"THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW" & "MURPHY BROWN."   Term Paper ID:26787 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Compares TV comedies & their depiction of strong female characters in male-dominated industries in 1970s & 1990s.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Compares TV comedies & their depiction of strong female characters in male-dominated industries in 1970s & 1990s. Paper Introduction: INTRODUCTION Television comedy reflects the social setting in which the show is produced, for writers, producers, and directors know that images reflecting the lives of the viewers have the power to evoke laughter more than images that are completely alien to the life experiences of the viewers. Comic styles on television have changed along with the times. This does not necessarily mean that the comedy is dated as some charge--I Love Lucy is no less funny now than it was in 1955, for example--but viewers look at these episodes with somewhat different eyes just the same. Consider just one element and how it has changed over the years, that element being the way women are depicted on television comedies. Lucy in I Love Lucy may be the star of the show, but in the context of 1950s society, she is subordinate to her Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The patriarchal substructure of The Mary Tyler Moore Show is clearlygone from the newsroom "family" of Murphy Brown. Washington, August 1977. Portrayals of women inoccupational roles were infrequent and were restricted to relatively fewoccupations, and women were also rarely depicted as working wives(Commission on Civil Rights 13). Simply moving women into the public sphere does not correct oppressive role definitions. Comicstyles on television have changed along with the times. New York: H.W. Dow finds that both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Murphy Brownhave been touted as feminist statements, though in fact both have a limitedfeminist message because of constraints imposed by the medium of networktelevision. She ispositive in that she is independent and successful. She is a young woman fleeing from afailed love affair. Morethan a decade later, Mary in The Mary Tyler Moore Show would have a roleoutside the home but would still be secondary to the males in theworkplace. Neither showpresents the working life of the average woman, for both Mary and Murphywork in glamorized businesses. "Women and Television in the Eighties."U.S. However, certain feminist critics also believed that the show onlygave an illusion of feminism because it was structured with the traditionalpatriarchal relationships and role definitions prevalent on television.Dow refers to these commonplace structures as the result of hegemony orhegemonic processes, defined as the various means through which those who support the dominant ideology in a culture are able continually to reproduce that ideology in cultural institutions and products while gaining the tacit approval of those whom the ideology oppresses (Dow, "Hegemony" 262).In this view, according to Gitlin, television adjusts to social change by"absorbing it into forms compatible with the core ideological structure"(Gitlin 45 ). Willingness to explore controversial issues has resulted in the treatment of issues pertinent to women: rape, unwanted pregnancy, or job discrimination. Herconcerns are not with sexual relations but with larger issues of governmentand society, often judged in terms of her ability to find a good story andfeature it on the news. New York: Pergamon Press, 1982.Lindsey, Robert. Mary Richards is a positive role model asa young woman making her way in the business world. This places someconstraints on the nature of the stories told--it precludes real exteriors,for instance, and also limits the number of sets that can be used in anygiven episode because of the difficulty in moving them around duringfilming. By sacrificing Murphy, the threat that feminism poses for the patriarchy is controlled, and the perceived dichotomy between masculine and feminine roles is maintained (Dow, "Femininity" 146). Murphy Brown is a show where the leading woman is dedicated to workand not to home. The Report of the United States Commission on Civil Rightsin 1977 found that minorities and women were underrepresented ontelevision: "When they do appear they are frequently seen in token orstereotyped roles" (Commission on Civil Rights 3). Indeed, Murphy often does serve precisely thatrole, the role of the older mentor offering advice. She has been married in thepast, but very briefly, and in the early shows she seems to be able to dowithout marriage and indeed without a male at all for the most part. Murphy is a career woman with a strong sense of self, ofthe importance of work, and of achieving a certain cachet in her job asreporter on a weekly television news magazine. David Atkin found that the popularity of series with asingle female lead in the late 197 s corresponded roughly with the sexualrevolution of the early 197 s. The changes have been mixed in their effects: The 198 s did not live up to expectation. "The Evolution of Television Series Addressing Single Women, 1966-199 ." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media (Fall 1991), 517-523.Dominick, Joseph R. When a program is about a worksituation rather than a home, it is still designed as a family, with apatriarch and a feeling of belonging such as exists in a family. By 1989, women hadn't cracked any of the industry's decision-making jobs in significant numbers, nor were female images on the screen devoid of titillation and stereotype (Steenland 53).Steenland points out that the working women who emerged on television inthe 198 s were all attractive, fulfilled working women who were able tobalance their multiple roles with ease, a far cry from the real life ofworking women: Despite the air of unreality, though, working mothers on TV were a breakthrough. THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW The prevailing patterns of employment for female characters ontelevision shows should be recalled as we look to The Mary Tyler Moore Showand Murphy Brown, both series about working women, though these are womenin more glamorous occupations than can be achieved by most women. Window Dressing on the Set: Women and Minorities in Television. Lucy in I Love Lucy may be thestar of the show, but in the context of 195 s society, she is subordinateto her husband, and indeed, much of the comedy derives from how shechallenges that role by wanting to be what he is--someone in show business,someone known and recognized, someone with a role outside the home. The MaryTyler Moore Show shows this influence clearly--while Mary Richards ispurportedly on her own in the world, she finds herself part of an extendedfamily at the television station where she works, with her boss, Mr. Grant,as the patriarchal figure, with Murray the newswriter as a sort of Dutchuncle, and with even the silly newscaster, Ted Baxter, treating her as asister to be protected from the world. The changes canbe attributed to the broad success of the feminist movement in theintervening years. Murphyis the powerhouse of the group, in her way lording it over everyone elseinvolved, including her boss. The Mary Tyler Moore Show was one of the early users of the three-camera technique pioneered by I Love Lucy, an approach in which the programis filmed on a soundstage before a live audience. Another fifteen years would bring Murphy in Murphy Brown to thescreen, and by now the changes being wrought by the women's movement wouldgreatly alter how this woman would be portrayed--she was now a major powerin her own right, though with hints that she is seen as excessively shrilland too ambitious for a woman even today. Sexual morals have changed so that Murphy can be more openabout her sexuality, which is often all the more noticeable when presentedgiven her general masculine demeanor and aggressive behavior. . Murphy is abrasive, aggressive beyondthe norm, self-assured to the point of obsession, and dedicated tosuppressing her emotions in order to maintain her position in the male-dominated world of television news. I argue that the feminist character of Murphy Brown functions as a comic scapegoat ritually punished for inappropriate manifestation of patriarchal traits such as competitiveness, ambition, egoism, and interpersonal insensitivity. Davidson. The split between home andoffice also marked the show itself--stories centered on one or both ofthese two areas, showing a concern for Mary Richards as she made her waythrough her personal life and as she struggled with her professional life. This show also uses the three-camera technique and isfilmed before a live audience. . CONCLUSION The elements of the situation comedy remain much the same in MurphyBrown as they were in The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Over time, however, cracks appearin the hegemony, as Dow explains: The point of a hegemonic perspective is not that television never changes--it clearly does--but that it is less progressive than we think. This leads to a consideration of the positive and negative imagesinvolved in Murphy Brown. This was inagreement with the findings of the United States Commission on CivilRights, which also concluded that females were underrepresented on networkdramatic shows and that when they were seen it was frequently in token orstereotyped roles (Dominick 4 5). . The Early Window: Effects of Television on Children and Youth. Works CitedAtkin, David. "The Portrayal of Women in Prime Time, 1953-1977." Sex Roles (1979), 4 5-411.Dow, Bonnie J. Thedual nature of Mary's character extends to whether that character can beconsidered positive or negative. At the same time, the character tends to be more subservient thanmany would like--she calls her boss "Mr. As noted, thefamily structure is also maintained, though in a distorted fashion. The television situation comedy is usually a family program in ametaphoric sense. MURPHY BROWN On the surface, there are certain similarities between Murphy Brownand The Mary Tyler Moore Show in that both are set in the world oftelevision news, both feature an independent woman as lead, and both seemto divide the focus between home and work situations. The percentage offemales in leading roles on prime time television increased after 1973, butit remained true that they were underrepresented compared to their numbersin society. INTRODUCTION Television comedy reflects the social setting in which the show isproduced, for writers, producers, and directors know that images reflectingthe lives of the viewers have the power to evoke laughter more than imagesthat are completely alien to the life experiences of the viewers. Originally, she was supposed to be divorced, but thenetwork would not allow a divorced woman as a lead on a comedy show. Sprafkin & E.S. This does notnecessarily mean that the comedy is dated as some charge--I Love Lucy is noless funny now than it was in 1955, for example--but viewers look at theseepisodes with somewhat different eyes just the same. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986.Liebert, R.M., J.N. Her independence goes farbeyond what Mary Richards was able to achieve. Indeed, the writers ofthe show appear to be eager to make fun of the producer's desire to be apatriarch in the newsroom, given the fact that he is younger then hisstaff, beset by personal angst and a rampaging fear of failure, and in needof a patriarch himself. In a study in 1991, however, it was found that the networks had madeconsiderable changes in the roles of women by the 199 s. The medium adjusts to social change in a manner that simultaneously contradicts or undercuts a progressive premise (Dow, "Hegemony" 263). The result is a change in content without a change inhegemonic values--in the present context, viewers see more women ontelevision, but they see them in limited roles reflecting an ideologicalview of the place of women in society. He also finds that The Mary Tyler MooreShow garnered a larger audience for the CBS network and also initiated anumber of single-female spin-offs from the original program (Atkin 517-518). Itwas found in this 1979 study that the number of women in starring rolesremained relatively constant over the 25-year period studied. More recent research showed that while womenwere now seen in the workplace, they generally lacked the power that maleshad in that realm. The angst that was involved inallowing Mary Richards to be single and that prevented her from beingdivorced has dissipated as society has changed sufficiently to allow andeven embrace an unmarried woman with a baby as a lead character in asituation comedy. Women have always been more frequently portrayed in comedy roles thanin serious roles on television. "Femininity and Feminism in Murphy Brown." The Southern Communication Journal (1991), 143-155.Dow, Bonnie J. Consequently, the characters have strong connections to each other and to the situation (Dow, "Hegemony" 264). That sense of family isstill evident, but it should be seen here as a dysfunctional family, withneuroses as much a part of the family group as any support system. Dow writes, The presentation of a family structure is common to many of the most successful comedies in television history. Now, a shift was occurring, not only in numbers, but also in nature. Changes intelevision portrayals of women reflect changes in women's roles in society.More and more women have been entering the job market in the years sinceWorld War II. . MaryRichards in the first episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show has just come tothe Twin Cities and is seeking a job. Consider just oneelement and how it has changed over the years, that element being the waywomen are depicted on television comedies. The other female characters are even more prone todefining themselves in terms of males. Her independence is positive, and it issupported by her decision to set out on her own, her tackling of a job forwhich she is only minimally prepared but which she learns and in which sheexcels, and her refusal to settle for an unwanted marriage because thatwould satisfy social pressures. The Mary Tyler Moore Show centered primarily on two sets--Mary'sapartment, and the newsroom where she worked. The differences areconsiderable, however, and the character of Murphy Brown is very differentfrom that of Mary Richards, just as the structure of the show has a verydifferent dynamic than that of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. In the 7 s, most working women on TV were young and single. A National Organizationfor Women report in 1972 found that women in whatever role on television"were portrayed as dependent, unintelligent, submissive creatures who wereadjuncts of men" (Commission on Civil Rights 12). Murphy's strengths can also be seen asweaknesses, just as Dow notes, because they can be seen as concessions tothe masculine, patriarchal society. The two shows feature single, independent, working women whohave chosen career over marriage and motherhood, and this promotes liberalfeminist values by rejecting television's tradition of domestic women andby portraying female characters in roles formerly reserved for men: In short, television's approach to the demands of feminism has generally been to allow women the opportunity to act like men. As can be seen from the above discussion by Dow,Murphy herself is both a positive and a negative image of women. The subject matter of comedythus adapted to changing roles for women and continues to do so. The Commission found that women insituation comedies in the 197 s still tended to be subordinate to the menin their lives, though some female characters had become stronger over theyears and some new situations were explored: The new situation comedies are attempting to portray women more realistically than in the past. Dominick reports on a study of the portrayal of women inprime time between 1953 and 1977, extending from the beginnings of thetelevision situation comedy to the era of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. A more recent example of aworking woman in a television comedy is found on Murphy Brown. Research showed that women in early portrayals were seen insubmissive, domestic roles. . The numberof women shown as housewives or housekeepers had declined over this period,but the makeup of the television labor force consistently demonstrated norelationship to the real-life employment patterns of women. Furthermore, the attempt to deal with issues such as these seems to have enriched the portrayals of the females in situation comedies (Commission on Civil Rights 23). This trend was noted by 196 , but the size of the trend wasunderestimated. By the mid-197 s, women had entered the job market atrates not expected to be reached until the mid-198 s, and it was reportedthen that nearly 48 percent of American women over sixteen years of ageeither worked or wanted a job. When it first went on the air in the 197 s, The Mary Tyler Moore Showwas considered a breakthrough because it presented a young woman in theworking world rather than as a wife and mother. She also projects theability to handle the dual chores of raising a child and succeeding at acareer, though certainly some see her as a negative image simply becauseshe had a baby out of wedlock. Commission on Civil Rights. It has been noted how she fulfillsthe symbolic roles of wife, mother, and daughter, and Dow indicates thatthese can be negative images because these traditional forms are demeaning to women, suggesting that their judgments and concerns are less important than those of others, particularly males (Dow, "Hegemony" 267).The division between male and female communities is also a division betweenthe public (the newsroom) and the private (home) worlds of Mary Richards--worlds which rarely meet. Wilson Company, 1977.Steenland, Sally. Joseph R. Because a sitcom is short in length and typically limited in setting, the situation and the characters tend to change little from episode to episode. . Both women areshown as somewhat anomalous in a male-dominated industry and a male-dominated world. One approach to an examination of this show is to consider itsstructure and the technical details of how the show operates as a situationcomedy. "Hegemony, Feminist Criticism and The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Critical Studies in Mass Communication (199 ), 261-274.Gitlin, Todd, Watching Television. Another approach to the show is to consider the positive and negativeimages of women that are projected, though the determination of what ispositive and what is negative is clearly subjective to a great degree. Both shows are workoriented though Mary Richards had more of a home life than does MurphyBrown, perhaps further evidence of the masculinization of the feminist rolefor Murphy. Thefamily structure follows here as it does for most shows--the continuingcharacters relate to one another as they do not to the outside world thatcomes in each week and then recedes. Many comedies center on a family unit, whether parentsand children, mother and child, father and child, or husband and wife.Networks are convinced that the very concept of "family" is a way toattract viewers, and television executives like to think of the ensemblecast of a show as constituting a family. 2nd ed. Murphy does not have friends outside the newsroom, withthe exception of the peculiar artist, Eldon, who paints her house in theearly years and who later cares for her baby. Also citedfor this rise was the liberation of young wives in the 196 s with economicliberation and effective birth control methods (Lindsey 139-14 ). Grant" while everyone else in thenewsroom calls him "Lou," for instance. The dual structure of Murphy Brown is different from that of The MaryTyler Moore Show in that the home life is not really separate from the worklife in any sense. The boss is not a father figure, and indeedhe is younger than Murphy by fifteen years or more. Where Mary Richards was somewhatsubservient and polite, Murphy is challenging and abusive. The fact of the baby is theonly home life Murphy ever has, and this certainly differentiates the latershow from anything on television before. Some critics have seen the effort of Mary Richards as a response tothe social changes brought about by the feminist movement of the late196 s. Murphy in particular is wealthy and famousin her success, separating her even more from the average working womanthan was the largely anonymous and underpaid Mary Richards. Numerous reasons were given for this,including a growing number of young single women looking for their firstjobs, newly divorced women with little or no income from their formerhusbands, women whose husbands did not earn enough so that the familyneeded a second salary, and women from higher income families who had adesire for broader horizons as a primary reason for working. The structural form of Murphy Brown is much like that of The MaryTyler Moore Show. THE ROLE OF WOMEN ON TELEVISION However, the role of women on television remains secondary to men forthe most part. "Women and Jobs." In Women and Men: Traditions and Trends by Suzanne Fremon. Feminist critics of the show find that the show's title characterenacts a patriarchal interpretation of the excesses of liberal feministideology. Mary is the strongest of the female characters on the show, but sheis not the only one. For the first time, the everyday components of women's work were absorbed into program plots so that they were no longer ornamental or exterior to the characters (Steenland 55). The show uses limited settings, moving mostoften among the newsroom, a local bar, and Murphy's house. Phyllis, the landlady, is definedin terms of her relationship with her never-seen husband Lars; Rhoda, theneighbor, is another working woman, but she would give up her career formarriage in a second; Sue Anne, hostess of a homemaking show on television,is a predatory female who uses all sorts of traditional female roleconcepts in an attempt to trap males; and Georgette, the friend whoeventually marries Ted Baxter, is shy, unintelligent, and ultimately anadjunct to her husband. 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