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Essay On Gender Representation In Television

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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

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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.

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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.

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They seem to solely skew towards television being the main cause of disempowered women. Without providing other influences on the stereotypes of women, the film’s views become bias. However, because teenagers spend 31 hours every week watching television, it becomes one of the leading causes of gender stereotypes. Also, based on the statistics provided of women being represented far less than men in America’s government, strongly supports Edelman ’s quote, “You can't be what you can't see.”

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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.

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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.

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