Comments on: Women on TV

By: mimimur

mimimur — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 22:22:00 +0000

It’s an interesting series, however I think it is significantly hampered by it’s effort to put all of its examples in a positive light. It’s a good watch if you want ot know what some shows represent or how they move storytelling forward, but there’s no effort at all to look ahead.

I remember being frustrated at how this casts female characters. The consequence really is an acceptance that there is an unwinnable family vs. work conflict and that a realistic and compelling female character has to be a characters struggling with or going to pieces over that conflict. It sorts of sets the idea that women can’t be more than victims of oppression, which is an awful thing to beat into any minority.

By: socsci

socsci — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 22:06:00 +0000

Agreed. I’m not sure I would show it in my undergraduate classes (I teach cultural anthro), but it would be helpful in generating questions for class discussion.

By: DrhipHop85

DrhipHop85 — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 18:18:00 +0000

I don’t think its an end-all-be-all of conversations, but its an engaging enough documentary that can spark conversation.

By: mandanza

mandanza — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 17:59:00 +0000

I saw this as part of the in-flight entertainment on a United flight recently, of all things! I enjoyed it.

By: socsci

socsci — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 17:03:00 +0000

I found the video to be a little too celebratory – “look how far we’ve come!” – at the expense of critically analyzing women’s roles on television.

Other films that explore similar themes with more rigor and critical insight are (in my opinion), Searching for Debra Winger (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318049/) or Class Dismissed (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1316586/)