bothered by the teacher fondling her and trying to get her bra unhooked, or her bad reputation. Fonze  got a date with Mary Lou because of her reputation that she slept with Rich. Potsey said there are two types of girls, those you marry and those that have reputation.

The Lemon-2

Rich drives his dads car and is insulted by the girls. Rich has 100 dollars saved and him and Potsey wants to get a car with him. Dad watches wrestling and is upset that it is fake. Mother takes her daughter to the kitchen. Rolling den of iniquity is what pops calls the car. Mother is on Rich’s side, says that it would be nice to have a second car in the house. Father says he should finish college and get a good job so that he would have good reliable car. The boys buy a piece of junk car and the dad is not impressed. Mother is impressed by the car and calls it interesting. The boys are so excited about the car but it dies. The girls are excited about a date set up on sat night with the boys. They try to fix the car. Potsey practices for the date, how to put an arm around a girl and gets caught by Fonze. They pick up the girls and go to the dance, they are late but they make it, for the last 10 seconds. All four are disappointed. Potsey starts to kiss in the back, Rich tells the girl that he respects her as a person and then tries to kiss her. The wheel is digging into his hip and then the horn starts to go off. They pull all the wires out. The girl’s father calls Richards father and says that his daughter is still out and it’s after midnight. The father tries to go back to bed but mother won’t allow it. She insists that he go look for Rich. Howard looks at the dinner and speaks to Fonze. Fonze is worried about his reputation but tells Howard where the boys are. The boys tried to fix the car but fail. The car drives into the lake and the girls go with it. The girl’s father comes over to collect his daughters. Rich learned an expensive lesson. Father’s best friend is mother, mother says that her best friend is the milkman, everyone at the tale looks appalled but  then she laughs and says, see I can joke too.

Richie’s Cup Runneth Over-3

The boys played a joke on the waitress, she quits. Potsey is excited about the wild party that is planned for a bachelor party. The waitress screams that the manikin is following her, she will come back to work there, and she always quits. Richie tries to get out of seeing aunt Betsy and tells his dad the he wants to go to  the bachelor party with marines. Dad lets him go but tells him to take it easy. The boys drink milk so that they wont get drunk. He boys get the party and there is so much beer and the marines give them cards that have that have naked ladies on them. The marines start playing drinking games, the boys take swigs of olive oil to try to not get drunk. The boys get drunk after all. A woman pops out of cake she is blonde and wears a marine outfit. The dancer tells jokes and dances on the table. Richie gets a ride home from the lady that popped out of the cake. Richie is upset because he doesn’t know what to do because the girl brought him home, so he’s not sure if he should kiss her. Richie lies down and the bed starts doing flip-flops. He gets sick. His little sister is excited that he’s drunk! He’s grown up in her eyes. Mother thought it was the flu, and is upset that he got tipsy. Father is supposed to be the one to take care of Richard, mother takes care of the mumps and measles. Both mother and Richie wonder if father is ashamed of him. Hopes that Richie has learned that drinking does not make him a man. Mother comes in to check on Richie after he falls asleep. Both parents excuse his behavior as growing up.

Guess Who’s Coming to Visit-4

Eating French fries and kissing when they get to the middle. A guy accidentally squirts ketchup on the girl next to him, all over her face. There will be a drag race, Ralph is called a chicken because he said drag racing is against the law. The girl makes a cheer and Fonze is annoyed. Fonze mimics the waitress. Richie is talking to another guy’s girl and gets a shoulder shove. Jonnie twirls the baton while the boys play basketball. Richie gets beat by his older brother. Josie decides that she doesn’t want to be a baton twirler she wants to be a basketball player. Posey stays over at Richies house. Mother makes jokes about fathers high school sports career. Potsey wants to sneak out to see the race at midnight. The family sits around the black and white TV and watches the program together. Rich thinks it’s too risky to sneak out. Potsey uses the fact that he has a crush on a girl that will be at the race so they sneak out to go. Mother brings up milk and cookies and finds the boys missing. The little sister tells the parents that the boys went to the race. Rich talks to the girl and she likes that he smells like after shave and not like her boy that smells like gas. Rich starts the race just as his father pulls up. Father, Richie and Potsey along with a lot more students get taken down to the station. The sergeant calls all the parents. Mother and the little sister are waiting up when they get home, the little sister is waiting up to what happened to Richie. The Father gave him the punishment of grounded for life. Mother comes in with Howard following, she talks sense into him. Richie is only grounded for two weeks. Instead of drag racing they arm wrestle and Fonze winds. There are only two kids left that did not get grounded, they meet. It’s a nerdy girl and a fat boy, they dance.

Hardware Jungle-5

Dancing scene at the hamburger joint. The guys play a joke on the fat kid by making all the salt come out. Double dates are very popular. The fat kid plays the joke back on Richard. There are mirrors in the men’s restroom, the guys go in just to fix their hair. Mother is making dinner and Howard comes home with a sore throat. Father is offended when mother does a cho cho train noise to get him to open his mouth. Marian puts a wool sock around his neck and fixes him Brandy, Howard is embarrassed. The doctor comes over to the house and tells him that the tonsils have to come out. Howard is scarred, and can’t miss keeping his store open. The night of the dance Richie has to keep the store open for his dad so he returned the tickets to Fonze. Mother packs father a suitcase. Jonnie tells father there is nothing to be scarred about but ends up frightening her father. Mother needs help to close he suitcase. Mother makes it so that Richie can now make his date but now he has to get the tickets back again. Mother tries to assure father that there is nothing to worry about. Pessimistic neighbor at the hospital makes father uneasy. Richie locks the door in the store and they get locked in. Richie breaks the front glass in the door and stays in to wait for the repairman to come. The repairman went to the rock and roll show too, Richie has to wait alone. Earns his fathers respect by staying at the store and missing his concert.

The Deadly Dares-6

The boys are at the sock hope and can’t get a date so they try to join the Demon gang. Richie and Potsey ask Fonze for help to get into the club. Mom irons Richie’s pants, father helps his daughter paint by numbers but he doesn’t like the way she paints, she keeps painting the wrong numbers. It looks horrible but mother says very nice dear. The boys go to the initiation brought by Fonze. Potsey tells a knock knock joke to get into the club. They pass the first step but they then have to do 6 things to get in. The first thing was to do prank calls. The second was to kiss the waitress. The waitress screams and says 50 people attacked her. The third joke was to steal the principles hairpiece. Then they start singing the American amble in the middle of the movie theater. They tied the cop’s shoelaces together. He fell on the waitress and she screamed that all men are animals. The boys have to dress up like girls. Mother is working with her daughter to make a ginger bread man. Mother helped Richie dress up like a girl. Father was upset that the boys have to go thru all this, all he had to do was eat goldfish. The little sister is grossed out and goes to hide her goldfish from her father. At the sock hop Fonze dances with Richie and starts to blow in his ear. Fonze grabs another girl and pulls her hair a little and smells her. Potsey is dancing with Richard. After everything they decide they don’t want to be demons after all. The little sister jonnie is annoying and kicked out of the room by her father and her older brother.

Fonzie Drops In-7

Playing basketball at lunch, Potsey gets a B+ on the history test. Fonzie hangs out with the high school kids at lunch. Richie asks Fonze if he would come back to school to finish.  He would be the only person who was a high school drop in. Fonze and Richie go to the principle to ask if he could go back to school. Fonze makes the principle promise to drive properly before he will fix his car. Mother finds out that father doesn’t like the sandwich she makes him and says that the wife is always the last to know. Joni is excited to get to school early because she is going to find out where babies come from. There is a book and everything, mother is upset and says that she will drive her to school and they will have a talk along the way . Fonze comes back to school, he rearranges the class so that all the women sit next to him. The teacher gets help from Fonze because he quiets the class down. Richie does Fonze’s homework for him for a week. Fonze sends a girl off to find him to four-leaf clover, then he gets her to do his homework. Fonze is late for dinner. Fonze took fathers chair, mother days that it is just fine. Mother starts the conversation. Fonze says things at the table that are inappropriate. Fonze tries to get richie to cheat on the test, so that Fonze can pass. He blames Richie for getting him into this and tells him that it’s his duty to help him out. Richie won’t help Fonze cheat on the test. Fonze put notes in the girl’s sweatshirt in front of him and on the windowsill outside. Fonze is not mad at Richie, he passed the test without cheating. Fonze drops out not because he’s dumb but because he’s cool. Fonze keeps the exam he passed, he’s proud of himself. The whole family becomes aware that the littlest girl in the family is growing up.

The Skin Game-8

The group of guys are excited to hear about the one that just went to the strip joint. Richie has to answer the phone and get a shopping list from his mother. Richie missed the rest of the story. Potsey wants to get fake id’s so that they can go to the strip joint. Father read time magazine and opens a jar for mother. Father can’t get it open and mother opens it with ease, she attributes it to the idea that he must have loosened it for her. Mother goes to bring up milk and cookies but then she scares away pockets and Richie doesn’t get an id card. Father starts talking to himself after all the kids get up and do their own thing. Richie can’t borrow his brothers id but Potsey finds him one but he has to pass to be 25. The boys go to the strip joint. They both get in using the ids the strip joint was a dancing lady, chewing gum, looking somewhat ridiculous. The boys order beer. Richie says that the girl looks bored. She looks like a peacock, she starts to juggle balls. Everyone there is wearing a suit. Richies father is at the strip joint. Bubbles is in black dress, a blue scarf and long white gloves. Potsey is disappointed that bubbles didn’t take it all off. The boys try to sneak out, then Richie is upset because his father was at the striptease joint. Howard saw Richie at the strip joint and he told his father that he used a fake id to get in the joint, his father takes the fake id and grounds him for a week. Richie asked his father if mom knew that he was there. Father said that mother knew everything and he had to go there with that particular client every time he came to town. Bull makes the world go round – Fonze

Analysis

I had never watched this television show previously to this project, I picked this show to watch because it was very popular in its day. While watching Happy Days I was astonished at some of the underlying content of the show. This is not what I expected the material to cover based on the time that this was aired. Large female character roles were minimal but there were several references to them in every episode.

Almost every episode there was a storyline based around getting a girl to hook up with one of the boys in the group. There was a lot of underlying sexuality in the show. In the first episode, the first scene started with all the boys rushing to check out the hickie that one of them had just received. The episode went on to be about going all the way with the girl that had given the hickie, Mary Lou. Come to find out that she only kissed boys despite the reputation that she had been given. It was disturbing that Mary Lou was not at all bothered by the reputation that she had been given. There was even mention of the coach trying to get with her, that also was not something that was bothered about. Mary Lou ended up going out with three of the boys in that circle of friends because of her reputation of being easy. The second episode is all about Potsey and Richie trying to get a car so that they can go up the hill and make out with some girls. The girls in this episode are very eager to participate in this event. They are almost as equally excited as the boys to be able to go dancing and finish the evening by making out, but that is as far as it goes. The eighth episode was one that I was most socked by as far as content is concerned. The episode is about the boys struggle to obtain fake id’s so that they can visit the local strip club bar so that they can supposedly see a woman take all of her clothes off. They order two beers because that is the policy of the club, they are only 18, and continue to watch the show. They succeed in doing so but are disappointed because in the end the woman still has clothes on and the dance was not as exciting as they were expecting. Richie gets caught by his father, the id is confiscated and Richie is punished by being grounded for a week. I was so blown away by this because now in present day, beer can only be bought by a person of age 21 or over, to have a fake id is a federal crime punishable by prison time, and going to a strip joint is heavily demonized. Granted, the strip joints today do have women that are completely naked, however, if one got caught even doing the first two offenses there would be police involvement. The father was very easy going about the things that Richie got into trouble for, the longest amount of time he got grounded for was for two weeks. That punishment was given because he snuck out, went to an illegal drag race (which was the most demonized offense in the show) and the police took him in, his father had shown up to come get him and got to be taken to in the police car to the station as well. The boys played a lot of jokes on people and that was one main source of comedic relief in the show. A main target seemed to be the waitress at the diner. There were several cases when she was scarred, made fun of, even sexually assaulted (according to the definition of today) when the boys ran up, grabbed her and kissed her on the mouth. This was seen as fun kids stuff and was acceptable.

There was not one sophisticated woman in this entire show. Even when there was a woman who was made to seem elite she was concerned more with powdering her face, putting on lipstick, and being almost dollish. Every woman in this show was seen to be simple, most definitely, men were of superior status and were seen to be smarter than women. The mother in the show relied on her husband to do most everything, she did not have a job, nor were there any cases where she had any friends. Mother trusted father to take care of Richie when he came home drunk, her duty would be to take care of him when he was actually sick. Mother was assigned the roll of telling her daughter about sex. This show seemed to be very open to sexuality, to a certain degree. It was very acceptable that the boys were always looking for a date, and hoping to score. However, the double standard is very apparent when Potsey claims that there are two types of girls, there are those that you marry and there are those that have reputations. Overall the show was very degrading to women, the rolls that they had in society were trivial and dumbed down.

-Nichole

Everybody Loves Raymond Notes and Analysis

Pilot:

Ray was gone on business for four days and comes home 16 minutes late. The kids are having dinner and they are just finishing up. The kids are in array. Ray saves the day by handing out cookies. It is Debra’s birthday; ray forgets the day and how old she is. Debra accepts it. Debra wants a birthday without the in-laws. Tiered of the in-laws coming over unannounced and being intrusive. 40-year-old brother still living at home, ray makes excuses for his brother and his family. Debra has to take care of the house, and the kids all the time. Ray can’t tell the difference between his two-year-old twin sons. Debra goes out with her girl friend a special treat; ray watches the kids, a scary idea according to Debra. Grandmother intrudes and comes over and snoops through the house. Grandmother makes fun of Debra for going out and spending too much money at Victoria secret. Frank wakes up the kids and chaos begins. Ray gets home from sneaking out to get pizza and the in-laws get kicked out. Debra gets home and is impressed that ray cleaned the house gives him a look that initiates sex, ray gets exited. Debra catches ray, Debra is fighting for privacy from the in-laws. Ray can’t uninvited them, parents have a hold on him. Ray has to struggle between his mother and his wife. Parents offended because Raymond sends them a fruit of the month club, feel offended because they should be able to buy their own fruit. Sex is scarce and both feel like they don’t get it enough. Ray lied to grandparents to get them to stay home but they came anyways. Ray is a chicken as well as well as Debra. Debra not expected to speak up, ray quiets her down but then he himself cannot muster up the courage to say something to his parents. As soon as the sex begins again, the little girl wakes up.

I Love You:

Interview with Tommy Lasorta but then ray starts yelling at daughter alley to put the cookie down. On a double date at an Italian pizza place ray embarrassed by the PDA of the other couple. Debra wishes it were she, try to get ray to perform a PDA kiss but he is scarred. Fine is bad, its nothing, nothing is worse. Grandmother tries to pry open the desk drawer. Robert broke the shower after he fiddled with it. Robert can’t be alone at the house. Debra is still not ok and ray doesn’t know what he did. Debra wants more affection. Ray sees it as playboy drunkenness. Debra sees it as passion, want ray to say he loves her. Yelling it during sex doesn’t count. Ray seems bewildered. Ray gets a card for Debra. But something is wrong he thinks it should be a pop up, but he realizes she wants the talking part. Ray is uncomfortable with showing his affection toward his wife but is fine with showing his kids that he loves them. He still refuses to say that he loves Debra, blames it on his parents. Dad thinks love is for a fairyland, and nice people. Marie makes frank lunch and claims that frank doesn’t know what love is. Claims that their parents didn’t say that they said it to them so that it wouldn’t spoil them. They aren’t living in a fairyland. Marie breaks down and says that she loves everyone. Frank breaks down and says that he loves ray. Then Robert follows suit. Ray freaks out and is very uncomfortable, as is Debra at the whole idea of loving each other. Disagreements between Ray and Debra are broadcasted to the rest f the family. Ray makes the bed while he running late, Debra takes that as a sign of affection. She drops the idea of saying the love thing. He finally says it and she laughs at him just like he was afraid of happening.

I wish I Were Gus

Ray comes home with dinner but a little late one of the twins falls asleep in his high chair. Debra thinks that a man who does the dishes is sexy, ray answers that two women doing the dishes is sexy. Marie holds a grudge with her sister and everyone worries there will be trouble at the funeral. Marie claims she won’t go. Ray has to give the eulogy, don’t want to do a public speech. Ray is openly sexual and sarcastic with his mother in order to convey humor. Ray makes mom cry when he says that she should cook a steak to be useful. She comes back and is angry at ray. Marie and sisters argue in the middle of everyone and ray has to give the eulogy. Total bust, he gave all facts, not sentimental or from the heart, made to seem insincere. Used uncle Gus’ death to reconcile his mother and aunt. Goofy brother Robert source of comic relief. Debra turned on because ray is capable of doing a speech and reconciling his family. Then everything goes to hell again with the family. Ray initiates sex.

Standard Deviation

Morning showers screen. Ray insults Debra and she turns the hot water on high so that ray jumps out of the shower. Debra exited that all kids are asleep and she is now free. Ray has to go over health insurance and says that is should be considered women’s work. Debra does men’s work and turns on the TV and scratches herself. Debra takes pity on Robert and agrees to do an IQ test for him. Debra doesn’t want to cheat and ray is intimidated that she will do better than him. Debra thinks it’s easy and ray comes out sweating. Marie is not afraid of taking the test, Frank is also intimated by the test says that test measure book smarts and he is street smart. Ray got an average score and Debra got a much higher score that put her in a higher grouping. Ray feels like an idiot. Debra tries to make ray feel better, she feels guilty for being smarter than ray. Ray is taking advantage of the results because Debra does everything for him. He says that this is the greatest thing that has ever happened to him. Debra gives him the last of the ice cream on the couch. Debra has had enough, sees through his act. Debra makes ray do everything now. Robert says that Ray actually got the higher score, not Debra, and now ray is happy with his marriage, Debra throws the ice cream on ray’s crotch. Ray wants sex; Debra says no several times and means it. They try to compare inelegance, they know typical male/female facts, and ray sleeps on the couch. Ray can’t remember things. Debra thought that they had their strengths and weaknesses worked out. But the IQ test was about self-image and human behavior. They were fighting for three days. Robert is impressed with the results. Robert gives the IQ test to his parents.

Look don’t touch

Debra wakes ray up to go check out the noise that Debra hears. It would look pathetic on the news if Debra were beaten up while ray was sleeping. Ray and Bernie go to the pizza parlor and there is a new waitress. Bernie thinks she is supper hot and ray seems to scared of her. Ray forgot his wallet and is supper defensive, Debra knows that she is pretty and laughs at ray for being so defensive. Debra is fine with the fact that the girl at the pizza parlor is beautiful. Ray doesn’t want to get in the middle of a fight. Debra tries to get out of Ray if he would sleep with the waitress. That was the wrong answer. She trapped him into saying something to get him in trouble. Ray just wants to get his wallet but Bernie gets him to eat at the restaurant again. Frank comes by to see the new waitress with the other guys. Marie comes over concerned, and tells Debra looks tired. Marie tells Debra that she needs to keep up her appearance to keep him interested. Marie comes over saying that she has heard some things; Debra is not concerned about Ray. Debra takes Ray to Nemos, awkward dinner follows. Debra gets milk spilled on her and then takes maries words to heart and puts hemorrhoid cream abound her eyes so that they wont have wrinkles. Debra asks why it’s so important the way a woman looks. Debra is concerned that ray looked at the woman at the pizza parlor. Debra admits to looking at a guy at rays work. Ray gets offended and defenseless. Ray takes to making fun of the guy at his work that he is fat and like a pig.

Frank the Writer

            Ray had dinner with mom and dad, dad is telling ray to write for readers digest to make some extra cash, mom makes lamb chops and a full dinner with all the condiments. Debra watches kid shows with her Alley. Frank makes an article for readers digest. Marie typed it out, made a reference that frank could have never done this alone; the man can’t even wipe his own chin. Marie took away Franks check for calling her his little typist. Frank looks over rays shoulder while he tries to write a column, ray is annoyed and bothered. Frank feels good and worth something as an old retired male because he can write. Frank stops by rays work and ray feels like his father stepping on his shoes. Marie upset because she is a grease monkey; with ink all of her hands, fixing the typewriter. She used to make angle hair pasta with her hands and now she had to work for him being an ink stained wretch. Frank wants ray to pass on a column to his editor. Marie is upset because her hands are stained black. Debra is baking with her daughter Alley. Ray worried about loosing his job and then he would have to stay with the kids. Robert convinced that one of his nephews doesn’t like him. Every time ray walks through the door Marie asks if he is hungry. Frank disappointed when he finds out that his writing was embarrassing and amateurish. Ray tries to console his father after he hears this news. Ray lies to frank when he says that his column was great.

Your Place of Mine?

            Car phone is Debra’s idea, could be affordable, Ray objects and she asked him why he is opposed to technology, he told Debra he showered her the wonder bra, a great technology. Makes fun of her that soon she will have a phone implanted in her head so she can talk to her friends. Quality time means ray reads the paper. Marie is tiered of being Franks slave. Frank says the sandwich Marie made him was tuna slop. Marie goes on strike, Frank says he can do it himself, and then he asks where the knives are? Marie is staying at their house. Ray says its ok even though Debra looks at him like no way. Marie compares Debra being dead and criticizes her closet and that she is sloppy. Ray is afraid of the look his mother will give him if he asks her to leave, he chickens out. Frank loves his freedom to sit in his boxers, watch TV. He went to the super market and hadn’t been there in 30 years. The real frank can do what he wants when he wants; he’s a free man. Going to watch Arnold shwatenager films instead of chick flicks. Debra catches ray in a lie. Debra chickens out, Ray pretends he is asleep. Robert upset that Debra is in moms chair. Ray comes around to the idea of his mother being there because she feeds him the food he loves. Both boys can’t turn down chocolate milk. A woman want to be nurturing but if there is no appreciation then she can get hurt feelings and resentment. She just wants to be appreciated; no woman wants to be the mommy all the time. Robert and ray start to fight about the cereal box. Sexual innuendo, tell him your tired and he will climb off. Frank came to get Marie but he didn’t apologize, but Marie came running in his arms.

In-Laws

            Child is daydreaming about candy and ray says that is the peak time of happiness. Marie is cooking; frank is ripping the newspaper. Tearing out coupons. You hungry, no I just ate, she smells him and says don’t lie to me and fixes him a plate. Ray sits and eats. Ray likes Debra’s parents, and there begins the rivalry between the in-laws. Debra worried about impressing her parents, bought a sculpture. Debra’s mother loves Peruvian art, Rays parents don’t get it and make fun of Debra’s parents. High-class verses low class humor. 4 star restaurant invite for Debra’s parents treat, more fun than Vietnam. The whole family is coming. Rays family is completely inappropriate during dinner. Marie gets rid of the extra silverware and plates. Rays family astonished with the prices, thinks they are being taken. Unnecessary luxury seems to be necessary, enjoy life. Complete disaster at dinner, they didn’t even get to eat. Ray is now embarrassing to everyone. People aren’t supposed to convey actual thoughts to their families, its offensive. Ray bad at apologizing, Debra needs detailed apology. Ray will call the parents and take Debra back to the restaurant for dinner. More sexual innuendos, make up sex is in order.

 Win, Lose or Draw

            Take out brought home for the family on dads night to cook, complains about non-lingual restaurant employees. Ray wants breakfast, Debra sends him out with a list of errands, and he asks her what she does all day while he is at work. Poker night with Frank and the boys. Nemos poker night. A real mans game, poker. Frank brags about rays awards but the guys resort to making fun of his large head as a child. Ray is winning. Ray starts to make fun of the old guys. Franks is upset because he thinks ray is showing off. Ray ended up loosing the money to his dad, 2300.00 Debra upset but not extraordinarily. Debra looks to the future, and is upset that they aren’t saving. Ray wanted to show his dad that he was his own man. Debra makes ray see that his actions were childish; he doesn’t want to be a baby so he won’t ask for the money back. Frank wants to teach him a lesson by taking his money. Don’t get in over your head; Marie wants frank to give the money back. Ray is demasculinized by losing the money to his dad. Debra is frosting cupcakes with Alley, Marie makes fun of Debra for having frosting from a can. Ray can tell that Marie gave Debra money because they were both smiling. Marie keeps money because how long does she expect to be married forever. Marie tries to return the money. A good father is one who you can go to and make it all better.

Turkey or Fish

            Ray scarred because he found a lump then he found a matching one, Debra reads the paper and pays  no mind. Thanksgiving, tired of going to parents houses. Have thanksgiving at home. Debra wants to make a tradition. Marie is worth something because she is a good cook. Debra does all the cooking, shopping and cleaning. Frank smells like mothballs and Marie is disgusted. Ray backs up mom and then Debra because he sleeps at Debra’s house. Frank apathetic, as long as he gets his favorite part of the turkey the caboose. Debra want the whole family at thanksgiving, makes it better. Ray doesn’t want any parents to come, not fond of Debra’s idea to make fish on thanksgiving. Debra is concerned that it is healthier and it would be a start of a tradition. The first thanksgiving had fist, Debra makes good fish and Marie does good turkey. Marie is happy to come because Debra is going to fail; the fish is expected to fail. There cannot be a flaw. The whole meal will be made from scratch, the perfect thanksgiving. The females compete for the best thanksgiving. Give me something a man can do, gets the baking soda and baking powder. Debra is freaking out because the squash is missing. Debra is having a breakdown, overwhelming. Ray reacts with turning on football, but doing the dishes at the same time. Ray puts the fish in the dishwasher. Ray realizes that he put it in the dishwasher and takes it out, Debra has another breakdown. The guests arrive. Soccer is on instead of football and its unacceptable Frank changes the channel to football. Marie brings a turkey despite Debra cooking a fish. Ray torn between trying the turkey of the fish to appease the two women. Frank choked on the fish; Debra has a sense that she failed in front of Marie. Marie and Debra reconcile because both felt threatened by the other. Now Debra can make every thanksgiving now ray is crying. Perfect thanksgiving because all the men are asleep on the couch.

Analysis

            Ray is seen as the somewhat goofy dad who had a constant struggle between appeasing his wife and his mother. Both women are dear to him but the hardly ever agree. Ray is a newspaper sports columnist and leaves occasionally on trips. On a few occasions Debra is seen waiting for him to come home and the house is in a disaster. Ray is seen to do many quick fix things that usually blow up in his face. Ray tries to please everyone but he has to make decisions that sometimes let people down. Ray is seen as a baby boy who never really grew up, either Debra or his mother Marie takes care of him. He is a man who has to be told what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. He is not the most reliable man. Ray makes enough money to support his family but in one episode Debra’s parents come to town and they are depicted as snotty because they travel and eat at fancy places. Ray was embarrassed by the way his low class family acted and ended up ruining the evening by making a scene. The way Ray dealt with the embarrassment of being middle class was to make fun of Debra’s parents with his own parents. Ray is uncomfortable with public displays of affection and he was not raised to say that he loves people. An entire episode was dedicated to this and the outcome was that Ray was too goofy to tell his wife that he loves her. Ray had no problem showing affection to his children but it was weird to him to tell his wife that he loved her. Ray is sometimes perceived as a baby. When he was sick or when his mother fawns over him. Ray if often times not seen as the head of the house. Ray may be considered the head of what he does, his work but he is not looked at as a solid rock that holds his family together.

Debra is seen as the woman who takes care of things in the house. There was one episode where Ray had been away and in order to give Debra a break he offers to watch the children and stay home while she goes out with her girl friends. In that time however everything falls apart. What leads up to this conflict mostly is that Ray cannot manage to tell his family no. Debra can always tell when something has gone array in her house, when Ray has lied to her, when the in-laws have been over, when any little thing is out of place it will be found out be Debra. Debra seems to be desiring her husbands attention a lot of the time, if that be by him telling her the she is loved, if that is by some physical sexual display, or by Ray helping her. Debra is always busy doing something around the house or with the kids. Debra is either cooking with her daughter or watching children’s television shows or feeding the children. There was only one scene where she was reading the paper and sitting on the couch and it was after the kids had gone to bed and the house was already clean. Debra is in a constant struggle with her mother-in-law. In the thanksgiving episode it was really apparent. Debra wanted to cook a fish on thanksgiving in order to start a new family tradition and Marie brought over a turkey. Debra was under such strain to perform a perfect dinner that she broke down to Ray several times crying and was obviously distraught. There were many times when the presence of in-laws created strain on the family, specifically Debra. Debra’s family was seen to be somewhat more upper class and this was threatening to Ray and his family. Debra was not under strain from only Ray’s family but also from her own. She bought a piece of exotic art to place on the table so that her mother would see it and be impressed. Debra had more than just her husband to impress. Debra is not a bad cook but Ray criticizes that Debra cooks for health rather than for taste. When Ray looses a large some of money Debra is not extremely upset. I take this to another level when I assume that the reason behind that could be because Ray is the one who has paychecks made out to his name. This is purely a personal opinion but her reaction did not match one that I would have expected. In one episode Debra makes Ray get up and check on what noise she heard downstairs. Ray does not want to and asks if she can go check on the mystery noise. Debra makes Ray go by saying that it would look really great in the eyes of society if there was someone there who beat up Debra while Ray was upstairs sleeping.

Marie is a very caring character in the show. Marie takes care of both of her sons as well as her husband. The show plays on the idea of who does a better job of taking care of the family, the wife or the mother. There were several cases where Debra was challenged that her house was not clean enough or that the children or Ray were lacking in being fed correctly. Marie does however get tired of being unappreciated by her husband Frank and leaves him and stays with Ray and Debra. The part I found disappointing was that Frank did not have to come actually apologize to Marie he simply had to come over and talk to her, she took that as an apology. She then went happily back with Frank and resumed the role of caretaker. Marie’s overbearing character is comical and seen to be over the top. If this were a real life couple the first thing they would try to do is move away from the overbearing in-laws who live next door.

Frank is not a very complex character. He is mostly cynical and somewhat old school. He has expectations to be waited on and cared for and he offers minimal to no appreciation. Frank is rigid and is constantly be explained for.

 -Nichole 

Leave it to Beaver - Summary and Analysis

Leave it to Beaver – Season 1

Season 1 episode 1 does not exist, I assume that it was a lost pilot episode?

Season 1 Episode 2

            Best things were ice cream and an auto graphed baseball. The worst was a note from the teacher to the parents. Beaver talks funny and doesn’t like that his new teacher calls him Theodore. Wally and Beaver trick their parents into thinking that they took a bath. They don’t open the note because that would be dishonest. Beaver runs away because his mother was going to down to his school to talk to his principal. The mother washes the dishes while the father dries them. Beaver feared the teacher because of her role as a teacher. Tried to impress his teacher by showing her a shrunken head. In the end the note was asking to have beaver play Smokey the bear in the fire awareness week play.

Season 1 Episode 3

            The boys believe everything they see in print and send away for an eight-foot alligator for $2.50. Moms clothing is modest and cooks dinner for the family. Dinner is ready when dad gets home. A cleaning lady comes three times a week. Mom notices missing eggs and beauty cream. Dad is missing brandy. Neither parent believes that their children are at fault. The singing housekeeper raises suspicion about the missing brandy. Dads job is to deal with the children and the alligator they bought. To talk to their dad the boys get out of bed and stand at attention. When Mother and house keeper see the alligator they scream and are hyper scarred. When father sees the alligator he is surprised when it bites him, he thought it was fake and was not scarred. The mother is the enforcer of the father. The boys got a puppy to replace the alligator.

Season 1 Episode 4

            Beaver got a black eye, it is seen as normal and ok. Father is proud of his son for getting a black eye until he learned that his son ran away after he got hit. Father wants to teach beaver to defend himself, mother is upset by this and doesn’t want her son to fight. A girl hit beaver and gave him a black eye. Beaver got hit for laughing at a sign that was on the back of a girl, the sign said that she drank gutter water. Beaver knew that he was not allowed to hit a girl but he only told his brother who it was that hit him. His father assumed that it was a boy that hit him. Wally told his father about the fight and that it was a girl. Panic sets in when Beaver goes over to Violets house and there is anticipation that Beaver is going to fight her. They have diffused their situation and are friends. The fathers repeat the same behavior. The girls father is aggressive and is the boss of beavers father at work so Beavers father is docile and lets the aggressive behavior continue.

Season 1 Episode 5

            Beaver is going to play an angel in the play. The father wonders if that is masculine enough for his son to do. Playing an angel is seen as a feminine role. Beaver lost his money and didn’t go eat lunch. The teacher told his mother about Beaver not eating. Mother came home from shopping for food and complained about inflation. Money is scarce and beaver keeps loosing it. Mother makes Beavers costumes for the school play. Wally complains that the costume makes him look like a sissy when his mother makes him fit the angel costume. Mother is distraught about Beavers bald hair cut and that he has to look foolish in the play. She feels embarrassed and had to be taken by the hand by her husband to lead her to the couch. She cries out when she thinks of Beavers hair cut. Mother can’t stand looking at beaver and puts the hat back on his head. Mother is there to talk the father out of punishing the children. She feels that they are to blame for his actions and the father agrees that they might be harsh on the boys even though the boys are not subjected to physical discipline.

Season 1 Episode 6

            New neighbors moved in when mother asked what father found out about the neighbors he gave a quaint answer that was far from detailed. Mother seemed disappointed and frustrated and quickly rattled off all the things she knew about the new family next door. The father was surprised by how much she had figured out in such a short time. The ladies set up an appointment for Beaver to dress up and see the little girl next door. The ladies are already establishing bonds within the first few days of being there. Mother gave beaver a present to give to the neighbor. The neighbor woman had mints, toffee, and cake ready for beaver when he arrived to play with her niece. The beaver was scarred of the neighbor man and refused to come down and play. The women tried to diffuse the embarrassing situation while the men were at a loss for words. The women seem to talk sense into situations so that the men can understand.

Season 1 Episode 7

            Mother reads a sentimental book given to them for an anniversary. The boys are fighting and the father seems it to be normal, the mother is appalled. The mother expects brotherly love to be the norm and that fighting is disgraceful. Mother gets in the middle of them and imposes a friendship pact between the boys. Father thinks this is a silly idea. Father offends mother and tells her to drop it immediately the situation is diffused just like that. Father sarcastically chides mother and she quietly takes it. A woman gets responses using her heart not her head. Mother is made to look naive and scarred about the boys fighting. Father steps in and takes control of the situation.

Analysis

I was to young to remember this era, or this television show, but based on some online searches I found that it was one of the most watched shows. The leave it to beaver series was a classic show that was supposed to outline the perfect American family. The father was the head of the household and the breadwinner, while the mother took care of the house and the children. The children were seen as troublesome but light troubles that were seen as the nature of children.

            Father was seen reading the newspaper and coming home from work and dinner would be ready on the table. Father is seen making remarks that were taken as lightly offensive, but mother was never allowed to throw a fit or voice that she did not like the sarcastic comments. There was never a fight or disagreement in the show, if there was a slight discrepancy father knew best. Father was seen as insensitive when it came to women’s things like literature and poetry. Father was the strong-arm who disciplined the boys if he felt that they needed it. Father was depicted as not really understanding his children. Father would send the boys to their room when he did not want their company. Some of the actions of the boys had to be interpreted by mother. Father was seen as a typical man in many cases including in conversation. Father was not detail oriented about personal matters, like the neighbors next door. When Beaver came home with a black eye father was proud of his son for participating in a manly activity. He took a deep investment in the children and started to make sure that they could defend themselves. The boys respected their father, and he was neither questioned by the boys, nor by mother, without question, he was the head of the house.

           

Mother was seen as an all American woman. She stayed home with her children and kept the house clean. She was available to go speak to Beavers teacher during the day. Dinner was ready when father got home. Lunches were made for the boys before the school and made sure that they caught the bus for school. Mother was seen as a soft and gentle woman who was a nice complement for her somewhat rigid husband. Mother liked to read literature and played a key roll in establishing relationships. Mother knew a large amount of information about the new neighbors the day they moved in. Both mother and the new neighbor wife made an attempt to get further acquainted by setting up a play date with the children. When there was a conflict between the men the women interjected and smoothed things over because the men could not seem to communicate with each other. Mother hated the idea of her boys fighting with each other or anyone else. Mother was also distraught about Beaver giving himself a haircut. She cried out many times and ran into fathers arms. Mother could sew and made costumes for Beaver for the school play.

Over all, mother was seen as strictly a housewife, she did not have other friends that she associated with or participate in any activities outside of the house. She was completely consumed with the chores of the house and the housewife role. She needed no other thing to keep her satisfied other than her house. I think things have definitely changed as far as the dynamics of what a woman’s life now contains. True, many women are still depicted as having a large role in the house, but usually there is another dynamic involved in the life of the television housewife.

-Nichole