homegrown
1One television text that I would consider apt for analysis would be Showtime’s hit series Weed. This show centers around the life of Nancy Botwin a young widowed suburbanite who struggles maintain her privileged lifestyle she has grown accustomed to following her husbands death. In order to keep her live in maid, her swimming pool, and her spacious home Nancy resorts to dealing marijuana in her gated community. What begins as her involvement small dealing operation turns into her butting heads with small cartels, and Nancy becoming a fairly well known grower and seller. Nancy is forced to manage all of this added stress on top of dealing with her responsibilities as a mother, a position which is one of considerable stress alone. As one could imagine Nancy’s involvement in this lifestyle eventually has repercussions that are felt by her and her family members. I would really enjoy writing a rhetorical analysis of the show Weed’s, and in doing so would explore the character of Nancy and whether the message sent out through her characters storylines are feminist or post-feminist.
Likely I would begin the paper discussing how Weed’s relates to other TV show’s that focus on working women such as Murphy Brown, and Mary Tyler Moore. I would analyze how the shows relate to each other, and discuss how a show like Weeds would not be possible without trail blazing shows like Mary Tyler Moore before it. Obviously Weeds is different than the two shows because of the illegal nature of Nancy’s work, the concept of an industrious woman entering a male dominated field remains prevalent. A great portion of the analysis would be a character analysis of Nancy Botwin herself, in which I would explore her personality, by analyzing her character attributes, her psychological states, and the overall theme of her characters storyline up until now.
When discussing her positive characteristics specifically I would address Nancy’s intuition and cunning, as is evidenced by her rapid professional success on the show. In doing so I would cite her success at networking, and her ability to manipulate those around her. Examples I would use to support my would be the in the first season episode “The Godmother”, also I would discuss the episode “MILF Money” in which Nancy’s business reaches new heights and she starts to lucratively reap from what she’s sewn. Nancy not only has a good deal of foresight when it comes to her business, but she also is quick thinking and resilient. Problems she has to deal with in the series include blackmailing campus security officers, accidentally entering a relationship with a DEA agent, threats from rival dealers, and competition from legal grow stores, and that is in the first season alone. Despite her lack of experience Nancy’s quick thinking and diligence allow her to succeed in a world that is widely unknown to her.
However Nancy has negative characteristics to discuss as well that directly correlate to her psychological state.. Similar to Murphy Brown, Nancy has difficulty balancing working and being a mother. However her situation differs (legality and risk factor aside) in that while Murphy’s professional life suffers as she becomes a mother, Nancy’s family life suffers as she becomes industrious. Nancy recognizes the fact that her work is putting her and her family in a great deal of jeopardy. Motivation for her work includes desperation following financial devastation. Prior to the series Nancy had been happily married for 17 years, and was a dedicated member of the PTA up until her husbands death left her near penniless after being ripped off by her insurance. Nancy is very attached to her lifestyle and not having an education uses dealing as a way to ensure that her home life will not change. Ther is materialism evident on her part as she also rewards herself with fancy hybrid cars, and expensive jewelry when she prospers. However as she becomes preoccupied with keeping them financially stable she begins to be neglectful of them. In the third season episode “Risk” Nancy’s youngest son Shane starts going off the deep end and claims to be communicating with his dead father, as Silas returns home having been badly beaten by bikers who Nancy had ended business with. Nancy reaches low points in which she feels a level of self-disgust for what she perceives as a failure at motherhood, but she continues on the track she’s on anyway trapped to a degree by her bourgeois upbringing.
Weeds explores a modern woman’s journey as she delves into a lifestyle one would not associate with a upper middle class woman. While Nancy is a sympathetic character, she is not perfect and commits some actions that are reprehensible. While the quality of her parenting can be called to doubt, her love for her kids is boundless. Ultimately I would conclude that while Nancy’s lifestyle is far from normal, and may be damaging that she is not a post-feminist character. Nancy does not have the same level of opportunities as Murphy Brown, and Mary Tyler Moore, and while all shows feature women conflicting with working, I believe that Nancys character has more at stake as she deals in both senses of the term.