Glascock, Jack. “Gender, Race, and Aggression in Newer TV Networks’ Primetime Programming.” Communication Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 1, 2003, pp. 90-100. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/216480842?accountid=11107.

This source determines the portrayal of minority characters on television shows over time. Jack Glascock compares the older networks to some of the newer networks and analyzes whether or not the portrayal of these minorities is changing at all. In particular, he focuses on the portrayal of black characters as opposed to white characters. He notices that black characters are often portrayed as more violent and aggressive because this appeals to younger viewers. He also notices the discrepancy between major male leads and major females leads. Stating that females are usually dressed more provocatively because it engages the viewers. This source is useful because it provides us with a framework to begin analyzing gender representation in television. It shows not only the major networks’ use of stereotyping but how their use of stereotyping has either decreased or increased over time. This is a good starting point because we get an idea of how strong the bias in television is currently.

Anderson, Jacqueline S., and Sharmila P. Ferris. “Gender Stereotyping and the Jersey Shore: A Content Analysis.” Kome, vol. 4, no. 1, 2016, pp. 1-19. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/2089252706?accountid=11107, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.17646/KOME.2016.11.

This source delves deep into gender representation in television popular among younger viewers. Jersey Shore holds a prominent place in pop culture with millions of viewers at its peak. It is no secret that reality television shows aren’t always reality and that most of the time they are scripted. Jacqueline Anderson and Sharmila Ferris analyze the representation of the female characters in Jersey Shore and notice the portrayal of females as seductive figures who play little role in the plot other than to engage the audience through drama they create. They compare the behavior of the females on the show to the males and provide evidence of the discrepancy. This source is useful for studying gender representation in television because it ensures that we cover all facets of television. Reality television can easily be overlooked since it is believed to be “reality” so there are no biases, but this is not true because most reality shows have loose scripts and are pushed in one direction or another by the network. We cannot be narrowminded by only analyzing fictional shows.

Bingham, Dennis. “”before She was a Virgin . . .”: Doris Day and the Decline of Female Film Comedy in the 1950s and 1960s.” Cinema Journal, vol. 45, no. 3, 2006, pp. 3-31. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/222247026?accountid=11107.

This source details the golden age of comedy for females, a time when females were more popular than males in lead comedy roles. Dennis Bingham details the rise of Doris Day, one of the biggest female film comedy stars of all time and analyzes her rise and fall. This source does not only focus on Doris Day however, Bingham broadens the scope of his research to see where females have stood in the comedy film scene since then and analyzes the statistics on males and females in lead comedy roles and compares the number of men and women landing these roles since the days of Doris Day. Although this source may not seem useful because it centers around film than television, it is important for us to look at this source to understand the trends in females and males playing leading roles in television and film over time. This is similar to the trend that can be analyzed in Glascock’s paper over biases and stereotypes in television over time, except this one is specific to gender representation.

Falk, Erika. “Stereotypes as the Basis for Humor in Saturday Night Live Parodies of Hillary Clinton.” Media Report to Women, vol. 45, no. 2, 2017, pp. 12-15. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1906364913?accountid=11107.

This source details Saturday Night Live’s writing of comedy skits involving the election. The election is a huge source of content for most late-night television shows and Saturday Night Live is no different in this regard. Erika Falk specifically analyzes the skits written by Saturday Night Live that are intended to serve as parodies of Hillary Clinton. She notices these skits are full of stereotypes and that these stereotypes are the humor that is appealing to younger audiences.  In the case of Hillary Clinton, a lot of the stereotypes are gender stereotypes simply because it is uncommon for a woman to run for office. This source is extremely essential to our research because we have chosen Saturday Night Live to base our research on. Saturday Night Live is one of the longest running shows on television and also one of the most influential. However, it has often been criticized for its lack of female cast and writers. For this reason, this source provides us with a crucial analysis of gender stereotyping by Saturday Night Live writers and creates a framework for the rest of our research.

Wilstein, Matt. “‘Saturday Night Live’ Mocks Trump’s Creepy Comments about Daughter Ivanka.” The Daily Beast, Apr 03, 2016. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest com.prx.library.gatech.edu/docview/1786621027?accountid=11107.

This source shines a new light on Saturday Night Live’s representation of gender on its show, but once again not through the crew of cast and writers, but through the commentary, they provided on the election. The election being a huge source of Saturday Night Live’s content, Matt Wilstein notices the writers’ unison in defending Heidi Cruz over Donald Trump’s sexist remarks. Donald Trump made several remarks over “punishing” females over abortions and Heidi Cruz took offense to this. In return, Donald Trump attacked her in a Twitter rant and Wilstein remarks on Trump’s behavior as clearly sexist. Wilstein also remarks on Donald Trump’s creepy tweets over his daughter Ivanka as he constantly calls her beautiful and according to Wilstein, objectifies her. This source is important because it helps us to understand the position that Saturday Night Live takes on the oppression and degradation of females by powerful male figures. Saturday Night Live’s willingness to criticize and bring these comments to the spotlight help us understand the character of the television show when doing further research.

Fallon, Kevin. “‘Saturday Night Live’ Review: The Ladies Steal the show from Host Chris Pratt.” The Daily Beast, Sep 28, 2014. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1649028174?accountid=11107.

This source analyzes changes in the show’s cast after season 39. Season 39 came with a massive reboot in terms of cast and Saturday Night Live seemed to respond to the common criticism over the predominantly male cast by bringing in Cecily Strong, Kate McKinnon, and Taran Killam. Kevin Fallon states that the females played a major role in the new season’s opener and were a hit among audiences, praising them for various skits with guest host Chris Pratt. This source is essential because our research largely focuses on the criticism of Saturday Night Live’s lack of female cast and writers. Just like Matt Wilstein and Erika Falk, Kevin Fallon addresses some of the proactive methods that Saturday Night Live has been taking to combat this criticism. Although he praises the females for their performances and insists that it was a hit among the audience, he does note that the skits still focused heavily on gender stereotyping for humor which is important to take into account when studying gender representation on the late-night television show. The females were once again portrayed in a more provocative sense and were often playing certain roles simply for seductive purposes to gain appeal from the audience.