(Untitled)

[lissie_pissie]

Thank you so much to everyone who offered thoughts on my last post - I've been checking in on it and reading it even if I haven't responded to you yet. You guys are SO fucking helpful and smart, seriously. I decided to do number 4, discussing the treatment of women in sitcoms from three different decades. So if you have any more thoughts on that

Comments

[sangria_lila]

Hey, I know it's late but would Sex and the City count as situation comedy? I say that because that's the first TV show I'd think about that doesn't 'objectify' women, but you can also argue that it helps to objectify them in other ways (i.e. that all single women are obssessed with Manolos, that they are all frivolous etc.)

To say that women are still being stereotyped is obvious - what matters is what angle you're going at. Is this stereotype worse than it was fifty years ago? Will it change? How would it change? etc etc

I'd argue that TV inherently has to cater to stereotypes, because TV is what society watches now, so you've got to pander to your audience, prejudices and all. Because a big part of sitcoms is to take ideas of people and poke fun at them, the stereotypes are more pronouced. What matters is whether the sitcom is following the stereotype or really taking the mick out of it and thus saying something useful.

Yes, there is still a lot of sexism, but feminism itself is a mess. You might also want to consider why female orientated comedies are less than male - could it be because of the writing? I consider myself a feminist, but I like a lot more male dominated TV shows (Daily Show, Colbert etc. and I consider House better written than Sex and the City because it is) because I think they're funnier. They're not afraid to be rude, though with limits. Female comedians who are rude do it for the sake of being rude, I find (e.g. Margaret Cho). And I really don't find Tina Fey that funny. And I have no interest in girly shows (e.g. Gilmore Girls) because I find them to be quirky for the sake of being quirky. SATC is different - SATC is more than just the female aspect, it's the production, it's the sets that you watch as well. Which again, is interesting - does a successful female sitcom have to have such a fashion aspect as well? SATC obviously would not have been as successful without the endless stream of Manolos. Some would even argue that you wouldn't have a show without it, and the producers have repeatedly said there'd be no SATC without NYC.

You might also want to consider a few of the new female comedies - the one that the Gilmore Girls writer wrote, Lisa Kudrow's new comedy. Maybe also take into account the growing amount of female standup. Again, they can only be wee supporting points, but my guess is comparative perspectives will help boost your paper.

Are you allowed to use UK shows? Because I'd recommend the UK Office as well, which wonderfully doesn't stereotype. In fact, the men are all the more useless than the women. And the Office UK is the most perfect thing ever written for television.

The last issue of Vanity Fair had a cover story for female comedians, so you might want to check that out as well.