When I was in second grade, I distinctly remember religiously watching my favorite series every week. It aired on Disney Channel and it was called "So Weird." This series chronicled the adventures of Fiona Phillips, her family, and the members of her mother's band as they traveled the country in her mother's band's tour bus. At each stop around the country, Fiona would encounter some weird, supernatural force that needed to be defeated in some way.
Aside from being just a generally good show, "So Weird" gets a thumbs up from me regarding how it portrayed women. Fiona (also known as "Fi" by her friends and family) is a brave girl who is unafraid of getting dirty and doing whatever it takes to conquer evil spirits. This show came out around the year 2000, when technology was becoming popular, and so Fi consistently shows that she can master that as well. In almost every single episode, Fi is on her laptop, researching the latest supernatural phenomenon. In one episode, she even uses technology to conquer an evil spirit! I love how "So Weird" portrayed Fiona as being smart and tech-savvy, rather than obsessed with makeup and uninterested in anything requiring thinking. In fact, while Fiona definitely looks attractive, she does not wear much makeup and does not wear the latest, most stylish clothes. (Actually, I only remember one episode where Fi was shown putting on nail polish.) The show focused much more on Fiona's intrinsic qualities: her determination and bravery in fighting off evil forces, than it did on her ability to look good while doing it.
Some television shows who show girls doing anything brave feel they must portray the female character as being "one of the guys." This character will dress in "guy clothes" and only do activities with other guys. ("Brink!" is a television movie that comes to mind.) When shows do this, they tell their female viewers that feminine traits are worthless, and male traits are the only "true" or "correct" ones that should be valued. With "So Weird," Fiona was able to retain feminine qualities and still engage in all the activities she did. Fiona constantly chatted with her female friend from back home, she showed motherly affection to a girl who had been bitten by a werewolf, relished any "girl bonding" time she could find with her mother, and in the episode I posted for you above, selflessly saved another girl's life by donating her own bone marrow.
All in all, I really liked "So Weird" and am sorry to see that there are very few shows for kids like that which exist today. This show definitely trumps "Pretty Little Liars" in the way it portrays women. While "Liars" intimated that a woman's beauty is most important, "So Weird" claimed that it is a woman's character that counts the most.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
"Pretty Little Liars"--Emphasis on the "Pretty"
There's this show on the air called Pretty Little Liars, and for those of you who missed the link on the bottom of the video, it's on ABC family, which is not exactly known for airing quality programs. (Popular? Yes. Intelligent? No.) Some of you might remember (or still watch) The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which also aired on this channel. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I used to be a religious follower of "Secret Life." The acting was terrible. The script was even worse. But there was one thing about this show that kept on drawing me back: the clothes. Every last character possessed an amazing wardrobe and dressed as if she had a professional stylist (which she probably did). The same goes for "Liars." As you can tell from this promo of the episode I watched, all these young women look immaculate no matter what they're doing or how they're feeling. Their eyebrows are perfectly plucked, their makeup beautifully applied, their hair fresh from the salon, and their clothes taken right from the newest arrivals at Nordstrom. Each time I watch this show, I can't help but obsess over my looks. I think that I must look like that and dress like that in order to be considered...well...pretty. I can't help but wonder if I am alone in my thinking; if perhaps other young women look at these actresses and want to emulate them. A quick trip to posts on YouTube and abcfamily.com convince me that I'm not. Almost every last comment talks about the girls' looks, and one poster says, "Lucy is so very pretty [. . .] wish I looked like these girls."
There's nothing wrong with being beautiful or celebrating beauty. The problem I have with the beauty celebrated on Pretty Little Liars is the fact that it's the same beauty for all four girls! Each girl has the same haircut, the same clothing style, and the same makeup. Even the ethnically diverse girls have sleek, straight hair; delicate features; soft eyes; and shiny lips. They're basically all trying to look Caucasian. In addition, they all have the same body type: slender while still slightly curvy. When teenage girls are given only one cookie-cutter model to fit into, it leads to them being harsher critics of their own bodies. We need to have more shows featuring plus-size women, non-white women, or heck, even women with curly hair or pimples. Maybe then young women will feel more confident and less like they always need to live up to an unrealistic standard.
Monday, September 12, 2011
My Thoughts on "Jersey Shore"
I hate "Jersey Shore." For infinite reasons. If you are unfamiliar with this show, "Jersey Shore" basically follows the pathetic lives of six young people who live in a house together for a relatively short period. They waste their time and money by going to parties, getting drunk, calling in sick to work, obsessing over superficial matters, and having petty fights with each other. But one of the reasons I dislike this show so much is because of the way it portrays women.
For example, during this particular episode (posted below), the plot focuses on the relationship drama between Sammi and Ronnie. During the entire saga, Ronnie is very controlling and takes every opportunity to exert his authority over Sammi. He physically blocks Sammi when she tries to intercept a phone call from a guy who claims he "hooked up" (teenspeak for " has been intimate") with her. When she does get to the phone, he refuses to leave the room when she asks him to do so, and instead stands there, yelling insults at her. The argument ends when he forcefully yanks the phone out of her hand and hangs up on the person to whom she had been speaking. Regardless of whether or not Sammi did anything to anger Ronnie, these actions are unacceptable. Ronnie is trying to exert complete authority over his girlfriend. When he refuses to respect her privacy and disrespects her physical boundaries, he is not treating her as a person, but as an object. It scares me to think that millions of teenagers-- including hundreds of thousands of young women-- watch this show and find it entertaining. Shows like these send subtle messages about accepted behavior and the type of person young people should aspire to be. The degrading messages towards women do not stop with this one relationship, either.
As the episode progresses, we see endless examples of women being subjugated by men. Deena is accused of stopping a man from having sex with a woman at a party, and the guys in the house all become furious with her. Although Deena claims she was trying to protect a friend, her explanations are lost to the men who believe it is a man's right to have sex with any woman he wants, whenever he wants. Later, Deena also makes a sandwich for a man who criticizes her cooking. Aside from being eyeroll-inducing, these actions are also offensive. They encourage women watching the show to think that they must always please men, no matter what. They also push the stereotype that all men must look for cheap, easy ways to have sex with women and must be demeaning towards the opposite sex in the process. And the degradation of women doesn't stop there. Oh, no. By the end of the episode, ALL the women living in the household will be subjugated in some way.
Nicole, also known as "Snooki," is the most famous of the "Jersey Shore" women. She is also the dumbest one. This fact alone truly bothers me, but more on that later. For the entire hour, Snooki is seen either acting stupidly or saying dumb things. Before going out to party, Snooki practices her backflips in the living room, trying to make sure that her "kooka" (the "cute" nickname she gives her vagina) doesn't show. When she returns home to have sex with a guy she explains that it's easy for men to have sex for a long time when they're drunk, or when "his penis is drunk." The show cattily pokes fun at Snooki's intelligence at the end when she explains that if she were president, "everyone would be tan, and all the radios would play house music." It really irritates me that Snooki must come across as stupid in order for the show to be successful. By doing this, MTV hints that all women need to be unintelligent in order to be liked. And that's not the only message they send.
Jenni, the last lady in the house, is seen picking up dog crap while the men lazily sit back on the couch and laugh at the dog who left her the present. Throughout the episode, the women are seen as nothing more than servants who are expected to please men in any way possible. I noticed that whenver an argument arose between the two sexes, it was very rarely a man who apologized first. Also, when it was a woman who apologized, the man hardly ever recognized or accepted her apology. In Ronnie's case, he used his girlfriend's apology to manipulate and control her even further.
There is no reason for this show to even be on the air, let alone have so much popularity and influence as it does. As we're learning in class, the media can often be a mirror of society. Shows like these will only continue to be influential if we give them that power. And there is no reason for us to do that. I hope to see television shows that lift up women and empower them in the future.
http://www.mtv.com/videos/jersey-shore-season-3-ep-13-at-the-end-of-the-day/1660579/playlist.jhtml
For example, during this particular episode (posted below), the plot focuses on the relationship drama between Sammi and Ronnie. During the entire saga, Ronnie is very controlling and takes every opportunity to exert his authority over Sammi. He physically blocks Sammi when she tries to intercept a phone call from a guy who claims he "hooked up" (teenspeak for " has been intimate") with her. When she does get to the phone, he refuses to leave the room when she asks him to do so, and instead stands there, yelling insults at her. The argument ends when he forcefully yanks the phone out of her hand and hangs up on the person to whom she had been speaking. Regardless of whether or not Sammi did anything to anger Ronnie, these actions are unacceptable. Ronnie is trying to exert complete authority over his girlfriend. When he refuses to respect her privacy and disrespects her physical boundaries, he is not treating her as a person, but as an object. It scares me to think that millions of teenagers-- including hundreds of thousands of young women-- watch this show and find it entertaining. Shows like these send subtle messages about accepted behavior and the type of person young people should aspire to be. The degrading messages towards women do not stop with this one relationship, either.
As the episode progresses, we see endless examples of women being subjugated by men. Deena is accused of stopping a man from having sex with a woman at a party, and the guys in the house all become furious with her. Although Deena claims she was trying to protect a friend, her explanations are lost to the men who believe it is a man's right to have sex with any woman he wants, whenever he wants. Later, Deena also makes a sandwich for a man who criticizes her cooking. Aside from being eyeroll-inducing, these actions are also offensive. They encourage women watching the show to think that they must always please men, no matter what. They also push the stereotype that all men must look for cheap, easy ways to have sex with women and must be demeaning towards the opposite sex in the process. And the degradation of women doesn't stop there. Oh, no. By the end of the episode, ALL the women living in the household will be subjugated in some way.
Nicole, also known as "Snooki," is the most famous of the "Jersey Shore" women. She is also the dumbest one. This fact alone truly bothers me, but more on that later. For the entire hour, Snooki is seen either acting stupidly or saying dumb things. Before going out to party, Snooki practices her backflips in the living room, trying to make sure that her "kooka" (the "cute" nickname she gives her vagina) doesn't show. When she returns home to have sex with a guy she explains that it's easy for men to have sex for a long time when they're drunk, or when "his penis is drunk." The show cattily pokes fun at Snooki's intelligence at the end when she explains that if she were president, "everyone would be tan, and all the radios would play house music." It really irritates me that Snooki must come across as stupid in order for the show to be successful. By doing this, MTV hints that all women need to be unintelligent in order to be liked. And that's not the only message they send.
Jenni, the last lady in the house, is seen picking up dog crap while the men lazily sit back on the couch and laugh at the dog who left her the present. Throughout the episode, the women are seen as nothing more than servants who are expected to please men in any way possible. I noticed that whenver an argument arose between the two sexes, it was very rarely a man who apologized first. Also, when it was a woman who apologized, the man hardly ever recognized or accepted her apology. In Ronnie's case, he used his girlfriend's apology to manipulate and control her even further.
There is no reason for this show to even be on the air, let alone have so much popularity and influence as it does. As we're learning in class, the media can often be a mirror of society. Shows like these will only continue to be influential if we give them that power. And there is no reason for us to do that. I hope to see television shows that lift up women and empower them in the future.
http://www.mtv.com/videos/jersey-shore-season-3-ep-13-at-the-end-of-the-day/1660579/playlist.jhtml
Sunday, September 11, 2011
First Post!
Hello everyone! My name is Freelance Feminist and I am taking a college course in Communication. For this class I have been assigned a "Media Diary" where I get to write a blog about a current media topic of my choosing. During the next 3 1/2 months I'll be writing about how women are depicted in film and television (and maybe tabloids as well). I believe that women are still very much subjugated in today's society and I believe that the media plays a role in this. I hope you enjoy reading what I have to say!
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