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Miami Vice: The Persistence Of Gender Roles Across Decadess And Genre

908 Words4 Pages

Caroline Firestone
CAT 2
5 March 2023
I Love Lucy and Miami Vice: The Persistence of Gender Roles Across Decades and Genre
Television has been an influential institution in cementing social standards since its beginning, an example of which being the persistent portrayal of gender roles. I will be drawing comparisons between I Love Lucy and Miami Vice, two shows which vary drastically in terms of genre and content, but both portray common themes in terms of the treatment and use of female characters within their plots and storylines. In this comparison of decades, I Love Lucy is representative of the time during which it aired, which was over the course of the 1950s. In a similar manner, Miami Vice can be used to compare the themes present …show more content…

In Miami Vice, a show centered around two detectives dealing with the cocaine epidemic of the 80s, women are rarely given complex roles and are instead either objectified, sexualized, or are mothers. A clear instance of this is seen in the first episode where Sonny Crocket, the show’s central character, comes home late to his own child’s birthday party. Sonny was working late and came home after dark once the party was wrapping up and his wife had been left to do everything herself. This traditional household format is common in television, with ideals of a nuclear family being one of the most persistent themes across modern and early eras of television. It must be observed that Miami Vice, however, does somewhat criticize this narrative by taking the female character more seriously when she expresses discontentment with the situation. In the shots analyzed multiple frames focus on the characters face and instead of a laugh track playing, like what can be heard in I Love Lucy, the audio opted for is simply the voices of the characters talking to each other, accompanied by the sounds of children in the background. This sets the scene to feel more realistic and impactful, but still does not take away from the expectations of the female character to complete her motherly and wifely duties without complaint. …show more content…

Similarly to what Butler wrote about broadcasting contributing to homogeneity in television, the trend of sexism in television can largely be attributed to the fact that women were rarely present in writers rooms and most shows were male directed and influenced. “Introducing the Women Who Invented American Television” recognizes this trend and acknowledges the impact that having female writers can have on the presentation of character roles in television. A combination of the impact of broadcasting and the lack of representation behind the scenes of production led to the persistence of sexiest ideologies across both decades and genres that is prominent in both I Love Lucy and Miami

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