feminist enough...

Going through OC's presentation was like watching the evolution of feminism. As OC pointed out, women evolved from being the background characters to have their own shows and movies. This change was not as radical as modern feminists would have hoped, it was gradual, and took decades to get to where we were. In the TV shows of the 50s, women were portrayed as the wife, whose sole purpose was to be her man's arm candy, take care of children, and maintain the household. I genuinely laughed out loud when I watched some of the theme songs to the once male-dominated sitcoms and the singer would add in "...and his wife" and other blatantly sexist language which was totally acceptable to broadcast amongst a worldwide audience. Just as women took the message that their role in society was to find a husband from Disney princesses, I believe that men injected the message that they are the sole financial anchor from these sitcoms. I am positive women prior to the feminist movement wanted to join the workforce and financially support themselves, but that type of woman was not represented in the media or in real life. If a working woman does not exist, regardless of a woman's ambition, they are not going to fulfill those dreams. The birth of the feminist movement allowed these women to have ambition and allowed these women to be represented in the media. Watching these clips with my modern feminist view makes these clips very entertaining. Watching the Mary Tyler Show specifically represented a woman who was the perfect feminist, not too much, scared of confrontation, but still fed up about an unjust system. I was most entertained by the moment in the episode where she finally stands up to her boss for paying her less than the man who came before her, and she says, "because I love you". I literally facepalmed at the moment. She was doing so well, and then boom, Hollywood took over, and she was made feminist enough. She could fight for equality, but she had to be in love with her boss to do so. How twisted is that? I also want to acknowledge the fact that this show was seen as monumental progress in the 1970s. Women were not seen in Television, did not have their own sitcoms, and also were not portrayed as single women in the working class, in favorable positions.

I think this idea of just enough feminism is something that remains relevant today. Although some of the feminists portrayed on television now would be seen as too feminist in TV in decades past, people will still claim that actors today continue to not be feminist enough. As Hollywood works, most successful women actors are stunning, thin, and have some sort of sex appeal. As someone who has studied film, most films and television shows are tailored towards the male gaze, which is something that has not changed in decades. Although TV nowadays has these strong women, people don't talk about how these women continue to be sexualized both indirectly and directly. As many of the men point out in our class frequently, when comes to the representation of women, feminists, it all comes down to what makes these institutions money. Today, these TV broadcasting continue to make money with filming from the male gaze. For example, you can look at any television show/movie and see an example of this. A woman will begin to speak and the camera will pan from a body part to full body to face, leg to face, face to lips, chest to face, the list goes in. Some directors do this more intentionally than others, but all the same present. I point this out to show that in many ways TV continues to be a capitalist institution that continues to not be feminist enough.