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Hegemonic Discourse In The Dick Van Hobby Show

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Hegemonic Discourse in the Dick Van Dyke Show,
The depiction of the character Sally Rogers in the Dick Van Dyke Show is as a flawed, unattractive, undesirable professional woman. This is a classic archetype of structures and character development. The representation of this central character is an example of the hegemonic approach to television that characterized the 1960's as this show and others of its era were used as a subtle tool of control and marginalization of women. The Dick Van Dyke Show displays a dominant pattern of gender social relations as women were presented in a manner that was only validated if they were married and confined to the home. A culture of domestication can be analyzed by focusing on Sally Rogers’ character with parallel comparisons to her male counterparts, and contrasting exemplifications of her female peers.
The Dick Van Dyke Show is a classic American TV show set in the 1960’s. The show revolves around character Robert Petrie, played by Dick Van Dyke. Rob is a middle aged man who is the …show more content…

This display is consistent with the hegemonic discourse that women are meant to be married, attentive to their families, and dependent of their husbands for financial support. With these themes present in classic American media it is evident what the ruling class thought of women, and is consistent with social issues women faced in this era such as equal opportunity in the workplace, and financial independence. Women were “legally subject to their husbands via ‘head and master laws,’ and they had no legal right to any of their husbands' earnings or property, aside from a limited right to ‘proper support’; husbands, however, would control their wives' property and earnings. If the marriage deteriorated, divorce was difficult to obtain, as ‘no-fault’ divorce was not an option, forcing women to prove wrongdoing on the part of their husbands in order to get divorced.”

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