It's fortuitous that right at the beginning of this semester I began
watching the TV series "Mad Men" on AMC. For those unfamiliar, the
series begins in 1960 and focuses on an advertising agency, Sterling
Cooper, run almost exclusively by white males. The workplace at the
time was obviously not what it is today. They drink on the job, they
smoke on the job, and they adulter on the job. I could write a separate
post about any of the issues portrayed in the show, from the
misogynistic way the important people (men) treat women in the workplace
to the racism that pretty much everyone exhibits. Instead what caught
my attention was an episode from season 1, "Shoot" which so clearly
articulates and problematizes the separation of spheres we've talked
about in class the past two weeks.
Up to this point in the series, it isn't much of a secret that Betty Draper, wife of the main character and advertising savant Don Draper, is less than happy with her home life. The viewer rarely sees Betty out of the house; Don doesn't like the way she drives and mostly fears, I suspect, for their car. When she is out and about she is usually found hanging on her husbands arm while he meets an important client. She cooks, cleans, and takes care of the children (though it is worth noting that Don occasionally pitches in with the kids). She begins to suffer from uncontrollably shaking hands, for which she sees a psychiatrist, who, go figure, reports everything in their meetings to Don. She feels so trapped in her home life that she vents her profound sadness to the nine year old son of her neighbor out of a lack of anyone else to talk to. In short, Betty Draper is unhappy.
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| Betty (January Jones) and her husband Don (Jon Hamm) |
This is all for background. In the episode in question, Don's professional skills are courted by a rival agency, who also coincidentally offer Betty a chance to model in their Coca Cola ad. For the first time in the series, Betty's smile is radiant instead of forced. She brags to her friends that she's modelling like she used to before she met Don. Her husband is less than thrilled. Though he tiptoes around the issue, Don clearly isn't a fan of Betty leaving the house and shirking her homemaking duties. When Don gets a raise from Sterling Cooper and turns down the offer from the new agency, they inform Betty that their ad has somehow changed to make her unsuitable for the job (which, of course, Don knew would happen). Betty rationalizes this to herself and her husband, resigning herself to commitment to family, childrearing, and homemaking. In the course of one episode, the viewer is exposed to the exact definition of separation of spheres and just how challenging it is to shake this ideal. The show producers use this is an opportunity to force us to think about how we want to view this issue in our own lives and what it truly means to have a happy home. Clearly, the Drapers do not.
To conclude the episode, we see Betty Draper march out to the front yard with what is I guess a small caliber rifle. Earlier in the episode, the Draper's next door neighbor threatened to kill the family's dog for eating one of his pigeons. Throughout the hour the viewer is smashed over the head with symbolism. At least three times we see his flock of birds flying over the idyllic suburban front yards, suggesting that perhaps Betty really does have the freedom to be unchained from her home and husband. Now though, cigarette hanging from her mouth, Betty practices her marksmanship on these flying metaphors. Maybe she's really at peace with her role as home embodied. Or maybe she only thinks she is.
Zach, this is a good example of the separation of spheres! It depicts the reproduction role in the private sphere, which is assigned to the woman, whereas the productive, public role is reserved for the man. It reminds me of what Domosh, Mona, and Seager (2001) say in their chapter on Home: "Home, both literally and metaphorically, is intimately involved in popular definitions of contemporary womanhood. And this association is not just an abstract concept: women themselves seem to derive more of their identities from their domestic life than do men" (p.1). As unhappy as Betty is in the role she performs, she ultimately seems resigned to it, as, I believe, she too accepts that her identity is tied to the home and private sphere.
ReplyDeleteThis semester I am taking Representations of Gender in Reality TV in which we look at current gender constructs that are either maintained or challenged in the world of reality TV. Although we are not necessarily utilizing spatial contexts as a framework in which we assess and critique gender constructs portrayed in reality TV, I find myself identifying ways in which the space and place of television are used to create and/or maintain certain gender constructs. The angles in which the shows are filmed, the characters chosen to participate in the shows, the spaces chosen to film the shows, the editing process of these shows, are all ways in which gender constructs and identities are recreated in the space and place of reality TV. This includes the concepts of public and private spheres and their association with certain genders.
For example, in the first makeover show, Queen for the Day, women contestants compete by relaying problems they have at home. Whoever has the “worst” problems gets to be queen for the day. Subsequently, this woman is pampered for the day, wins various products, and acquires something that is supposed to help with her problems. What is interesting is that not only is the public/private spheres and associations with gender clearly defined, once the woman is in the “public” sphere (on national television), she is assumed to not have the capabilities to fix her own problems (associated with the private sphere and her role of reproduction) as well. This speaks to certain characteristics assigned to men and women (also assigned to the public/private spheres) and the value placed on the different genders and spheres.
If you’re interested in taking a look at the show, here’s a clip of the voting process on one of the Queen for the Day episodes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YW-uv3Ibm8
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the points made in this post. The example used (Mad Men) was both timely and accurately depicted the separation of spheres and continuation of gender stereotypes within the media. It is far too common for such messages of successful, working men and passive, housemaid women to be accepted in our society without a second thought. We are numb to the subliminal promotion of men in control of the public sector, while their doting wives are expected to stay within the walls of their perfectly decorated and kempt homes and bake cupcakes for their children’s elementary school bake sale.
I do not mean to poke fun at women who may work very hard as homemakers and take pride in such activities. My point is that this appears to be the most common option for women following their college years—find the man, get married, have kids, live happily ever after. Stepping outside of these norms raises question and automatically marks the woman as “abnormal.”
The trend for media to write storylines in which women are in charge of the home is not a new fad. As early as the “Leave it to Beaver” and “The Brady Bunch” era, the father character kisses his wife and children, heads to work and does not reappear until later on in the episode after work gets out or on the weekends. Women, however, are the nagging wife “Everyone Loves Raymond” doing the laundry and complaining that her husband hasn’t taken out the trash.
In the following cited articles, I noticed even more stereotypes on TV that I had previously missed. Female characters who are single and do not have children are often still struggling to progress in their career or maintain a successful job. Their male counterparts never seem to have this issue and are oftentimes flourishing. (Modern Family, Big Bang Theory).
The separation sphere between genders is not a past issue; it is relevant and ongoing, as demonstrated by today’s entertainment business. Strong female leads should not be a novelty, but a norm.
This is the link to a slideshow, which effectively depicts gender stereotypes in TV shows and characters over the past century:
http://www.slideshare.net/dancerchic/gender-stereotypes-on-television
Here are links to articles that I used for my post, as well as thought were very relevant and interesting views of the topic:
http://www.policymic.com/articles/7840/how-i-met-your-mother-and-big-bang-theory-promote-gender-stereotypes
http://www.rolereboot.org/life/details/2012-02-tv-where-men-work-and-women-clean