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Monday, February 11, 2013

Gender Roles:



Throughout history, the role of gender has been debated. What can or can’t a woman do? What constitutes a man? These are just some of the questions posed. These same questions are evident in the literature we read. In the Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath presents her thoughts on what women want and how women are seen during the time. Chaucer uses this to provide commentary on his world and the role of women. This idea is still present today.

Look this week at the television shows or video games you normally watch or play. What character traits are the women given? What character traits are the men given? What does the assigning of the traits say about our society? Also pay attention to the physical traits of each. Are the females presented as curvaceous and dull witted or slim and intelligent?  Your idea does not have to be about sexism.  I want you to look at how men and women are being portrayed and what message is being conveyed about gender roles in society.   

The show I would address is “Three’s Company.”

This show is about three roommates and the many conflicts that present themselves in their day to day activities. It takes place in 70s and 80s. The roommates consist of two women and a man. One of the females is a blonde and the other is a brunette. The show portrays the two women differently: the blonde is supposed to be very attractive, curvy, and lacking intelligence. The brunette is portrayed as intelligent, a planner, and “cute.” The male roommate is a man who very much likes women, a klutz, and in need of mothering by the female roommates.  

In this show, the women have to battle the way they are portrayed. This shows the shift in the role of women. Women were fighting for more equality and to be seen as more than just homemakers and dependent on males. Both women were single seeking husbands, but also speaking to independence.  The man is a chef. He needs to pretend to be what he is not in order to be permitted to rent the apartment with the girls. He is battling with the preconceived role of the quintessential male. Here we see gender trying to make a shift—move from traditional roles while using humor and the novel idea of roommates.

Be mindful of your language and how you present your case.  Keep it PG!  Do not say anything you think might be offensive! 

63 comments:

Unknown said...

The video game i am choosing is grand theft auto.
The video game that is constantly being talked about, the profanity in it makes parents feel as if they should hide this game from their children. If you have ever played it you will notice the main person, the person you play as, is a man. The man is used to be strong and defensive against other people. If you really pay attention to the other characters in the game,yes, there are women. But have you ever seen how the women are portrayed? Now not all of the women in the game are this way but quite a few are dressed in inapropriate clothing and supposed to resemble prostitutes. Now why is it that they have to use women such as that in the game, as if its not bad enough.

This shows how society potrays men as to always being the bad guy by attacking and unfortunantly killing others. The men are big and strong and also all the cops in the game are men. The women are not able to be the main character and they are on the side dressed in high heels and short skirts. As bad as this game uses sexism i am happy to say it was really hard to think of a TV show that really uses sexism and this is why this game was chosen.

Unknown said...

The show I would address is "House M.D."


This show wass about the work and personal lives of ficticious doctors in a ficticious New Jersey hospital. For the purpose of this blog, I will speak of the characters as a whole as the characters change from season to season.

There were six, main male and female characters and all of them had different characteristics but they are all smart, intelligent, calm, competence, and personable people. The character traits of both the male and female characters were pretty much the same; to repeat, smart, competent, and personable people.

Now I think this show may be a little bias regarding gender roles because all doctors are supposed to be smart, competent, and personable regardless of gender, but the women, in this show, were not portrayed as dull witted and vulnerable to men, but slim, curvaceous, and intelligent.

I think this assigning of traits for the characters of House M.D. is indiscriminatory and shows that society, for the most part, respect doctors regardless of gender. To me, it would not make sense if a person discriminated a woman physician because she is a woman not a man.

If you are asking for my opinion on other shows, I believe, for the most part, that women would be portrayed as dull, dim witted and promiscuous, which I do not believe is morally right. To repeat, I believe the creators of House M.D. was just bias in adding women "doctor" roles and did not discriminate women on purpose because the women characters were women "doctors".

A.MacIvor said...

The tv show I chose was spongebob. This show is a cartoon about a sponge who goes on crazy adventures with his friends. Almost all of the characters are boys, being spongebob, patrick the starfish, and squidward, which are the main characters. But another strong character is Sandy Cheeks and she is a girl squirrel. She is constantly beating up on spongebob and patrick and they are shown as the weaker characters. The main characters that are boys are not shown as manly. I think it is intresting that the only character that is strong physically is a girl in this show.

Robert Hale said...

There isnt much women can't do now do to the fact the world is changing and they are now accepted in doing almost everything that a man can do. Now a days there are such games as like call of duty that is a war game where you never see any women in that game except as a civllian but yet there is women serving in the actual war today but are not portrayed in such things as video games.

Robert Hale said...

There isnt much women can't do now do to the fact the world is changing and they are now accepted in doing almost everything that a man can do. Now a days there are such games as like call of duty that is a war game where you never see any women in that game except as a civllian but yet there is women serving in the actual war today but are not portrayed in such things as video games.

Unknown said...

The television show I chose was Jersey Shore. Jersey Shore was a reality tv series that ran on MTV from 2009-2012. The two main female characters are Snooki and Jwoww. The show portrays the two women differently. Snooki is clumsy,short and curvy, they refer to her as a meatball. Jwoww is intelligent, tall and thin. All of the men are viewed as Guidos. They work out and tan like it's their job. In this show the men as viewed as more knowledgeable and powerful than the females.

K.Monkowski 1*

Unknown said...

I personally choose to examine the game Warcraft III a command and conquer tactics game that takes place in a medieval world. Here we find the male characters always described as these overconfident pompous fools. Waging wars that they cannot win, fighting an unbeatable enemy, crossing the moral lines they once sought to protect, etc. While the female's are portrayed as more tactical individuals, they think before they draw their sword, preferring to not make enemies if they don't have to, they prefer stealth or magic, which requires more intelligent and patient minds to wield properly.

This gives us the ability to examine reverse discrimination, in which the female is more intelligent and the man is almost more of a satiric character. While this does not mean that women play the dominant role in this society, it does show that they hold more prestige and make wiser choices than these men tend to.

Unknown said...

I chose superhero movies in general to analyze. It is almost always that a man is the hero and a woman is in distress. This is mirrored into real society as well. The stereotype is that women can not take care if themself. But actually, in today's society many women can and do. The stereotype is stemmed from the past but it does seem to be slowly trickling away. Soon women will be viewed as equals to men and they should be already now.

Anonymous said...

A show that I normally watch is “Body of Proof” it’s an American Medical Drama television series. The women in this series are portrayed as superior to the males for the most part. For instance, the main character Megan Hunt is a very well respected outspoken medical examiner she has reddish brown hair and is very average but sophisticated, her boss Kate is a beautiful blonde woman of an equally average build but classy as well. One man named Curtis, another one of Megan’s bosses, is short and round with a rather blank expression on his face. He tries countlessly to show his masculinity throughout the show, but Megan never fails to shut it down and prove him wrong, or manipulate him into doing whatever she wants him to do. The other main male in the office is Ethan Gross. Ethan is lanky with crazy curly hair and glasses; Ethan is the ‘genius’ of the show, but lives in fear of Megan and Kate both. These two males are frequently shown arguing with each other like children over irrelevant topics. I think that while society is trying to find equality in men and women they are over compensating and at times come off showing the males as inferior defeating the goal which is equality. I think that this shows the dominance that women have gained in the media and perhaps a dominance they have gained in other areas of society such as education.

Megan Chiara said...

I chose a movie to look at. The movie I chose was Primal Fear. This movie is about two laywers, one is a male and the other a female, fighting in court about a young man named Aaron. Aaron was accused of killing the priest that took him in at the age of 16. The prosecutor is the female who is blond, very smart and knows just who to question in court to put Aaron behind bars. The defense attorney is the male who is also very smart and cunning. I feel that society would automatically assume that Aaron is guilty, and that the women, not only because she is a prosecutor but also because she is blond, isn't as smart as the other laywer who is a male. But overall this movie shows just how strong and smart women can be. This movie also shows more of the women with the same jobs as men which equilizes sexism. I personally feel that more and more movies and T.V. shows are putting in more women who are the opposite of all of the stereotypes against women.

Steven Zahorai (awesome) said...

I chose the video game Call of Duty Black Ops 2.

In this game men are portrayed as strong, courageous, and evil. Women are not very prevalent, but when they do appear they are shown as weak and helpless. Based on the information I think that this game states that men are overall a more physical or emotional balanced sex than females in that society, only because every character in the game who is fighting is a man and also there are no very important or powerful women who play a part in the game.

Unknown said...

The show I will address is Suits. It’s about a law firm and all the turmoil it goes through between clients and within itself. The founding partner is a woman, who is taller than everyone else, and is seen with power. She does often dress inappropriately but is never shown weaker or dumber than a man. Another woman is the secretary of the senior partner. She is very slim and is given the image of knowing everything about everyone. A third woman in the show is a curvaceous paralegal. She is often shown as not as smart as the rest of the people in the building. She appears weaker and more in need of protection than anyone else in the office. Harvey, the senior partner is always well dressed, and is given almost equal power to the founding partner. Mike, his associate is seen as above everyone else his age and is incredibly smart, and is very thin. He also never really went to law school. In general, the men are the lawyers who have the money and success. The strongest woman appears cold and emotionless. Society , like this show, portrays women as in need of rescuing and weaker than men, and usually less intelligent than men, even those who never went to college.

Unknown said...

I chose the show Family Guy on FOX. This cartoon show is about a Massachusetts family who runs into all types of mayhem. The men in the show most of the time are portrayed most of the time as the "smarter" people during events. The women show the portrayal of people that don't know as much of the guys and are subject to plenty of jokes from the characters. I feel that this shows the comedy perspective that women aren't as important as men and could be subject of much comical relief. These traits show that society does not always respect women when thinking of their rolls.



Sean W. 4-5

Colton said...

The show that I used was "its always sunny in Philadelphia".It exactly portrays the ideal roles of genders.The men in this show always start out with these confident ideas and do crazy things to get the solution and in the end they never do they act as tough stupid and ignorant. While the females in the show are always ignored and always are the smarter ones with the better ideas and easier ways to do them.

Anonymous said...

One video game that portrays a view of gender roles is Mario. We all know the female character in this is Princess Peach. She is a princess or portrayed as a "damsel in distress". (An archetype showing a vulnerable woman who needs to be saved by a hero). Mario tries to save princess peach, he goes through many obstacles and quests to reach her. This says to society that woman are weak and need a man to protect them from evil. The evil in this case would be Bowser, the dragon that steals Princess Peach away from Mario. The physical traits of Peach is a beautiful, blonde woman and she wears a pink dress; a girly representation of her character. She is also not very smart compared to her other characters. Bowser, the one who succeeds in stealing her away is big and scary and it shows his dominance over her. Mario is a man who is smaller and shorter than Bowser. He is shown as weaker than Bowser but still stronger than the woman in this case. This video game is very popular in society and has been around for a long time so I think it is society's old school view on women. It shows that women need a hero to save them. This is not the case in society today because it is changing, but these views are still shown in one of the most well- known video games of society.

-Erica Jacks 7-8*

Unknown said...

One tv show that has been talked about a lot is the walking dead. I feel like the name explains its self however it is about a group of people who are trying to survive a zombie filled world. In this show the men are always depicted as the defenders and the protectors. It is always the women who get themselves into trouble and the men have to come and save them.

Breanna Hartory said...

The show i chose was Grey's Anatomy. Its a Hospital/ ER show in Seatle Grace Hospital. It always showing which gender is better. Who would complete what faster and much better. The women are usually considered as a nurse and the males are Achieved doctors. They give the women barley any recongization.

I feel like they are trying to say that men could do so much more things, but if a women does better then the men they get looked at differently

Breanna Hartory 4/5

Taylor Cameron said...

The show I would address is sportscenter. That show is only about sports and thats it. You dont see to many girl commentators on the show or even see alot of girl sport highlights. Its very rare to hear them talk about girl sports. It seems like the u.s. just thinks sports are just for men and thats it.
Im not sure why they dont show women sports on tv, maybe its because the people that follow sports dont care or it might be because the women dont care.

c hovan34 said...

The “Big Bang Theory” is about a woman who moves into an apartment across the hall from two brilliant but socially awkward physicists show them how little they know about life outside of the laboratory. The woman’s traits are being a so-called dumb blonde, in knowing nothing or very little about the physicists work. While the women are smart physicists like the other guys so it almost like a double agent in meaning that women in this show are both dumb and smart just in different forms. The men traits include: high intelligence, weak athleticism This assigning or traits shows that this how we see our selves in the real world today which can be true but that still should not happen. The less intelligent woman is athletic since she comes from Nebraska, while the other women are slim and intelligent in their field of work. The way gender role come to play is a bit odd because the men are not what one would call manly, meaning that they are just smart nerds most of the time, while the women are more stronger and have more interesting lives. Such as working at the cheesecake factory, and trying to become an actress. So they may be judging society here but it is not what one would usually expect.

Unknown said...

I watched the Bob Newhart Show. It was an episode in which Howard wants to propose to his girlfriend, Emma, but has the typical sitcom complications. He is used to characterize men as awkward and insensitive to the delicacies of a relationship. The conflict escalates into a scene in which the restaurant trumpeter is blaring "As Time Goes By" and the dinner table in crowded by unexpected friends with Howard stumbling out the first line of his speech to an oblivious Emma. When Bob takes control and tells Emma that Howard wants to marry her, Howard has to pass the ring to Carol who then passes it to Fred, her date who lacks a personality, who then passes it to Emma. Gender roles cast this conflict very well with the stereotype of a bumbling suitor whose job it is to initiate a marriage proposition. If it were the woman's job to propose, the show would have gone a lot differently. Another gender role took a modern spin (which I found personally offensive). In a conversation between him and Howard, Jerry suggests "why should you buy a book when you can just go to the library". This piece of advice, meant to discourage marriage, was a product of the time period of the show and was used to protest against the "restrictions" which propriety and fidelity impose. It was significant to the way gender roles were used because the concept was not echoed in the parallel female conversation between Emily and Emma. This implies that men have less of an obligation to stay faithful than women and that faithfulness is, on the whole, an outdated principle.

Cassie Sherman said...

The show I choose is Doctor Who.
This show is about a timelord who travels through time and space to help those who need it. The main character the Doctor is always a male but always has a companion who is a female but sometimes a female and male are traveling with him. The role of the female in the show is to help the Doctor throughout his missions. The females usually have the same level of respect as the Doctor. The female usually is what keeps the Doctor in place and keeps him in check she also is portrayed as witty and smart with each companion.

This show shows a equally balance between men and woman in society.

michael taylor said...

The show i choose was teen mom, its about tenagers who have kids and their lifes on taking care of that kid..it seems like the women is always the one stuck taking care of the child...idk why it is like that? maybe society sees girls as more of the caring type then most men. Most of the men break up or leave thge girl or sometimes vise vera.
mike taylor 4-5

Unknown said...

As I am not able to watch actual television, nor do I play video games, I chose to watch a move. This movie was called Mr. Deeds, staring Adam Sandlar. In this, the main character, Deeds (played by Sandlar, is portrayed as a small town man with good morals, and a sense of chivalry. One of his main goals is to find a woman in distress and save her, just as his father had saved his mother. This is a very old gender role for a man, dating back to Medieval knighthood.

The woman in this is a reporter who goes undercover as a defenseless small town woman. She plays up her gender by dying her hair blond, wearing skirts, speaking in soft tones and portraying herself as the perfect woman for Deeds. This is a stereotype for women, that they are all defenseless and need a man to help them.

It does turn out that the reporter is none of the things that she pretends to be, and does not need saving. However, Deeds does get a chance to rescue her from drowning and in return she helps him rescue his Uncle's business, showing that women can be a hero as well.

Sammie Heilman said...

I chose the show "The Big Bang Theory". When the show first started it had four guys who were very very smart and nerdy. It had one blond pretty female who was portrayed as very dumb. As the show continued they added two female characters. A smart blond and burnette. In the begining of the show it portrayed men smarter than women, but portrayed the woman as being beautiful which the men all crushed on. A lot of T.V shows would portray women always being concerned with their looks verus their inteligence. T.V has changed a lot recently, more shows present women equally as brilliant or sucessful.The Big Bang Theory shows how T.V has changed over the years by adding two smart women and the dumb blond character getting smarter and not so focused on her appearance.

Anonymous said...

The video I chose is Skyrim.

In the game women are supposed to follow the males. There are a few some that divert off though not caring about what man thinks. they base this off of religon. The men in the game are made out to be the god of everything, the all time ruler and decision maker. This reflects the un-equalness between all humans in our society. in the game it depends on who you want to be. The women can be adventurous like the men,but throughout the game you meet women who are locked up answering to men. The overall theme of this is that men are a higher power than women. This game makes your character go outside that moral and be equal to man.

Vsantana said...

The video game I choice is kingdom hearts. It's a game about a kid who goes in to this different "world" where people like Micky mouse and other Disney characters come to life to fight the "dark side". And within the game there are all guys fighting. They fight and no girls do. The girls in it are the Disney princess's and they keep getting kidnaped and the guy fighters have to go out. Save them. And still save the day also. I feel the difference between men and women roles in tv shows. Movies and games are all the same. The man is the hero. The girl is the person needing rescuing. There are those outliners here and there but for the most part it's always the same no matter what.

mckennavalasek said...

The show i watched was "shameless".
This show follows around a family of 7 kids and counting around a poor and run down city in Brittan. The families father and mother are pretty much both absent and they are left to fend for themselves. Personally, i think the gender roles in this show are interesting. the men, as soon as their old enough(which in this show is pretty young) are all the 'tough guy' stereotype, with slight variations. The ones who arent get looked down on and usually never listened to until they stand up for themselves. the 'toughest' and most respected usually are big, or have something like a scar. Also, every single guy in the show ends up leaving the town, no matter what his connections. The women are very strongly portrayed as the caretakers, They make it very obvious without them the families would fall apart. Also, They are either one of two stereotypes. The first being, soft, kind looking, usually short, and wearing conservative clothes, these girls always sweet and usually end up getting kicked around. The second type are the opposite, very abrasive women who are always in charge, never let anyone get in the way and all wear less conservative clothes. I think these stereotypes in this show were interesting because how blatant they were and how they don't waver at all throughout the show.

Unknown said...

The show I chose is a show that my grandmother watches called the closer. Brenda leigh Johnson who is the detective in charge of the cases. She is portrayed as a very stubborn, intelligent and hard headed detective. She holds the most valuable role in the show. Which shows that women have roles that are just as good as men.

Unknown said...

The show I decided to look at was Full House. This show is about a widowed father, whose friend and brother-in-law move in to help him raise his three daughters. In this show, we see three men taking on traditional female roles, such as cooking and cleaning. Danny Tanner, the father, is a clean freak and is always found cleaning. Joey and their Uncle Jesse were often found cleaning and helping take care of the three girls. This show helped to reverse those gender roles. They wanted to put out something that was different. They are trying to say that men can fulfill traditional women roles.

Nicole Verdile said...

The TV show I picked is 16 & pregnant. This show is about teenage girls who got pregnant at a young age. They show the journey throughout their pregnancy, and also all of the struggles. In the show, the two teenage parents are responsible for taking care of their child. However, in most episodes the father of the child is not always present because he doesn't feel like his role is as important since he is still young. This then leaves the mother of the child in full responsibility for the child. Women are portrayed as the only ones who can care for their children, when this is not true.

Jessi C said...

I'm choosing the show "How i met your mother."
There are five characters; three are men and two are women.
The three men are very different in personalities but all went to college to become successful. One is a lawyer, architect and someone who works in a corporate business but they are all immature when it comes to women and having fun. They are presented as less intelligent than the women and less sly.

The two women both have jobs one is a kindergarden teacher and the other is a newscaster. They are not as happy with their jobs and the men make more, i think, than them. The women are both intelligent and cunning. They both use their looks to their advantage and pride themselves in it. Both of them are very skinny. One is tall and one is shorter. That's about as diverse as they get in physical appearance.
I think this shows that women can be successful and beautiful but the women that are shown are usually very skinny and beautiful. The women that are shown otherwise are usually shown negatively. Society, i think, will never change of what is expected for women but guys can do whatever they want and not be judged.

Natalie Esson said...

In the television show, Castle, Kate Beckett and Richard Castle work as a team to solve cases and find murderers. Beckett is the actual detective of the team while Castle is actually an author who rights mystery novels. Beckett is almost always seen as more intelligent and she is almost always right. Even though it is obvious Beckett knows more about being a detective, it seems like Castle is more respected in their field when they work as a team. This is probably because he is a man, so the police take him more seriously.

Jacob Dybiec said...

The show I watch that does a good example of showing gender roles is The Big Bang Theory

All of the men on the show are one of two thing; huge, awkward nerds or dim-witted and attractive. The most prevalent female character (Penny) is attractive, but not very smart. The other female characters are all very intelligent

I feel like this show can portray characters in sterotypical lights, but also can break down barriers. For example, while Penny is dumb, she still has much more common sense than her genius roommates. At the same time, Leonard (who's an awkward nerd) still end up with Penny.

Alex Muir said...

The only show that I faithfully watch is the Walking Dead, and in this show gender roles are prevalent. The women in the show tend to look more slender and more fragile than the males. The men in the show tend to be strong and wielding weapons. Also, the women tend to be the ones that stay behind when danger strikes. For example, in the episode that aired last Sunday, the males all went Woodbury to rescue their teammates, and the majority of those who lagged behind were woman. Admittedly, there were woman who accompanied the males, but the general trend is that women stay behind while men take care of the heroics. In the group that went to the town, one of the woman was Michonne. She is a comment on the strength of women, as she was first seen with two zombies on chains and carries a deadly sword. Maggie also went to the town, but the males at the prison fussed over her wellbeing before she left. In all, the women in the show tend to stay back and care for the 'home' and the baby, and the men put their lives in danger. As aforementioned there are exceptions which comment that women are, indeed, strong, but the conventional stereotypes outweigh the others.

Steven D. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Steven D. said...

The show I chose was Adventure Time. Overall, the show contains quite a few strong female characters. Since it is a cartoon, the strong tend to be portrayed as extremely strong, and the weak as ridiculously weak, so there isn't much middle ground.

The two most reoccurring female characters are shown to be highly intelligent and smarter than the two male protagonists for the most part. Also they can both hold their own in a fight. Their bodies are more feminine than the males, but aren't exploited in any sort of way. I think the womanly appearance is mainly for stylistic simplicity. The males are also strong and relatively smart. Overall, I think the genders are pretty equal in the show, the creators haven't gone out of their way to make one significantly stronger or weaker than the other.

Of course the two females I am addressing are both magical princesses in a post apocalyptic cartoon world that I'm almost positive was conceived on drugs, so it isn't bound to average gender roles that are usually portrayed in television.

Unknown said...

The show I choose is The Big Bang Theory. The female lead in the show, Penny, is an unintelligent, attractive, blonde woman. The other women on the show are smart and unattractive. Most of the men on the show are attractive and dumb, or nerdy and unintelligent. The show highlights some of todays most common stereotypes. However, the show shows how those stereotypes have been changing recently. Penny, the attractive, dumb woman, has more common sense than the nerdy men she is friends with. She shows her nerdy friends how to thrive socially.
Sammi P 4/5

Jen said...

The show I choose is Cold Case. This is a show about a dedective agency that investigates cases that have been forgotten. There is only one main woman detective in the show, and she is forced to make sure she does just as good as a job as the men whom she works with do. Her character is very successful as she is proved to be one of the smartest and most intelligent of the detectives. This show is a reflection of the idea that women are equal to men in work ability. Overall, she ignores the traditional woman roles and goes her own way.

Unknown said...

The show I chose was Criminal Minds. Criminal Minds is a show about a group of FBI agents solving crimes. There are seven main characters; 4 boys and 3 girls. All the girls are attractive and smart. The men are all physically fit and strong headed. The men take the lead in the group. The men are shown as powerful and the women just follow what they say. But the women still take the lead in some of the episodes.

michael sarama said...

The video game i chose was COD: Black Ops 2. The game portrays the women as good with organizational skills and serve non combat positions. The men are made out to be strong and brave humans who lead our country against our enemies. The assigning of traits says that our society still favors men as the dominant gender in physical tests or challenges. I believe the gender roles that are given off by this game says that women are not meant to fight and should be taking care of household duties while men handle the dangerous jobs such as fighting in war. It also seems to portray women as weak and unable to carry out the difficult tasks involved in war. In this game men are dominantly made out to be the superior gender on all aspects.

chrissy difilippo said...

in superhero movies we see the role of a female change. They females are usually are in trouble and need to be saved from men. The men are the ones who are strong and the saviors. Today the society is changing by making females have a little more to do in there society.

Jake Mehalik said...

The TV show I chose was The Walking Dead. In the show women are presented on both a traditional and more modern manner. By traditional I mean that of cooking, cleaning, etc. To expand on modern, they use guns and often help fend off the zombies in the show. They are big providers in everything they do, both in gathering supplies and planning certain attacks. The walking dead presents one of the more widely accepted modern views. That women both help provide and they still do the house work. They just present it in a far more crazy way.

Unknown said...

The tv/video game I chose was mario. I Mario princess peach is presented as a weak, unintelligent women who always needs saving. She is always saved by Mario who is presented as the strong male. This shows that society looks at men to be more dominant and powerful. And that women are looked down upon.

Jordan Frederick said...

The show I chose is Gossip Girl. In the show the main character is a blonde thin female who has a lot of money and could be very successful but they show her making plenty of mistakes and "throwing her life away" while her best friend is a brunette with a lot of money and tries continuously to be successful. A man on this show names Nate knows he has a lot of money but tries with everything to use his own brain and not the money he has to be successful. Chuck (his best friend) uses his money to benefit himself but it eventually just backfires.
This shows that today, men and women can both be successful, but they have their own way of doing so. Women can both succeed or fail just like men.

Brittany m said...

The show I chose was how I met your mother. I. This show there are 2 girls and 3 guy man charatures. The men's charatures traits of the mean are some what a like and some what different. They all went to college and have jobs that make good money. They all have struggles with their jobs and don't really like them. For the women they both have jobs but don't make as much. The one struggles a lot getting a good paying job. As for physical traits the women come of as sluty or put themselves out there.

Unknown said...

The T.V. show that I chose was The Walking Dead and it shows how the men are suppose to be strong and able to defend themselves and the females always need to be rescued.

Unknown said...

The show I am addressing is "The Walking Dead."

The show is about a group of people surviving in a world full of zombies. At the beginning of the series, the men were portrayed as strong and masculine while the women were weak. As the show progressed, this view changed. Most of the women in Rick's group are portrayed as self-sufficent, strong females. Andrea is one such character. She knows how to use a gun, kill zombies, and even be a leader. Her leadership skills are seen at the town of woodbury when the Governor is unable to be a good leader. Another character is Michonne. She is strong, wise, and cautious. She is not afraid to attack and even fights the governor, stabbing his eye out. Almost all of the women in the show can use a gun. I think this show is conveying the message that gender roles are changing in society today. Women are becoming more independent and becoming the "bread winners" in the family. Women are now starting to be leaders. This is seen through Andrea in the Walking Dead.

Joey Marincek 7/8th

Unknown said...

In Spongebob, Patrick, Spongebob, and the other male characters are always getting themselves into bad or awkward situations. The males are portrayed as some-what dim-witted. The only lead female character, Sandy, is portrayed as the intelligent problem-solver, and the others are always going to her for help and advice. Sandy is also physically stronger than the others. This shows that in our society women are seen as the mediators or the ones who think things through, while men are the ones who just "do" without thinking.

Unknown said...

In “How I Met Your Mother”, gender roles are put in a humorous manner to how society views people. The men are portrayed as people that simply want to be in a relationship, some being more successful than others due to their amount of social skills. Also, it shows how men become friends by following a Bro Code. It shows that men can be quite the hound dogs and that there is a set of rules to follow in order to become a bro. As for the women, they are portrayed as people with interesting pasts, just like the men (who can sometimes lie about it, of course). And can act as attention seekers, or desperate women that can be wooed by particular men with the right words to say. They can be deceptive and tend to be the main situation in the plot of the show because it’s about how Ted meets his kid’s mother. This shows the story is in the perspective of men and shows that this is what men care about most.

Unknown said...

The show i am choosing is walking dead. In this show women are shown as just about as equal as any men would be. the women have the "double life" role. the women are suited up with guns and armed to protect themselves against zombies. at the same token these women are the ones who will be found cooking, cleaning and doing household things.

Unknown said...

The show I chose was Teen Wolf. In this show, women are portrayed as the ones who are trained to protect themselves, whether they be the hunter or the werewolf. The men are portrayed just the same. These character traits are conveying that in today's society, men and women are being seen as equals, rather than as the "dominant male" and the "inferior female."

Unknown said...

A show I enjoy is Law and Order: SVU. This show came to mind when thinking about gender roles as it features a powerful female lead role. Detective Olivia Benson is portrayed as a strong and powerful woman who can get the job done just as well as her male colleagues. I feel that this reflects the changing attitudes in today's society. Today, women are increasingly being seen as just as capable as men in their career fields, and i think that Detective Benson is a good example of this. She always does her job just as well, if not better than the men. Of course, this show does tackle violent issues, including crimes against women, which is another story, but when looking at the main characters, I believe this show portrays males and females as equal.
-Jimmy Rutkowski 2nd period

Jeff Neuhaus said...

I watched a lot of Family Guy this weekend, and in the Griffen family Lois and Meg are commonly at the receiving end of ridicule from Peter, the man of the household. It's as if their characters exist solely for the purpose of fueling his antics and jokes, especially Meg who he often jokingly forgets is even his daughter. The females are rarely the ones cracking jokes in the show, leaving them deprived of any comic power but also suffer from many jokes, showing males as being more funny than females.

George Patsko said...

I don't care if you think of me as a nerd, but the games I chose to analyze are the Pokémon series. Within this series, spanning now almost 20 years, gender roles have not been important. The main character has always been player's choice (with the exception of the first generation), about 1/3 of the main characters are female, spanning many of the different types, from grass to fighting. The male and female characters are given the same role in all of the games: being gym leaders and akin. The only difference between the two in their numbers. Any message this would give is that men out number women (which is false) or that men hold more high-ranking positions than women.

Unknown said...

The video game I will address is Borderlands 2.

One of the more popular video games (behind Call Of Duty and Battlefield), Borderlands 2 is set in the future on the planet Pandora. The premise of the game is that you are basically a mercenary looking for something called "the Vault". You can choose from 4 different characters at the beginning, and only one of them is female. This kind of hints at the idea that men really should be doing all of the fighting, especially since all (or almost all) of the enemies are male as well. Also, there are very few female main characters in the game. Tannis, the scientist is depicted as crazy and lonesome and Moxxi is portrayed as (for lack of a better term) "someone who gets around" (especially since the outfit she wears all but displays her breasts for the world to see). The only female main character that is depicted is Lilith (who is a returning character from the last game), and is actually one of the few main characters who actually survives the whole game.

The men, on the other hand, are portrayed differently. Some of the main characters are robotic from hunts with wild animals (Sir Hammerlock), others are snipers, leaders, and ex-military personnel (Mordecai, Brick, and Roland, all returning characters as well), even the male characters you can choose from in the begging are very well off, from Zer0 the assassin, to Axton the Commando, and finally Salvador, who is basically strong enough to carry two guns at once.

This game basically exemplifies three main stereotypes about girls:
1. They aren't strong and should let the men do the fighting
2. The have lower intelligence than males, or are just crazy
3. Two words: SEX APPEAL
(Note: I did not come up with these stereotypes, nor do I agree with them, I am simply stating information)
And this game also exemplifies the ideas that men are stronger and smarter than women. Come to think of it, this game is actually extremely sexist, making it a prime example of how women are looked down on in society today.

Chase said...

From all the different shows and games i have seen the men and woman have different traits. The men can be the smart and strong. The woman can be the weak and stupid. I have seen it the other way. the woman can be the voice of reason and the man is what drives the force.

The show "The Walking Dead" The women all have different roles. Most of them can use a gun effectively and the ones who don't are seen taking care of a baby and wounded.The men are leading the group to survive. The women listen to the leader who always seems to be a man. Someone who questioned the leaders judgement ended up dead later in the show. Not by them but by zombies. The same thing happened to another man that questioned him on what to do with a prisoner. He ended up being killed by a zombie and everyone was just too late to save him.

I think that society compares men and women as equals. From what i see in games, movies, and shows on television, it doesn't matter what sex you are. Everyone is their own person.

nicole said...

One of the shows I have seen where gender roles still play an impact is the Big Bang Theory. All of the men are incredibly smart and sucessful scientists. The main girl lead, Penny, is a dumb country girl who works at Cheesecake Factory and wants to be an actress. The other female roles are girls who are smart, but are either unattractive or already married. The girls are rarely the ones who make the jokes, and are generally less dynamic characters. I still love the show, but I believe it says women can't be both desirable and smart.
-Nicole Rouge 7-8

Unknown said...

The show I picked is Criminal minds. It is a show about agents solving murder cases. The victims mostly seem to be helpless young females, while the murderer is a male seeking control. This show is showing the image that men like control and would do anything to keep that control and that women are helpless and cant defend them self, which isn't true all the time. Even though many people would like to have control, I don't think hurting others would be the answer for people and in today's society, women are more independent than in the past and they can defend themselves.
Wells4/5

TyTalley said...

the show that i am going to talk about is Law And Order: SVU because both men and women are potrayed as strong individuales both with leading roles and the women are showed with exactly the same athority as men and both men and women are potrayed as strong independent people with good jobs but the thing we should talk about is how men are potrayed sometimes on television because more likely than none the men are presented as the rapist, kidnappers, and serial killers. but i dont understand why people have the reason to complain about the roles women have and how they are degrating but people never look at the roles that men play.

Unknown said...

The T.V. show I am choosing is numbers. In this show the lead family consists of one older man (ex cop) and 2 sons (one being very brainy and the other being a well rounded cop). The plot line of each show begins with a mystery that the older brother (the well rounded cop) has to solve. Then it always ends with the younger brother (the smart one) finding a math logarithm that often saves the day with the help of the older brother and his team. Within the show there are plenty of woman presented. The show began in 2005 and ran until 2010. In this span of time I believe the role of woman was changing and becoming more and more balanced with men. There are woman in the show who are cops like the older brother, and also woman who are just as smart as the younger brother. The ideas they are trying to get across is that woman are just as capable as men. Yet in this case they just happen to not be the main characters.

Sonya S said...

The tv show i have chosen is "Scandal."

The character traits for this show for the women is that they are very smart, strong and powerful.

The character traits for this show they gave the men is they are also strong, smart, and know what they want.

The females in scandal are presented as intelligent. Olivia is the main female in this show and she helps the "president" with his job and she knows how to take harmful acts that occur. No one can take her down, shes very strong and well minded.

Sdornauer said...

The show "3rd Rock form the Sun" comments on gender roles by portraying human life from the experiences of four aliens, disguised as humans. The only female of the bunch is buxom and opinionated, though not actually dull she often acts so deceitfully to get her way. She takes advantage of a respectable average Joe who is a chubby and comical, though also not stupid. Both are of equal intelligence, but very different levels of attractiveness. The girl, Sally, is sometimes obnoxious and dominating, but always is forgiven because of her looks.

In general the male-female relationships of the show are characterized by their emphasis on sexual relations. It is presented as the main goal of the relationship, though given to satire every once and a while. This indicates that modern society views gender roles as equal and swayed only by sexual appeal. Since sex is the ultimate goal of these relationships little else is seriously considered in this show and modern society.

Anonymous said...

The show I chose was Criminal Minds. In a lot of the murder cases, it has to do with a young woman getting abducted by a male. This shows that males have dominance over females. The woman are given the trait of weak and helpless. In society, this shows that male can control females and do as they please. It also makes society seem as if woman are helpless.