Maya Krajeck – English 1102: Television and Feminism

Author: Maya Krajeck

Murphy Brown, Off Screen

On November 11, 2018

Last night I was procrastinating and catching up on the recent episodes of Saturday Night Live (indubitably not as good as the old seasons, sorry Pete Davidson). The episode with Jonah Hill came on and his monologue was his induction into the five timers club. Among the the notable figures in the club was the one and only Candice Bergen. Watching this 1980s boundary pushing feminist queen on my TV outside of her Murphy Brown role inspired me to base this blog post on the impact and outside life of Candice Bergen and her show Murphy Brown.

As we read in Stealing The Show, Murphy Brown was on TV in an era where people still tuned in to watch episodes as they were premiered because the era of streaming and Netflix had yet to begin. An iconic moment occurred after Candice Bergen’s single character gave birth and became a single mother (an episode which 70 million people watched) and Vice President Dan Quayle cited her as a poor role model who was “mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice.” Murphy Brown impacted American society, and during a time where “family values” were trying to fight the success LGBT and abortion rights groups had won in the previous years. (Now that these rights have come under fire again with the current U.S leaders Mike Pence and Trump, Candice Bergen has returned to her role).

The political climate in the 1980s to modern day continue to be shockingly similar. According to Time’s magazine, A day after the Murphy Brown reboot was announced Republican Senate candidate Courtland Sykes proclaimed that “I don’t want [my daughters] to grow up into career-obsessed banshees who forego home life and children and the happiness of family to become nail-biting manophobic hell-bent feminist she-devils.” Before, a comment life this would clearly be about Murphy Brown, however modern day TV has bless us with a plethora of stereotype defying women that this statement can refer to anyone.

Murphy Brown received 8 Emmy nominations and won 5. The shows 11 seasons were so impactful that Candice Bergen was even offered a job as a journalist on 60 minutes. The show had such an impact when it was originally on, it will be interesting to see what the new seasons bring.

Murphy Brown reboot

Casual Misogyny in A Feminist Masterpiece

By Maya Krajeck

On November 6, 2018

In Review Topic 2

Murphy Brown is an iconic feminist piece which introduced a strong female character only allowed unedited on to TV because of a writers strike. The creator (Diane English) was female and the writers room shared some of this diversity. The show’s credit lists no writers, however the top four credited are half female and half male with female writers Diane English and Korby Siamis and male writers Steven Peterman and Gary Dontzig.

The writing itself is even paced and witty, revolving around a recurring cast of characters who continuously build jokes off each other based off their history and the episode’s events. Because of these connections, the writers are able to fit in multiple running jokes which help develop the individuals. The humorous writing is often creative however, it adds many cliches into the mix. Much of the jokes rely on situational humor, with the majority of their landings depending on how the actors physically display the joke rather than just on the writing, a technique that Murphy Brown’s Candice Bergen kills.

Despite its feminist history, Murphy Brown is not without it flaws. The show has a surprising amount of misogynistic and inappropriate humor. At one point in season 1 episode 18, the young producer Miles makes a comment about how his life is hard because he had to turn down a date with “do-anything-for-a-promotion Lisa”, a joke that would not fly in the modern-day era of the Me-Too movement. The same episode sees other uncomfortable workplace jokes such as a coworker suggestively telling Murphy that he “hoped to see [her] in [her] cowgirl outfit” as well as a comment by the same producer asking if Murphy was upset about being slandered because it was “the 18th already” (a hint towards her time of the month which the men of the office creepily knew). This instance is quick and laughable for the 1980’s audience it was geared towards, however when paralleled by Parks and Recreation (2009-2015) the show makes a point to show how inappropriate this is and focuses an entire episode around it.

While the writing of Murphy Brown is lighthearted, easy to follow, and orchestrated by many women it continues to have misogynistic issues which may reflect the norms of the time.

2018 Murphy Brown remake

Capturing Comfort

By Maya Krajeck

On October 16, 2018

In Review Topic 3

Every episode of Murphy Brown follows a similar setup in its composition. Most notable is the intro. Each episode begins with a focus on an individual character and is sound tracked by a famous soul song. This is the title sequence which plays the actors names. Many episodes have a meta component with the song choice as the characters sing along and the lyrics give the viewer a glimpse into what the show will be about. This important sequence shows the camera following the character around the room and highlighting the do mundane actions they take. The actions manage to display the characters emotions without any need for dialogue. In this particular episode (season 1 episode 21, “The Bickners”) Frank sits on elevator as doors open and close without exiting, when he finally moves he gets a muffin and throws away the edible part, only keeping the wrapper. In the background “This is A Man’s World”. As the camera often does when a viewer is supposed to perceive the actor’s emotions, the camera goes up close to face. These scenes always end with a fade out of music and dialogue begun by another character entering.

Murphy Brown is a sitcom, and thus it follows the trend of having a laugh track. This is to aid in the humor. Whenever a joke is made at the expense of someone it zooms into their reaction. The show features many long shots, yet occasionally adds short ones to keep an interesting flow and follow conversations. In between major scenes, the show fades out to a video of the office building and then zooms into top floor, this is possibly to suggest the importance of their work and give the audience a concept of location.

The show has three settings, Murphy’s house, the bar (even though Murphy is a recovering alcoholic), and the office. It only strays from these when following a specific story. This creates a comforting feel. As with the similar settings, all episodes have generally subdued tones, with earthy browns, grays, and pastels. The way episodes parallel each other make Murphy Brown an enjoyable and easy show to watch. One that takes on issues yet manages to not be too aggressive about it and keep viewers comfortable.

1/3 settings: Phil’s Bar and Grill

How are stereotypically unattractive females represented in popular children’s television shows aired from 2005 to 2015 on Disney and Nickelodeon?

By Maya Krajeck

On October 1, 2018

In Research Question

Our research question also asks how stereo-typically unattractive females are represented in popular children’s television shows aired from 2005 to 2015 on Disney and Nickelodeon. We chose Disney and Nickelodeon knowing that these two television networks were major players in children’s television during these years, and thus should provide us with plenty of material to study. We derived this topic from our study of articles which discussed how female characters are portrayed through various characteristics in children’s television shows. Peer reviewed articles in our studies discovered that appearance was important to female characters on children’s shows, as they were on average more attractive than their male counterparts (Gerding). This importance of appearance was also found in another study which discovered that “tomboy’s” eventually experience a change or makeover in order to become “better” women (Chandler). These findings peaked an interest in whether the attractiveness of females is prioritized across many shows.

We feel as though this is an important topic to study because children’s television shows can have large effects on kids perceptions of gender roles in their future life. This was proven by many studies that found that the young target audience can be highly receptive to these shows as they are at an age in which they are constantly learning. A greater understanding of the flaws in gender representation can lead to beneficial changes in children’s shows which may instill a positive understanding of gender in our young generations.

Works Cited:

Chandler, E. (2016). “I never wanted to be an ashley!” androcentrism and gender entitlement in disney’s recess. Gender Issues, 33(2), 148-162. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12147-016-9154-9

Gerding, Ashton, and Nancy Signorielli. “Gender Roles in Tween Television Programming: A Content Analysis of Two Genres.” Sex Roles, vol. 70, no. 1-2, 2013, pp. 43–56., doi:10.1007/s11199-013-0330-z.

Women in a Man’s World

By Maya Krajeck

On September 25, 2018

In Review Topic 5

The newsroom of FYI is filled with intelligent and driven characters. The show depicts a workplace with an even distribution of men and women, a structure which promotes gender equality in business. However, despite its progressive appearances, stereotypes often find themselves written into Murphy Brown, from the constant hiring of inept new secretaries (the variety of which are female, except for the one male who eventually ends up returning to his job in sports) to the position of executive producer being filled by a male. The representation of gender stereotypes can be further analyzed by the leading women of the show, Corky Sherwood and Murphy Brown.

Murphy Brown is a show that challenges gender normative roles with its lead character. An ambitious and well respected women, Murphy is a protagonist who defies the expected. She can be seen playing football with the boys in the office, she is never afraid when a challenge comes her way (even in the case of death threats), she is depicted with a sex drive and as someone who used to smoke and drink religiously, and she always gets what she wants, as she insights fear in even the executive producer. By creating this strong female character, Diane English is able to successfully combat gender stereotypes, and she does it so well not only because of Murphy’s natural “masculinity” but also because she is a multidimensional character who is also often depicted with a sense of softness, grace, and care.

When the impressive characterization of Murphy placed beside Corky, the show finds itself to be disappointing. While Murphy is challenging gender stereotypes, Corky is fulfilling them all. Her character is a cliche “dumb blonde”. She covers stories such as “the darker side of liposuction” and counts her greatest achievement to be winning Miss America. In an episode based around feminism, Corky feels inspired and decides her great feminist achievement will be not wearing a bra to work (to which all the men in the office inappropriately shout with joy). Corky’s character seems to counteract the progressiveness the show tries to establish, however the show does not completely fail with her. While she does fill many traditional and demeaning gender roles, she does combat others. In an episode where she gets her first real journalism assignment, Corky displays an empowering sense of passion and ambition. After being sabotaged by Murphy multiple times, Corky continues to fight for her dream of being a real journalist. Just like Murphy Brown, she ends up being a multidimensional character who has the ability to be a positive role model.

While Murphy Brown is by no means a perfect show when it comes to gender representation, it manages to portray many progressive concepts that were no doubt a challenge at the time.

Corky Sherwood as the cliche “dumb blonde”

Gender Representations in Childrens TV: Annotated Bib

By Maya Krajeck

On September 20, 2018

In Annotated Bibliography

Source 1:

Rousseau, Ann, et al. “A Short-Term Longitudinal Exploration of the Impact of TV Exposure on Objectifying Attitudes Toward Women in Early Adolescent Boys.” Sex Roles, 2018, doi:10.1007/s11199-018-0925-5.

This study examined how television affects the way adolescent boys understand gender stereotypes and whether it leads them to understand men as the dominant role and objectify woman. Following the suggestion that children are more likely to enjoy consuming media that reflects the environment they are raised in, the study also examined how their parents relationship in addition to the tv they watched affected their understanding of gender. The study found that parents did not monitor shows on trusted children’s channels, however, the tween television content did indirectly contribute to the development of stereotypical attitudes toward women and men. It also found that parents have strong influence over whether or not these opinions develop and can buffer them by monitoring the shows or exemplifying a respectful egalitarian relationship. While this study was conducted in Belgium, it does look to understand western culture and studies channels such as Disney and nickelodeon that american children consume. This is a useful study because the experiment not only speaks to the specific topic being researched but it expands it to include multiple factors that influence the way children’s media affects young boys understandings of gender.

Source 2:

This study researched 49 episodes of 40 shows produced with the intended viewership of tweens in the United States. The shows were chosen if they fell into one of two categories which were geared toward the opposite genders: “teen scene” (for girls) and “action-adventure” (for boys). By comparing characters personalities, roles, conversations, and appearances, the study discovered that the action shows were disproportionate in their gender representation, having many more male characters than girls. The teen scene shows, however had equal representation. In the teen scene shows there was little stereotypical behavior and the girl and boy characters had similar personalities. All of the girls in the show were attractive and cared about their appearance whereas the guys had varying levels of attractiveness. The study determined this to mean that the message shows send to kids id that “females can participate in everything that males can, but while doing so they should be attractive and should work to keep up this attractiveness”. This article is very useful because the study was study was well conducted and it speaks directly to the issue we are looking at. It comments on how children’s television has progressed however it still contains flaws.

Source 3:

Martin, Rebecca. “Gender and Emotion Stereotypes in Children’s Television.” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, vol. 61, no. 3, Sept. 2017, pp. 499–517. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/08838151.2017.1344667.

This study researched both educational and non educational children’s television shows and examined the prevalence of emotional stereotypes. The study took 4 of each genre and examined the use of anger, sadness, fear, and happiness. It found that overall the shows include more male characters than female, a trend that continues throughout the years studied. The study also found that the male characters exhibited stronger emotions in all of the four categories. This result demonstrates that the shows tend to portray counter-stereotypes, especially in the entertainment shows. This study was not very useful because it looked at only 8 shows over a broad time span, such as Magic School Bus from 1994 and Curious George from 2006. The show also only looked at shows on minor networks, which are viewed by less of the population, and it did not look at how this affects the kids viewing it and whether or not it instilled any beliefs in them.

Source 4:

Campbell, Olivia. “Why Gender Stereotypes In Kids’ Shows Are A REALLY Big Deal.” Refinery29, Refinery29, 5 Dec. 2017, www.refinery29.com/kids-shows-gender-roles-stereotypes.

This article describes the problems facing childrens TV and how it can cause kids to form stereotypical understandings of gender. It references how many shows have more boys than girls, and that the boy characters are usually the heroes with a purpose and how female characters are often pushed aside and given “weaker” roles. The article argues that parents need to educate their kids that girls and boys are equal and can accomplish anything they want. While this article makes interesting points, it is not usable due to its inflammatory rhetoric and consistent use of logical fallacies. The article uses strong language to upset its readers and get them on its side. The author makes drastic assumptions, which are arguably not entirely false, such as the claim that spousal abuse and sexual assault are caused by sexism in our society and this sexism is in part caused by childrens TV. In short, children’s TV leads to violence.

Source 5:

Sarah Banet‐Weiser (2004) Girls rule!: gender, feminism, and nickelodeon,
Critical Studies in Media Communication, 21:2, 119-139, DOI: 10.1080/07393180410001688038

This piece looks at Nickelodeon children’s shows with female leads to decipher whether or not girl power is treated as a lucrative market strategy or if the shows actually succeed in providing pure feminist ideals. By focusing on a handful of major TV shows, the study finds that the channel urges both girls and boys to question the stereotypical gender narratives. The author argues that the girl power narrative behind these shows is one that parallels Third Wave feminism and that the shows offer a diverse variety of characters that demonstrate that women are contributing and worthwhile members to society. This article is usable because it studies one of the most popularly viewed children’s channel and dissects the controversial way that its feminist message is presented. It would be helpful to know more about how these messages are being understood by children as the piece mainly focuses on adult criticisms.

Source 6:

Bowman, Sabienna. “’Girl Meets World’ Is A Feminist Triumph.” Bustle, Bustle, 25 Apr. 2018, www.bustle.com/articles/175843-how-girl-meets-world-quietly-became-one-of-tvs-most-feminist-shows

One of the strongest feminist shows on television is the children’s show Girl Meets World. The story follows two best friends who come from drastically different homes, Maya and Riley, in their middle school and highschool years. It tackles many subjects that most children shows will not touch such as cultural appropriation, bullying, and STEM not being promoted for girls. The strength in the girls friendship is what makes the show such a feminist inspiration and it does what other shows fail to. The conflict of the second season is that the two girls have a crush on the same boy, however, Disney does not let the show follow stereotypes by going into stereotypical catfights to handle this love triangle. Instead the issue is put aside and friendship is prioritized in a happy resolution. The respect the women of the show have for each other and the effort they put in to help raise each other up is one that is inspiring, especially for developing young viewers. This article is useful because it gives an example of a powerfully feminist show on children’s media and the positive way it addresses social issues, giving direct examples of its strengths.

An Issue For All Women

By Maya Krajeck

On September 10, 2018

In Review Topic 4

Crowded around each other expressing excitement and joy, the men of FYI discuss a night of opportunities that awaits them. When Murphy Brown enters the conversation is quickly hushed, as the subject is something they know will agitate her. The night they are discussing takes place at the last men’s only club in D.C, meaning Murphy is excluded simply because of her gender. The episode chronicles her fight against this, illuminating the sexism that continued to exist in the wealthy workrooms of 1989 America.

While the episode follows Murphy in her individual battle, the overall issue is one that affects more than just her. A notable moment occurs in the beginning of the episode when Miles is explaining that Murphy has no place in the club. At this moment, Corky quickly jumps into the conversation and her interruption is met with a cold shoulder as Miles shrugs her comment off stating “Corky, you’re not even in this conversation”. “Every woman in this room is in this conversation”, Corky quickly responds, illuminating that this single argument is undeniably connected to a greater issue of gender inequality. Backed by a multitude of other women, this statement is powerful, despite it being subsequently dismissed by the writers with an offside joke.

As the storyline progresses, we see Murphy’s multiple attempts at “breaking the sex barrier” and the rude and demeaning responses she receives from the men she encounters. When she first attends the club the manager bars her, claiming that her “behavior is inappropriate”, despite her being a highly respected journalist whose behavior is perfectly in line with the clubs policies. Later, when she manages to become a member due to discrepancies in the rulebook, every fellow member treats her rudely and eventually all of the men leave due to their discomfort with her presence. It is a disheartening and frustrating scene, documenting the ridiculous and childish attitude men had (and some still have) towards the other sex. While Murphy Brown often is able to triumph over her challenges, she fails in this episode, a smart choice by the writes which acknowledges that it will take more than one woman, no matter how incredible she is, to fight the system of inequality that women are subject to.

The episode does create hope in the matter, however, with the change witnessed in the character Jim. When first confronted with his good friend and coworker Murphy Brown’s desires to “infiltrate” the men’s club, he completely shuts her down. This dismissal continues throughout the episode until he experiences first hand the disrespect Murphy has to endure from the men in this club. A final scene depicts him fighting against the men in the club who he previously stood beside, showing that progress is possible when it comes to sexism and gender inequality.

Murphy Brown: Always relevant.

FYI: Here’s What You Need to Know About Me

By Maya Krajeck

On September 4, 2018

In Intro Post

Hello,

My name is Maya Krajeck. I am majoring in industrial engineering, a status I hope to soon change, and I am optimistically (and apparently unrealistically judging by the other blog posts’ expectations on the matter) expecting to graduate in 2022. I have lived in Nashville Tennessee for the past 6 years, however I was raised half in Florida and half in Greece. Due to this bicultural exposure, it is technically accurate of me to claim that English is my second language, and I take no hesitations in blaming my poor grammar on that.

I never truly loved English classes, that is up until my senior year of highschool, yet I always loved literature. I was the socially awkward kid in elementary school who spent recess huddled in a corner over a book. I can vividly remember my nose stuck in a novel as I walked around my house, bumping into furniture and enduring stubbed toes in sake of a good story. You would hope this somehow translated to me being a good listener, however my ears are almost as weak as my mouth. Verbal communication will never cease to be an obstacle for me, with the only glimmer of hope being in my pun and “wit” abilities (which are built completely off shows such as Gilmore Girls, 30 Rock, and Will and Grace). I would love to improve on all elements of “WOVEN” but verbal is definitely a priority. My Greek heritage helped me become advanced in non verbal communications, as our hands are usually saying more than we do. This is my first English class at Tech, and rate my professor makes me optimistic that I can accomplish my goals in it.

I have never before taken an English class which assigned me TV shows to watch. I am grateful for this opportunity, as I consume way too much TV. I watch everything: Bojack Horseman, Big Little Lies, Game of Thrones, Seinfeld, Girl Meets World (a fantastic feminist show that should be on the list). When asked whether I am a movie or TV person, TV is always the answer.

For this assignment I will happily be watching Murphy Brown, a show I had never even heard of before this class. It follows a headstrong Murphy Brown in her return to journalism after rehab. My interest in this show peaked after ready Stealing The Show and seeing its positive influence on television culture.

When you get to watch TV for class.

English 1102: Television and Feminism

Dr. Casey Alane Wilson • Georgia Institute of Technology

Author: Maya Krajeck

Murphy Brown, Off Screen

Casual Misogyny in A Feminist Masterpiece

Capturing Comfort

How are stereotypically unattractive females represented in popular children’s television shows aired from 2005 to 2015 on Disney and Nickelodeon?

Women in a Man’s World

Gender Representations in Childrens TV: Annotated Bib

An Issue For All Women

FYI: Here’s What You Need to Know About Me

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