Family Matters.

Most people are familiar with the show Family Matter staring Jaleel White as Steve Urkel, the annoying nerd that lives next door to the Winslows. Recently, I saw an episode where Carl, the father of the household who is also a police officer, had a special assignment for his job. There was a mugger who was attacking women on the streets, so Carl had to dress up as one so that perhaps the mugger would come after him and he could catch him. After a night or two of walking the streets in a dress, a wig, high heels, and carrying a bag, Carl was having no luck. So, his wife, Harriet, showed him how to walk like a lady, so that he would seem more feminine and more appealing to the mugger. Of course, after his lesson, one night he came in the house screaming "I got mugged!!" There are many suggestions about gender in this episode. First of all, you are "introduced" to this mugger whose target is women. Why women? Yet, this question isn't really asked because its accepted. We would be concerned if the mugger was going after men. Women are supposedly more weak and easier to manipulate. You also have the traditional issue of what Carl wears to look like a "woman." This suggests what women are supposed to wear. Lastly, and my favorite because it is not obvious at first, but I find it interesting that Carl was mugged when he learned how to walk from his wife. This means that the mugger probably saw Carl but didn't go after him when he walked like a man in heels...but why? Is he not "woman" enough? But, when from behind Carl looks like a woman because his walk is more graceful and he is light on his feet, the mugger goes after him. Honestly, this whole episode is about what women and men are supposed to be like - but they would never admit that, would they?

You know you're old if you laugh at Tom & Jerry...

No, this blog is not about whether I find Tom & Jerry humorous or not, but I had the opportunity to see this show after a very very very long time over spring break, and it kind of got me thinking. With all of this talk about gender and portrayal of males and females in television and the media, it was no surprise that I have been noticing a lot more messages in the media than there appears to be. On this one particular episode of Tom & Jerry, Tom had the upperhand on Jerry and they had made a mess in the refrigerator, and Tom put Jerry in and closed the door and ran away just before the owner of the house came down. She opened the refrigerator, and much to her surprise, she found a mouse and screamed, jumped on a stool, and pulled up like 10 different undergarments before her whole skirt was up. She called on Tom to come and get the mouse and while he was chasing Jerry he knocked over the stool with her on it and she got up and said "This is no place for a lady!" and walked out of the room. There are more obvious messages about how this show views females and how they should behave with the owner's comment, suggesting that women shouldn't take part in man's business. Also, going back to the article "Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast," before this particular scene in the episode, the owner is yelling at Tom that he better not be messing up anything or eating any food out of the refrigerator. Yet, when there is a mouse in the refrigerator (which Tom put there in the first place) all of this is forgiven and he is actually called on to help. In all of the Tom & Jerry episodes Tom is always threatened to get kicked out and a couple of times he actually does get kicked out...yet he always seems to be there in time for the next episode. Perhaps this "Beauty and the Beast" trend that the analysts found is not so new after all...

"Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast"...in Spongebob??

Spongebob Squarepants on Nickelodeon is probably the last place you would expect to find an example of the article we just read, "Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast." Yet there was one episode in particular that focused on a familiar family situation. Now that I've actually thought about it, the main characters in the cartoon do not have significant others or spouses or anything so normally, one doesn't consider how the cartoon portrays dominance in the household. There is one episode, however, where Patrick and Spongebob find a baby clam and decide to raise it. Spongebob takes on the "mom," and patrick the "dad." When they first start out, everything is all fine and dandy. Patrick goes to "work" and Spongebob stays home with the baby. Yet, Patrick starts to come in from work and Spongebob is tired from working at home all day and Patrick goes straight to the TV to watch this coconut falling on someone's head. Spongebob whimpers for help around the house, while he has about 8 arms doing different things around the house. Patrick continues to promise that he will help out the next day. Helping out never comes, until one day Spongebob gets fed up and yells at Patrick, who retreats to his job. Spongebob follows him and see that Patrick hasn't even been going to work, he has been going to his own home watching the same TV show!! To make it worse, his briefcase is full of desserts. In the end, they are arguing but Patrick is never reprimanded for his actions because they both stop arguing to save the baby. It is just like the article almost, where the man of the household is not worth much but nothing is truly done about. It took Spongebob till his breaking point to even yell at Patrick about it. This shows that even in cartoons you can find the "Beauty and the Beast trend" and perhaps these only help to subtly encourage a home with male dominance.