ipl-logo

Essay On Gender Representation In Television

1076 Words5 Pages

Introduction Stuart Hall states that television represents American culture to the audience. The concept of representation is an important topic of study in both the creative and cultural worlds. Representation puts forward meaning and language to culture. Television is seen as a reflection of society and it is seen as an integral part of everyday life. Representation in the media, and it’s importance is not a new topic of conversation, but has been a popular debate over the decades. Most of the chosen subordinate groups, especially women, race and sexuality have seen a shift in representation in television. Studies conducted by researchers Signorelli and Bacue and Darnell Hunt have shown that …show more content…

By comparing and contrasting television sitcoms over the decades to see how far we have come in terms of female ran television shows and representation as a whole. In order to explore this topic, I have selected a number of television shows that are either female led or has significant female representation. The television shows that I have chosen to discuss are I Love Lucy (1951-1957), The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977) Murphy Brown (1988-1998), Parks and Recreation (2009-2015), The Golden Girls (1985 -1992), Sex and the City (1998-2004), Girls (2012 -2017). A range of shows that deal with the subgenres of domesticity, single womanhood, sexuality, the workplace and female friendships. Examining the shifts in how these television shows engage with feminism and it’s ideologies. By examining the complexities and contradictions that are inherent in female representation especially in sitcoms, we can track television’s relationship to gender and social change. The sitcom presents a significant case study for the analysis of female representation on television because of traditional family friendly outlook and preponderance of female characters in comparison to other television genres. Just like other genres, sitcoms are not intended as realistic or representative of the current, cultural status of women in today’s society. Through an analysis of the representations and characteristics of the female character through these subgenres, we can better understand how our culture interprets

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of The Goldbergs And The Twilight Zone

    1208 Words  | 5 Pages

    Television programs often retain an aspect of reality in order to relate to the audience and commentate on social issues. Although both The Goldbergs and The Twilight Zone address controversial issues such as gender roles, insanity, and ethnic stereotypes, genre differentiates their approach and their audiences’ receptiveness to change. Whereas The Goldbergs, an ethnic sitcom, addresses the external world using comedic relief, The Twilight Zone, a science fiction program, delves into the human mind using imagination. Despite their common efforts to direct social change, the programs are inverse images of one another, and The Twilight Zone’s genre structure allows it to resonate more with the audience. From 1949 to 1956, The Goldbergs dominated television as the first televised sitcom.

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes In The Simpsons

    864 Words  | 4 Pages

    The author describes how gender role are perpetuated by the media and in most shows “lead female actors exists primarily to create romantic tension”. The Simpsons presents stereotypes in a different way. Instead of having female actors support male actors they also utilize Lisa by created a cautionary tone of what America could be. Like the author discussed gender roles exist because we accept them. The animators of The Simpsons use Lisa to warn people about placing gender stereotypes on girls, especially at a young

    Read More

  • How Have Family Sitcoms Changed?

    1886 Words  | 8 Pages

    The past decade has not seen any notable family sitcoms that has surpassed such leaps of social justice as some had in the 1950’s or 1970’s. While that may be disappointing to some, this is also a great feat for all television audiences. So many issues that were once considered, “taboos,” now, can be the premise of the sitcom altogether. Even the little things like interracial couples, married partners in the same bed, and even mentioning a pregnant woman is considered normal. Yes, the family sitcom is still no direct comparison to the modern family arrangement, but it is as close as were going to get for

    Read More

  • Rise Of Enlightened Sexism Analysis

    485 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book, The Rise of Enlightened Sexism by Susan Douglas, gives insight and knowledge that digs deep into pop culture explaining how the media portrays the appearances of women that are in powerful positions in our culture. The appetencies tent undermines the actual progress of women. Douglas is interested in what these pop culture ideals shows about our culture. The way we react to women in our culture with powerful influence. What do these shows do to the female imagine in our culture?

    Read More

  • Gender Representation In Amc's Breaking Bad

    2317 Words  | 10 Pages

    As quality television programming has evolved throughout the years, so has its ability to create and develop female characters who challenge previous stereotypical notions of gender representation. This evolution is perhaps most notable in the depiction of Kim Wexler, portrayed by actress Rhea Seehorn, in AMC’s Breaking Bad (2008-2013) spin-off series, Better Call Saul (2015-2022). I would argue that, in order to effectively investigate the ground-breaking depiction of Kim’s character, a comparison should be drawn between herself and Skyler White from Breaking Bad. The discrepancies in how these characters are represented on screen and the resulting audience reception offers an interesting insight into the representation of gender in quality

    Read More

  • Father Knows Best Character Analysis

    800 Words  | 4 Pages

    Television situational comedies have the ability to represent different values or concerns of their audience, these values often change every decade or so to reflect and highlight the changes that the audience is experiencing within society, at the time of production. Between the years of 1950 and 2010, the representation of gender roles and family structure has been addressed and featured in various sitcoms, such as “Father Knows Best” and “Modern Family”, through the use of narrative conventions, symbolic, audio and technical codes. These representations have transformed over time to reflect the changes in social, political, and historical contexts. The 1950’s sitcom “Father Knows Best” traditionally represents the values of gender roles and family structure in a 1950’society, with the father, held high as the breadwinner of the family and the mother as the sole homemaker.

    Read More

  • Parenthood: The Braverman Family

    1794 Words  | 8 Pages

    I. Introduction Parenthood, a drama television series, attends to the adversity of an extended and imperfect family. The Bravermans are a blended California family who face a series of both fortunate and unfortunate events but together find a way to get by (Katims, 2010). Television consumers have been introduced to many fictional families overtime and continue to fall in love with family related television shows. Historically, the media has transformed and continues to adapt to the changes in present day family types. “Writers often take seeds from real life experiences and plant then in their scripts,” consumers both consciously or subconsciously attend to cues on television and want to apply what they see to their lives.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Brent Miller's One Day At Time

    635 Words  | 3 Pages

    Have you ever felt like you have to act a certain way because you saw something on TV? Many shows portray women stereotypically and enforces the concepts of gender roles. The entertainment industry has also displayed homophobic actions in their shows. The entertainment industry's representation of cultural gender roles and sexual orientation are depicted in the show One Day At Time as it follows a second generation Cuban-American family battling against modern challenges. Elena Alverez, a freshman in high school struggles with fitting into the cultural norms that are put on women.

    Read More

  • Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina Codes And Conventions

    1034 Words  | 5 Pages

    In this paper, I will argue that the TV show Chilling Adventures of Sabrina represents women with more power especially young women

    Read More

  • Reality Television's Influence On Culture

    1095 Words  | 5 Pages

    In this world of advanced technology where people are connected to the internet like neurons are connected in a giant brain. The television has become the spotlight technology in today’s generation. Generation after generation people are evolving and getting more advanced, so has the way producers are using television as a source to persuade the audience. Especially, reality show directors use every information they possibly can about the contestants to make their show popular in the culture. The reality television impacts the world in a negative way.

    Read More

  • Good Housekeeping: A Feminist Analysis

    1817 Words  | 8 Pages

    Mass media represent a powerful force in modern societies as they shape public discourse and influence public opinion by transmitting social, political and cultural values. For decades, women’s representation in mediated popular culture has been a central problem because of the gendered ideologies it circulated. From the 1880s to the 1970s, American women’s magazines played a significant role in disseminating the dominant ideology and patriarchal order, perpetuating the myths of female disposability and domesticity, maintaining traditional images of femininity. They promoted the idea of women’s emotionality, vulnerability and beauty ideals.

    Read More

  • Knocked Up Movie Analysis

    268 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gender roles and stereotypes are commonly known throughout society and continuously demonstrated as film as well. Through the work of director Judd Apatow, we can compare these stereotypes to the portrayal of gender in Knocked Up and identify how this film pokes fun at gender stereotypes. As we watch this film and follow the story line of Allison and Ben, we can see how Apatow reversed the gender roles of the two lead characters, Ben and Allison and how this effected the films meaning. In romantic, geek centered comedies such as “Knocked Up”, the roles of men and women are often reversed.

    Read More

  • The Sociological Analysis Of Late-Night Television

    239 Words  | 1 Pages

    Over the past years there has been momentum on gender equality. With success continually rising, however, one area that remains male dominant is late-night television. There could be logical reasons for this occurrence, but sociological concepts will lead to a different explanation. Vanity Fair published a story on why late-night television is currently great. Huff Post Women thinks otherwise.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Modern Family

    720 Words  | 3 Pages

    Despite the creator’s of Modern Family effort to portray a progressive view of American families, the show still accentuates outdated female stereotypes and gender roles; reinforcing gender characteristics, patriarchy and hegemonic masculinity. In contrast to its title, Modern Family promotes traditional gender roles and stereotypes of women, which result in the portrayal of an inaccurate image of the female, and weakens the stance of women in today’s U.S. society. Gender stereotypes are prevalent throughout the Modern Family; the women are all portrayed as wives and mothers, promoting a continued male dominant family ideology. Claire and Gloria are throughout the show acting on our society’s “assumptions about women’s ‘appropriate’ roles” (Dow 19).

    Read More

  • Essay On Gender Representation In Mass Media

    2285 Words  | 10 Pages

    The representation of gender in mass communications has been a hugely debated topic for years and will continue to be one for many more years to come. The media plays a big role in how they want to portray a gender to the public. They create certain stereotypes through the role of a gender in order to attract a large audience and interest to sell a product, brand or image. Media is so important in today’s society, people spend hours and hours each day watching TV, browsing the Internet and reading magazines. There are so many images of men and women in the media today that it certainly has an impact on the viewer’s thoughts and sense of identity.

    Read More

More about Essay On Gender Representation In Television

Open Document