Wednesday, November 19, 2008
11/19
Today in class we discussed gender and the media. I took a class this summer that was called women and minorities in the media. We looked at both gender and minorities in advertising, tv, movies, and mucis. One thing that was discussed was how men are portrayed as being masculine and put together. I think that has changed in more recent sitcoms. There are shows like, everybody loves raymond, King of Queens, and Yes dear where the husbands are portrayed as bumbling fathers; which I am not sure is much better. You see more and more the intelligence of fathers being portrayed negatively. I think there needs to be more shows about the average father, not one that is perfect but that does not have to depend on the woman for everything and that does not have questionable intelligence.
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4 comments:
I agree but it will never happen because shows about the average father would not be funny! Entertainment value is the key to tv shows...they would not make money off of a show that was not funny to their audience.
Imagine if on Everybody Loves Raymond, Raymond was average, it would take away the entertainment value of the show.
It is a nice thought but we have essentially made the bed we lay in. We value entertainment so the media makes shows that entertain us which happen to portray men and women certain ways.
We have shows like married with children and roseanne. They represent real families and real problems. The reasons these shows had longevity was because people could relate to what was going on. They have many re-runs that you can catch on various stations but they had a niche that has yet to be matched.
Also it's a majority thing and it's always about ratings. There was a show called carpoolers that had 4 guys talking about family, work, and marriage issues as they drove to work. I had to do a report for a media class on why this show would probably not make it. One big reason is men like to watch TV that has a lot of action or comedy. Even with shows like Everybody loves Raymond the audience is probably mostly female. There are networks that are trying to show men in other ways but the shows don't quit make it because society isn't ready for it yet. Maybe they won't ever be...who knows
Gender within media is very stereotypical and yes it has gotten better over the years but it is still very gendered. Men are seen as burning dinner, messing up getting the kids dressed, not being able to do laundry and so on. Women are not viewed in the work force as being successful, and they are the ones that have to cook, clean, take care of the kids and still manage to work if they even work. There are some shows that will contradict the stereotypical view of men and women but they are hard to find.
Media is the gateway to which society bases their lives, as bad as that sounds it really is true. As it was said in class we spend majority of our day with media, whether it is the radio, TV or video games we spend a good portion of our day delving into these gateways that mold our views on men and women and they way they should act. Will it ever get better? Who knows, if we keep allowing for it to stay gendered then no I don’t think it will ever get better.
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