Female v. Male in TV

Today in class we discussed the trend of television shows staring females, creating these independent and empowering roles. We also talked about how television portrays men. A lot of good points were discussed during class but the one that stuck out to me most was in order for women to be seen as powerful, men have to be seen as doofy and vis versa. In the 90s when we were first exposed to shows such as 'Clarissa Explains it All' and 'As Told by Ginger' we finally were able to view a young girl on television who was independent and had a voice. These girls did not rely on boys and had great confidence. But in each of the shows, the male characters were portrayed as weaker, not as intelligent and inferior to the leading girls. With other series that had a strong male lead, most of the female characters were seen in the same light, as inferior to the characteristics and talents of the male role. While having a female lead is empowering to girls, it also can effect the way we view the male roles also, which can translate to real life experiences and opinions.

In most television series, we see male characters portrayed in one of two ways: either as the ultra male (athletic, macho, ladies man, etc.) or as nerdy/slacker (weak, reserved, meek, lazy, etc.). It is very rare to find a character who is well rounded and similar to your average Joe. This can cause women to have unrealistic and inaccurate thoughts about males in real life. Not only are we perhaps searching for a certain type of male that very well may not exist, but we also are seeing other behaviors on television that make us believe are ok. Such as when men don't listen or forget a birthday, as annoying as that can be, we just understand that thats how the male mind is wired and theres not much we can do about it. This is what sells and what makes programs, but it is wrong to have to put down one gender in order to empower another. Think of what television would be like if both genders were equally equipped? Not saying that these shows don't exist, but when trying to think of them, I find it hard to come up with examples on the spot.

Television and media feed into the stereotypes created for both males and females. A good example of this is the video shown last week in class with the men and women at the gym. In the video they had reverse roles and although it was a parody and meant to be funny, it was very funny to me because it was so accurate.  In real life a lot of those stereotypes can be true, but they also are reinforced on television so much that when we see videos that reverse the roles, we can relate and find it very entertaining.

Television can almost be seen as a double edged sword. It can empower a certain group of people, but in the process of empowering one group, it can be putting another down. For the most part when I watch T.V. i don't look that closely into those kinds of things. I'm too interested in the plot of the show to think about all the other aspects and politics behind it. But after having this discussion in class, it will be interesting to watch for these kinds of things from now on when watching television.