There is an exaggerated amount of stereotypes about various groups of people brought up and supported by our society. The most common and most unnoticed stereotypes are gendered stereotypes. Day to day we subconsciously expect males and females to act, speak, dress, groom, and conduct themselves based upon their assigned sex. An example of this is how society expects females to typically dress. They must dress elegantly, with their wardrobe colors well combined, and the attire must be non-revealing. Of course, their outfit is also expected to complement their personality. A well-dressed woman should have a kind, caring, polite, and nurturing personality. Meanwhile, men are generally seen out to be powerful, tough, and courageous. The most common way these stereotypes are supported is through means of media. Media is a very powerful source and can be portrayed specifically to influence and manipulate their viewers to think and act in a certain manner. Although we subconsciously stereotype day to day, film producers consciously integrate these ideas within their shows and movies. This media tactic is particularly popular when producing children’s and family TV programs/movies. In addition, as our society’s stereotypes modernize, our shows do too and integrate our modern beliefs on gender roles (that is if anything has really changed). Fortunately enough, I was able to observe this after analyzing two fairly well-known TV shows. The first show I analyzed was ‘I Love Lucy,’ which was produced in the 1950s. I love Lucy is a show about a woman named Lucy who aspires to become a star beside her bandleader husband, Ricky Ricardo. The second show I analyzed was ‘Modern Family,’ which began airing in 2009 and continues to air up until the present day. Modern Family is a show about a large and blended family getting through life in today’s society. After viewing these two very audience captivating shows, I was able to depict major differences as well as notice various similarities in stereotypical gender roles even after the vast time frame between their productions.
I Love Lucy is an older, black-and-white, TV show featuring two very traditional couples, the first couple being Ethel and Fred and the second couple consisting of Lucy and Ricky. Though neither of both couples has kids to raise at home, we still see throughout the show that the women take on the housewife occupation meanwhile the men have a job outside of the household. We are introduced to the very first episode of the show with an opening shot of Lucy and Ethel in the washroom washing dishes where these women are expected to be. In the same shot, we see these two women inspecting the dishes and pointing out the flaws in their washing like as if washing dishes was an incredibly difficult task. As previously mentioned, we see throughout the episode that cooking, cleaning, and satisfying their husbands’ needs is their full-time job. In other words, these women are their husband’s voluntary servants.
The outlining story of this episode is that Ethel and Fred are going to celebrate their 18-year anniversary. Ethel wants to celebrate their anniversary by going to a nightclub with Lucy, Ricky, and of course Fred; however, Ricky hates nightclubs because he works at one. Instead, Fred and Ricky want to go to the boxing fights. Considering that these women do almost everything for their husbands, it’s incredible to see how these men still put their wants above those of their wives. In order for these men to convince their wives to go with them to the fights they decide to switch things around and therefore, they decide to be nice to their wives. Being nice to them, unfortunately, isn’t something that is often done. Long story short, the women find out what the men are up to and the men find out that the women were also trying to convince them to go to the nightclub. They both get upset at each other and go their separate routes. The women later come to learn that the men were planning to find dates to accompany them to the fights and so the men get set up. Ethel and Lucy show up unrecognizable dressed as two mountain hillbillies. They talk and dress like hillbillies. As soon as the men see this they immediately regret their choice in asking for dates because these women were stereotypically ‘ugly and undesirable’. Within these women’s’ act, Lucy forcefully kisses her husband Ricky (of course he didn’t know it was Lucy). Though if the genders were switched and unrecognizable Ricky would have kissed Lucy, it would have been instantly considered as a sexual assault. Because of the time sensitivity of the show, the men shortly after find out that the hillbillies are Lucy and Ethel playing a trick on them. The men address the women about their discovery and ask them to dress properly so they can go out and celebrate their anniversary. The women in joy got ready, thinking they were going to go to the nightclub but instead they end up going to the boxing fights were the men had been wanting to go. The episode ends with the men enjoying the fights meanwhile the women are sitting next to their husbands with an incredibly bored facial expression.
As the times have changed we would like to believe, or stereotypes have too. To keep my research as consistent as possible, I also analyzed the first episode of the show Modern Family. Modern Family consists of three different families, each consisting of a unique structure. The first family we are introduced to is what one would describe as a ‘traditional family.’ This family consists of Claire, her husband Phil, and her kids, Haley, Alex, and Luke. Claire is a stay at home mother. We open in on the episode with her in the kitchen making breakfast for her family and throughout the scenes in which she’s featured, we see her constantly cleaning the house and caretaking of the kids. Meanwhile, Phil is referred to as the ‘cool dad.’ He talks to the level of the kids using words like, ‘Yo’ or ‘Sup,’ although he does step in to direct and mandate the kids only when Claire asks for his support/ backup because the kids are not listening to her. The second family we are introduced is less traditional. This family consists of what one may call a lady of leisure named Gloria, her older rich husband Jay, and Gloria’s only son Manny. Gloria is her son’s number one supporter. She’s his true encourager. Everything she says and does is to benefit her son’s well-being. On the other hand, Jay is very laid-back. He believes Gloria needs to support Manny a bit less and have him explore life on his own. The final family we are introduced to is a homosexual couple that ironically takes on heterosexual roles. This family consists of Mitchell, his husband Camren, and their adopted daughter Lily. Mitchel takes on the active role in the family. He is perceived as the ‘man of the house,’ whereas Camren is portrayed to have a more ‘maternal instinct’ and therefore is a ‘house husband’ and cares for their daughter Lily. This episode concludes with the reveal of the connection between these three families. It is demonstrated that Jay, Gloria’s husband, and Manny’s step-father, is Claire’s and Mitchell’s biological father, making Claire and Mitchell direct siblings. Unlike I Love Lucy’s first episode, Modern Family’s first episode had no underlining story. The primary purpose of the first episode was to show the roles of each family member, introduce each of three individual families, and then show how all of the families are connected.
After analyzing the family structures and the gender roles of the characters in both shows, I was able to conclude that although the family structures have changed in the past 59 years, the gender roles have remained almost unchanged. The women are continuously expected to take on the work in the household as well as the caretaking role for the children they bear. The men on the other hand as continuously seen as the dominant role in the family structure because they work outside of the household and come home to socialize rather than to help their wives or ‘maternal’ husbands at home (in the case of Mitchell and Camren) with the caretaking role of their kids. Instead, the men just oversee the situation at home. They will, although, step in if the mother needs reinforcement to get their kids’ attention as seen in Claire’s and Phil’s case.
