Today I sat down in front of my new Sky tv and chose to watch two sitcoms that I've heard high praise for from others; one was Everybody Loves Raymond and the other was Two and a Half Men. I was shocked at the level of sexism in both these supposedly funny shows.
In the first one the only two female members of the cast are both housewives and both seem fine with their fat lazy do-nothing-and-then-moan-about-it husbands. Is this really the type of message the show wants to send? That it's OK to act like a gigantic arsehole (if you're a man) because the women will put up with this until you say some remotely placatory statement designed to shut them up and they'll be happy? Please feel free to tell me if I'm missing some ironic point here, I have only watched one episode.
In the second sitcom, Two and a Half Men the entire premise of the show seems to be based around the fact that unbelievably attractive women are willing to throw themselves at an aging (I'm sorry but he is) Charlie Sheen while his Nice Guy brother (I open doors for women, I respect them, why won't they have sex with me?) has a shrill harpy wife who of course plugs him for all the child support money she can in her wicked woman way. Is it just me or are these shows really as sexist as they first appear?? All comments welcome x
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Ironically much of the media's response to feminism in terms of family sitcoms is to make the housewife character perfect and the husband flawed. The wife is intelligent, compassionate, and competent to an extreme while the husband has a minimum of redeeming characteristics.
Of course this means the viewer has to wonder why exactly the wife puts up with the husband? Admittedly I only watch a couple such sitcoms, but for example: In "The Simpsons" Homer really does love his family and will sometimes go to incredible lengths to correct his mistakes, and there are instances where marge indeed does refuse to put up with her husband, in "Family Guy" there's something similar but mostly it is because nothing else in the show makes sense so why should the marriage dynamic?
Unfortunately this response is really missing the point of feminism. A much better response would be simply to show that while the wife character makes mistakes, she can also correct them without spousal intervention.
Unfortunately many of these shows might shy away from realistic three dimensional characters, and instead go for characters based more on stereotypes that might resonate with a larger audience.
Thank you for your comment, I'm sorry that my post doesn't agree with your views on the female character in the show but as I said I did only see one episode. However I would also say that the idea that the wife is capable of resolving problems without spousal intervention does not do enough to counter the fact that she is still completely dependent on her husband for a source of income, which also reinforces traditional gender roles. Thank you once again for your opinion x
"Everybody Loves Raymond" is almost deliberately sexist, as it portrays BOTH sexes in a very negative light. I'm not sure if the directors and writers of the show chose to do this on purpose (I'm betting they probably did), or if it is just plain lazy directing, as in "lets just play out the tired old stereotypes. It works for comedy every time."
You see it in movies too. Usually when not much thought is put into a show, or a movie, you will see the stereotypes unfold. This is even more evidence of how ingrained within our psyches these stereotypes are. It is when people cling to these stereotypes, and act as if each gender HAS to fall into these roles, or constantly expects them to, that it becomes a problem. And unfortunately we have plenty of people in society who do that.
And when we expect a person to act a certain way, or place too much attention on how one is supposed to act, we usually create our own problems within the relationship; it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
They are both sexist, and if either was trying to push the sexism to a satirical level, they didn't try hard enough.
For extreme satire, there's always South Park!
I can't really comment on "Everybody Loves Raymond" because I've always found it too much of a snorefest to make it through a single episode. "I write about sports, wheeee". But as far as "Two And A Half Men" goes, it's all around an idiotic show with one-note characters: Jon Cryer is a nerd! Charlie Sheen is a slut!(Oh, sorry, I mean, "stud". It's COOL when a guy acts like that!) Women on the show tend to be nothing more than objects of the guys' lust with no character development who vanish after one or two episodes--once they've been slept with, no need to keep 'em around, right? Women who do recur on the show are seen as unpleasant and out to make the men's lives miserable. These are: The Demanding Ex Wife, The Mean And Heartless Mother, and the Unbalanced Stalker Girl.
Why do I know all this? It used to come on before the Simpsons late night, and I'd have the TV on in the background. :P
I agree with you that these shows have very deeply ingrained gender roles and their "humor" is often based in stereotypes. I can't decide, though, whether sitcoms treat men or women worse. In most sitcoms, the mom is the reasonable, smart one, even if she is a size 4 perfect housewife. The husbands are often clueless about their children's lives, beer-drinking, ESPN-watching, and oafish.
Try out "According to Jim" for size. I'll admit to loving Cheryl (Jim's wife - stay-at-home-mom) because she's actually pretty cool. But the show continuously shows her as being in the wrong and being too demanding whenever she stands up for her own wishes and preferences - or for simply not liking Jim's attitude about something. Sure, Jim's the one who works and brings in the money, but Cheryl's still a full person to be respected and treated as such. In some ways the sexism in According to Jim is a bit more backhanded than in Two and a half Men. In the latter I can almost agree to view it as satirical sexism, but in the former - not so much.
I watch two and a half men when it's on and I have nothing else to watch and i can totally agree with you,
I watched one the other day where Charlie went to get 'snipped' after a pregnancy scare, he was shaved by a female nurse, and quoted the old line "it's a little chilly in here"
He ends up leaving with a date with her!
Another episode entails an old flame of Charlie's showing up and flirting with his brother, Charlie spends the entire episode ranting about how she should want to sleep with "him" because he's "a real man".
I can't help but always analyse this show when i watch it, it really sickens me how the only female characters are a sardonic house-cleaner, Charlies female stalker, his overbearing, sexually active mother and his ex-sister-in-law who is a typical bitch.