Gender Issues in the Media – Forcing Stereotypes “Legally”
26. Jan, 2010 
3 Comments
I have just finished a class about gender issues in the media. I firmly believe I have been oblivious to reality for too long, and so, have wondered if anyone else has been as well. For this reason, I have decided to share some of the knowledge I have recently learned about how the media uses images of men and women in stereotypical roles.
When it was first mentioned in class, I began thinking of the shows I watched and the movies I have enjoyed. And although cliché, I decided to analyze one of my favourite movies (please do not judge me), “Legally Blonde.”
In the movie, beautiful Elle Woods is portrayed as the typical female – she has a bubbly personality, is obsessed with shopping, make-up and shoes, and is known to be ditzy… To be clear, this is NOT my definition of a woman, but in fact, what I have learned society dictates the stereotypical woman is.
My professor discussed how today’s society continues to privilege males over females. Now, I don’t know why, but for some reason this surprised me. Perhaps it’s my many women’s studies classes or even the fact that my university is majority women, but I firmly believed that the division was becoming less and less apparent. But, supposedly, we are we are still living in a patriarchal world.
The movie tries to overcome this obstacle through having Elle attempt to break the barriers between the sexes. For instance, she starts attending a college dominated by males, Harvard Law School. Unfortunately, however, their distinction seems to do the opposite, as it appears to strengthen presupposing stereotypes and reinforce the divide between the sexes.
I further investigated other stereotypes present in the movie….and yes that required me watching parts of the movie again…..and yes I should have been studying for exams and not procrastinating….but to my defence, I was still learning! One of the most interesting lines comes from the saleswoman, who states: “there’s nothing [she] loves better than a dumb blonde with Daddy’s plastic.” This reinforces not only that women are unintelligent but also that they are reliant on males as they hope to receive money from their fathers.
The more I watched, (and the more I procrastinated), the more I saw the presence of stereotypes. And in fact, stereotypes were present for both men and women, creating a further divide between the sexes with each one.
One of the most noteworthy examples involves shoes. For instance, when Elle is talking with Enrique, the cabana boy, he states: “don’t stomp your little last season Prada shoes at me, honey.” His knowledge of shoes, forces her to gasp and proclaim: “He’s gay!” Through this, we see that when males hold similar interests as women, their association with their sex is diminished, much like how Enrique is viewed as being unmasculine. Conversely, through observing Warner, the macho and intelligent male, we can see that the opposite can be stated. When Elle asks him what kind of shoes she’s wearing, he responds: “ummm… black ones,” reinforcing society’s expectations and thus his masculinity as well.
Through observing these facts I now wonder what other television shows and movies focus on stereotypes and highlight the distinctions between the sexes. Are there any other movies that anyone has watched that have presented similar stereotypes?
Many sitcoms are focused upon the average looking, hard-working, money-making male, with the gorgeous woman who stays home and spends all of his money. What I find unusual is that it is these shows that we have become accustomed to enjoy. I now wonder if there is any way to overcome these labels once society has etched them in our minds. For instance, do you think that if a show presents the opposite, which would be in this case, a hard-working woman, with the stay-at-home father, would the show be just as popular?
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April, I always find your posts so thought provoking!
I totally hear you about the stereotypes in the media, it’s actually really sickening when you stop and think about it. Even commercials still perpetrate these stereotypes (i.e. any cleaning/laundry products are usually focused on and for women and all beer and electronics commercials are targeted at males). Furthermore, there are so many shows today that have families where the woman is slim and attractive, but the husband is larger and sloppy (i.e. King of Queens, According to Jim, the Simpsons, Family Guy, etc.), even in these shows it seems like the guys are often attracted to other women but the women are faithful…interesting.
Then of course you have the popular show 2 and 1/2 men which focuses on a sexiest, greedy, unattractive, man’s man who uses his pastime to seduce “slutty” woman to sleep with him. These woman are also often perpetrated as unintelligent, which, while it might explain sleeping with him still perpetrates the stereotype of the correlation between women’s attractiveness and their intelligence.
However, it’s curious…could it be sometimes that these shows are based in stereotypes because we know they exist and exaggerating them is entertaining to us? Or could it be like you said that we still are living with so many people who believe these stereotypes are true? Both seem probable…however, I think you’re right…these stereotypes still unfortunately exist in our society.
April,
I totally think that a sitcom with the opposite steryotypes would become popular.. because its different. and because it would be what people are trying to make “normal” that its okay to have a stay at home dad and a hard working successful mom. but within this show i believe many stereotypes would be used, because that is what the writers would assume people would find funny.
I think though, it could easily but a funny show without feeding on those stereotypes. the story content for each 30 min could be funny instead of the idea that dad stays home and mom brings home the bacon.
interesting post. hmm.. now im going to go and write this tv show about the stay at home dad and successful mom….
Jill,
Thanks so much for your comment. Truthfully, I could not agree more. I wish you the best of luck with the writing of the tv show… if you need an editor… let me know haha!
Thanks again.