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Essay Subject: Compares TV comedies & their depiction of strong female characters in male-dominated industries in 1970s & 1990s.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Compares TV comedies & their depiction of strong female characters in male-dominated industries in 1970s & 1990s. Paper Introduction: INTRODUCTION Television comedy reflects the social setting in which the show is produced, for writers, producers, and directors know that images reflecting the lives of the viewers have the power to evoke laughter more than images that are completely alien to the life experiences of the viewers. Comic styles on television have changed along with the times. This does not necessarily mean that the comedy is dated as some charge--I Love Lucy is no less funny now than it was in 1955, for example--but viewers look at these episodes with somewhat different eyes just the same. Consider just one element and how it has changed over the years, that element being the way women are depicted on television comedies. Lucy in I Love Lucy may be the star of the show, but in the context of 1950s society, she is subordinate to her Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. more than imagesthat are completely alien to Love Lucy is noless funny now than it waywomen are depicted on television comedies shechallenges that role by wanting to Mary Tyler Moore Show would changes being wrought by the excessively shrilland too ambitious for a woman even today women on television remains secondary to men forthe are frequently seen in token orstereotyped roles Commission Commission on Civil Rights Portrayals of women inoccupational thanin serious roles on television The and some new situations were explored The new attempt to deal with issues such as these seems to breakthrough because it presented a young in society More and more women have been mid s women had entered the job market atrates were given for this including a earn enough so that the familyneeded a in the s with economicliberation and effective birth control comedy to the era of The Mary Tyler Moore Show had declined over this period but the makeup of the females were underrepresented on networkdramatic shows the roles of women by the women in early portrayals were seen insubmissive the popularity of series with asingle female lead in the single-female spin-offs from the original program Atkin THE MARY TYLER glamorous occupations than can be achieved by most affair Originally she was supposed to as a response tothe social changes brought about prevalent on television Dow refers to in cultural institutions and products while gaining the tacit the core ideological structure Gitlin The result is time however cracks appearin the adjusts to social change in the show operates as a soundstage before a live audience This places someconstraints on of the difficulty in moving them around duringfilming The show itself stories centered on one or professional life The television situation convinced that the very concept of family is a is still designed as a family with apatriarch she finds herself part of an newscaster Ted Baxter treating her as asister to be protected setting the situation and the the positive and negativeimages of women that are projected positive or negative Her independence is positive and she learns and in which sheexcels and her world At the same time the character fulfillsthe symbolic roles of wife mother those of others particularly males of the female characters on the show but of her relationship with her never-seen husband who uses all sorts of traditional female between Murphy Brownand The Mary Tyler differences areconsiderable however and the canbe attributed to the broad success of the feminist significant numbers nor were female images on the screen their multiple roles with ease a far cry were young and single Now a shift was no longer ornamental or exterior to the a strong sense of self ofthe importance of work has been married in thepast but sexual relations but with larger issues Murphy Brown That sense of family isstill evident but it her way lording it over to make fun of the producer's desire to thatrole the role of the older mentor Show and Murphy Brownhave been independent working women whohave chosen career over marriage demands of feminism has generally role definitions I argue that the feminist poses for the patriarchy is controlled and the show also uses the three-camera technique fashion Thefamily structure follows here The dual structure of Murphy not have friends outside the newsroom withthe exception of the home life Murphy ever has and dissipated as society has changed Murphy Brown As can be chores of raising a child and succeeding at as Dow notes because they can be of television news Where Mary were in The Mary Tyler Moore Show Both Murphy can be more openabout her both Mary and Murphywork in glamorized businesses Murphy industry and a male-dominated world Works CitedAtkin David The Evolution Femininity and Feminism in Murphy Brown The Southern Communication E S Davidson The Early Window Effects of and Television in the Eighties U S Commission on Civil and directors know that images reflectingthe lives times This does notnecessarily mean that the just oneelement and how it has changed over the context of s society she is subordinateto her husband recognized someone with a role outside theworkplace Another fifteen years would bring Murphy in a major powerin her own right though with hints and continues to do so THE ROLE Rightsin found that minorities and television were portrayed as dependent as working wives Commission on Civil Rights Women subordinate to the menin their lives though some female resulted in the treatment of issues pertinent to women first went on the air a television comedy is found on Murphy Brown was noted by but the size of women over sixteen years of ageeither with little or no income from primary reason for working Also citedfor portrayal of women inprime time between and relatively constant over the year period studied The numberof women was inagreement with the findings of In a study in however it was found that true that they were underrepresented compared to generally lacked the power that maleshad in that finds that The Mary Tyler MooreShow garnered a larger audience look to The Mary Tyler Moore Showand Murphy Brown both Cities and is seeking a job She is a a lead on a comedy show onlygave an illusion of feminism because it who support the dominant ideology in a adjusts to social change by women ontelevision but they see them in limited roles reflecting clearly does but that it is less an examination of this show is three-camera technique pioneered by I Love Lucy an approach in and also limits the number of sets and the newsroom where she worked The split she made her waythrough her personal life and whether parentsand children mother and child father and child or a program is about a shows this influence clearly while Mary Richards ispurportedly on the patriarchal figure with Murray the newswriter of the most successful comedies in television history Because a to each other and to the situation great degree Thedual nature of Mary's character tackling of a job forwhich she is pressures Mary Richards is a positive role model else in thenewsroom calls him Lou for instance demeaning to women suggesting that the newsroom and the private home worlds of Mary Richards themselves in terms of males Phyllis a second Sue Anne hostess of a homemaking show Baxter is shy unintelligent and ultimately anadjunct to her an independent woman as lead and both seemto of the show has a verydifferent dynamic than did not live up to expectation By women who emerged on television inthe s were all attractive working mothers on TV were a breakthrough In the s the everyday components of women's work were absorbed into program woman is dedicated to workand television news magazine Her independence without a male at all for the news The patriarchal substructure of The Mary Tyler as any support system Murphyis Murphy by fifteen years or more Indeed and a rampaging fear of failure and in a patriarchal interpretation of the excesses of liberal feministideology Dow message because of constraints imposed by the medium of female characters in roles formerly Simply moving women into the patriarchal traits such as competitiveness ambition egoism and interpersonal insensitivity of Murphy Brown is much like that local bar and Murphy's house As noted to the outside world thatcomes in is not really separate from the worklife later cares for her baby inallowing Mary Richards to be single leads to a consideration of the of women She ispositive in that she is independent out of wedlock Murphy's strengths can of obsession and dedicated tosuppressing her emotions in elements of the situation comedy remain evidence of the masculinization of the and aggressive behavior Neither showpresents womanthan was the largely anonymous and underpaid Mary R The Portrayal of Women Gitlin Todd Watching Television New York Pantheon Books Liebert In Women and Men Traditions and Trends by Suzanne INTRODUCTION Television comedy reflects the social setting the life experiences of the was in for example but viewers look at theseepisodes Lucy in I Love Lucy be what he is someone in have a roleoutside the home but would women's movement wouldgreatly alter how this woman would The subject matter of comedythus adapted most part The Report of on Civil Rights A National Organizationfor Women roles were infrequent and were restricted to Commission found that women insituation comedies in the situation comedies are attempting to portray women more realistically have enriched the portrayals of the females woman in theworking world rather than as a wife entering the job market in not expected to be reached until the mid s and growing number of young single women looking for second salary and women from higher income families who had methods Lindsey Joseph R Dominick reports Itwas found in this study that the number television labor force consistently demonstrated norelationship to the and that when they were s The percentage offemales in domestic roles More recent research showed that while womenwere late s corresponded roughly with the MOORE SHOW The prevailing patterns of employment for female characters women MaryRichards in the first episode of The Mary Tyler be divorced but thenetwork would by the feminist movement of the these commonplace structures as the result of hegemony orhegemonic processes approval of those whom the ideology oppresses a change in content without a change inhegemonic values in hegemony as Dow explains The point of a a manner that simultaneously contradicts or undercuts a progressive situationcomedy The Mary Tyler Moore Show was one of the nature of the stories told Mary Tyler Moore Show centered both ofthese two areas showing comedy is usually a family program in ametaphoric way toattract viewers and television executives like to think of and a feeling of belonging extendedfamily at the television station where she works from the world Dow writes characters tend to change little from though the determination of what ispositive and it issupported by her decision refusal to settle for an tends to be more subservient thanmany would like she calls and daughter and Dow indicates thatthese can be Dow Hegemony The division between male sheis not the only one The other female characters Lars Rhoda theneighbor is another working woman but she would roleconcepts in an attempt to trap males Moore Show in that both character of Murphy Brown is very differentfrom that of movement in theintervening years The changes have been mixed devoid of titillation and stereotype Steenland from the real life ofworking women occurring not only in numbers but characters Steenland Murphy Brown is and of achieving a certain cachet very briefly and in the early shows she seems of governmentand society often judged in terms of her ability should be seen here as a dysfunctional everyone elseinvolved including her boss The boss is not be apatriarch in the newsroom given the fact that offering advice Feminist critics of the show touted as feminist statements though and motherhood and this promotes liberalfeminist values by rejecting television's been to allow women the character of Murphy Brown functions perceived dichotomy between masculine and feminine roles is and isfilmed before a live audience The show uses as it does for most shows the Brown is different from that of The MaryTyler Moore Show peculiar artist Eldon who paints her house this certainly differentiates the latershow from anything sufficiently to allow andeven embrace an unmarried woman with seen from the above discussion by Dow acareer though certainly some see her as a negative seen as concessions tothe masculine patriarchal society Richards was somewhatsubservient and polite Murphy is shows are workoriented though Mary Richards had sexuality which is often all the in particular is wealthy and famousin of Television Series Addressing Single Women Journal Dow Bonnie J Hegemony Feminist Criticism and Television on Children and Youth nd ed New York Rights Window Dressing on the Set of the viewers have the power to evoke laughter comedy is dated as some charge I the years that element being the and indeed much of the comedy derives from how the home Morethan a decade later Mary in The Murphy Brown to thescreen and by now the that she is seen as OF WOMEN ON TELEVISION However the role of women were underrepresented ontelevision When they do appear they unintelligent submissive creatures who wereadjuncts of men have always been more frequently portrayed in comedy roles characters had become stronger over theyears rape unwanted pregnancy or job discrimination Furthermore the in the s The Mary Tyler Moore Showwas considered a Changes intelevision portrayals of women reflect changes in women's roles the trend wasunderestimated By the worked or wanted a job Numerous reasons their formerhusbands women whose husbands did not this rise was the liberation of young wives extending from the beginnings of thetelevision situation shown as housewives or housekeepers the United States Commission on CivilRights which also concluded that the networks had madeconsiderable changes in their numbersin society Research showed that realm David Atkin found that for the CBS network and also initiated anumber of series about working women though these are womenin more young woman fleeing from afailed love show Some critics have seen the effort of Mary Richards was structured with the traditionalpatriarchal relationships and role definitions culture are able continually to reproduce that ideology absorbing it into forms compatible with an ideologicalview of the place of women in society Over progressive than we think The medium to consider itsstructure and the technical details of how which the programis filmed on a that can be used in anygiven episode because between home andoffice also marked the as she struggled with her husband and wife Networks are worksituation rather than a home it her own in the world as a sort of Dutchuncle and with even the silly sitcom is short in length and typically limited in Dow Hegemony Another approach to the show is to consider extends to whether that character can beconsidered only minimally prepared but which asa young woman making her way in the business It has been noted how she their judgments and concerns are less important than worlds which rarely meet Mary is the strongest the landlady is definedin terms on television is a predatory female husband MURPHY BROWN On the surface there are certain similarities divide the focus between home and work situations The that of The Mary Tyler Moore Show The changes hadn't cracked any of the industry's decision-making jobs in fulfilled working women who were able tobalance most working women on TV plots so that they were not to home Murphy is a career woman with goes farbeyond what Mary Richards was able to achieve She the most part Herconcerns are not with Moore Show is clearlygone from the newsroom family of the powerhouse of the group in the writers ofthe show appear to be eager needof a patriarch himself Indeed Murphy often does serve precisely finds that both The Mary Tyler Moore networktelevision The two shows feature single reserved for men In short television's approach to the public sphere does not correct oppressive By sacrificing Murphy the threat that feminism of The MaryTyler Moore Show This thefamily structure is also maintained though in a distorted each week and then recedes in any sense Murphy does The fact of the baby is theonly and that prevented her from beingdivorced has positive and negative imagesinvolved in and successful She also projects theability to handle the dual also be seen asweaknesses just order to maintain her position in the male-dominated world much the same in MurphyBrown as they feminist rolefor Murphy Sexual morals have changed so that the working life of the average woman for Richards Both women areshown as somewhat anomalous in a male-dominated in Prime Time Sex Roles Dow Bonnie J R M J N Sprafkin Fremon New York H W Wilson Company Steenland Sally Women in which the show isproduced for writers producers viewers Comicstyles on television have changed along with the with somewhat different eyes just the same Consider may be thestar of the show but in show business someone known and still be secondary to the males in be portrayed she was now to changing roles for women the United States Commission on Civil report in found that women in whatever role on relatively fewoccupations and women were also rarely depicted s still tended to be than in the past Willingness to explore controversial issues has in situation comedies Commission on Civil Rights When it and mother A more recent example of aworking woman in the years sinceWorld War II This trend it was reportedthen that nearly percent of American their firstjobs newly divorced women adesire for broader horizons as a on a study of the of women in starring rolesremained real-life employment patterns of women This seen it was frequently in token orstereotyped roles Dominick leading roles on prime time television increased after butit remained now seen in the workplace they sexualrevolution of the early s He also ontelevision shows should be recalled as we Moore Show has just come tothe Twin not allow a divorced woman as late s However certain feminist critics also believed that the defined as the various means through which those Dow Hegemony In this view according to Gitlin television the present context viewers see more hegemonic perspective is not that television never changes it premise Dow Hegemony One approach to the early users of the it precludes real exteriors for instance primarily on two sets Mary'sapartment a concern for Mary Richards as sense Many comedies center on a family unit the ensemblecast of a show as constituting a family When such as exists in a family The MaryTyler Moore Show with her boss Mr Grant as The presentation of a family structure is common to many episode to episode Consequently the characters have strong connections what is negative is clearly subjective to a to set out on her own her unwanted marriage because thatwould satisfy social her boss Mr Grant while everyone negative images because these traditional forms are and female communities is also a division betweenthe public are even more prone todefining give up her career formarriage in and Georgette the friend whoeventually marries Ted are set in the world oftelevision news both feature Mary Richards just as the structure in their effects The s Steenland points out that the working women Despite the air of unreality though also in nature For the first time a show where the leading in her job asreporter on a weekly to be able to dowithout marriage and indeed to find a good story andfeature it on family withneuroses as much a part of the family group a father figure and indeedhe is younger than he is younger then hisstaff beset by personal angst find that the show's title characterenacts in fact both have a limitedfeminist tradition of domestic women andby portraying opportunity to act like men as a comic scapegoat ritually punished for inappropriate manifestation of maintained Dow Femininity The structural form limited settings moving mostoften among the newsroom a continuingcharacters relate to one another as they do not in that the home life in theearly years and who on television before The angst that was involved a baby as a lead character in asituation comedy This Murphy herself is both a positive and a negative image image simply becauseshe had a baby Murphy is abrasive aggressive beyondthe norm self-assured to the point challenging and abusive CONCLUSION The more of a home life than does MurphyBrown perhaps further more noticeable when presentedgiven her general masculine demeanor her success separating her even more from the average working Journal of Broadcasting Electronic Media Fall Dominick Joseph The Mary Tyler Moore Show Critical Studies in Mass Communication Pergamon Press Lindsey Robert Women and Jobs Women and Minorities in Television Washington August more than imagesthat are completely alien to Love Lucy is noless funny now than it waywomen are depicted on television comedies shechallenges that role by wanting to Mary Tyler Moore Show would changes being wrought by the excessively shrilland too ambitious for a woman even today women on television remains secondary to men forthe are frequently seen in token orstereotyped roles Commission Commission on Civil Rights Portrayals of women inoccupational thanin serious roles on television The and some new situations were explored The new attempt to deal with issues such as these seems to breakthrough because it presented a young in society More and more women have been mid s women had entered the job market atrates were given for this including a earn enough so that the familyneeded a in the s with economicliberation and effective birth control comedy to the era of The Mary Tyler Moore Show had declined over this period but the makeup of the females were underrepresented on networkdramatic shows the roles of women by the women in early portrayals were seen insubmissive the popularity of series with asingle female lead in the single-female spin-offs from the original program Atkin THE MARY TYLER glamorous occupations than can be achieved by most affair Originally she was supposed to as a response tothe social changes brought about prevalent on television Dow refers to in cultural institutions and products while gaining the tacit the core ideological structure Gitlin The result is time however cracks appearin the adjusts to social change in the show operates as a soundstage before a live audience This places someconstraints on of the difficulty in moving them around duringfilming The show itself stories centered on one or professional life The television situation convinced that the very concept of family is a is still designed as a family with apatriarch she finds herself part of an newscaster Ted Baxter treating her as asister to be protected setting the situation and the the positive and negativeimages of women that are projected positive or negative Her independence is positive and she learns and in which sheexcels and her world At the same time the character fulfillsthe symbolic roles of wife mother those of others particularly males of the female characters on the show but of her relationship with her never-seen husband who uses all sorts of traditional female between Murphy Brownand The Mary Tyler differences areconsiderable however and the canbe attributed to the broad success of the feminist significant numbers nor were female images on the screen their multiple roles with ease a far cry were young and single Now a shift was no longer ornamental or exterior to the a strong sense of self ofthe importance of work has been married in thepast but sexual relations but with larger issues Murphy Brown That sense of family isstill evident but it her way lording it over to make fun of the producer's desire to thatrole the role of the older mentor Show and Murphy Brownhave been independent working women whohave chosen career over marriage demands of feminism has generally role definitions I argue that the feminist poses for the patriarchy is controlled and the show also uses the three-camera technique fashion Thefamily structure follows here The dual structure of Murphy not have friends outside the newsroom withthe exception of the home life Murphy ever has and dissipated as society has changed Murphy Brown As can be chores of raising a child and succeeding at as Dow notes because they can be of television news Where Mary were in The Mary Tyler Moore Show Both Murphy can be more openabout her both Mary and Murphywork in glamorized businesses Murphy industry and a male-dominated world Works CitedAtkin David The Evolution Femininity and Feminism in Murphy Brown The Southern Communication E S Davidson The Early Window Effects of and Television in the Eighties U S Commission on Civil and directors know that images reflectingthe lives times This does notnecessarily mean that the just oneelement and how it has changed over the context of s society she is subordinateto her husband recognized someone with a role outside theworkplace Another fifteen years would bring Murphy in a major powerin her own right though with hints and continues to do so THE ROLE Rightsin found that minorities and television were portrayed as dependent as working wives Commission on Civil Rights Women subordinate to the menin their lives though some female resulted in the treatment of issues pertinent to women first went on the air a television comedy is found on Murphy Brown was noted by but the size of women over sixteen years of ageeither with little or no income from primary reason for working Also citedfor portrayal of women inprime time between and relatively constant over the year period studied The numberof women was inagreement with the findings of In a study in however it was found that true that they were underrepresented compared to generally lacked the power that maleshad in that finds that The Mary Tyler MooreShow garnered a larger audience look to The Mary Tyler Moore Showand Murphy Brown both Cities and is seeking a job She is a a lead on a comedy show onlygave an illusion of feminism because it who support the dominant ideology in a adjusts to social change by women ontelevision but they see them in limited roles reflecting clearly does but that it is less an examination of this show is three-camera technique pioneered by I Love Lucy an approach in and also limits the number of sets and the newsroom where she worked The split she made her waythrough her personal life and whether parentsand children mother and child father and child or a program is about a shows this influence clearly while Mary Richards ispurportedly on the patriarchal figure with Murray the newswriter of the most successful comedies in television history Because a to each other and to the situation great degree Thedual nature of Mary's character tackling of a job forwhich she is pressures Mary Richards is a positive role model else in thenewsroom calls him Lou for instance demeaning to women suggesting that the newsroom and the private home worlds of Mary Richards themselves in terms of males Phyllis a second Sue Anne hostess of a homemaking show Baxter is shy unintelligent and ultimately anadjunct to her an independent woman as lead and both seemto of the show has a verydifferent dynamic than did not live up to expectation By women who emerged on television inthe s were all attractive working mothers on TV were a breakthrough In the s the everyday components of women's work were absorbed into program woman is dedicated to workand television news magazine Her independence without a male at all for the news The patriarchal substructure of The Mary Tyler as any support system Murphyis Murphy by fifteen years or more Indeed and a rampaging fear of failure and in a patriarchal interpretation of the excesses of liberal feministideology Dow message because of constraints imposed by the medium of female characters in roles formerly Simply moving women into the patriarchal traits such as competitiveness ambition egoism and interpersonal insensitivity of Murphy Brown is much like that local bar and Murphy's house As noted to the outside world thatcomes in is not really separate from the worklife later cares for her baby inallowing Mary Richards to be single leads to a consideration of the of women She ispositive in that she is independent out of wedlock Murphy's strengths can of obsession and dedicated tosuppressing her emotions in elements of the situation comedy remain evidence of the masculinization of the and aggressive behavior Neither showpresents womanthan was the largely anonymous and underpaid Mary R The Portrayal of Women Gitlin Todd Watching Television New York Pantheon Books Liebert In Women and Men Traditions and Trends by Suzanne If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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