Who's The Master? I Dream of Jeannie Feminist Critique.

Episode 1 of the 1965 NBC television show I Dream of Jeannie, shows a United States astronaut Tony Nelson’s spacecraft, Stardust One being forced to crash-land on a deserted island in the South Pacific. On the island he finds an odd bottle and when he opens it a beautiful genie comes out named Jeannie, after being released she follows Tony back to Florida and devotes her life to serving her new master. I Dream of Jeannie plays into the common ideology of the 1960 women of being submissive to the man, but also defies that ideology, because although Jeannie is supposed to serve Tony she constantly goes against his wishes and does what she wants.

In the 1960s the woman's role was to be a good housewife, and be totally submissive to the man. In I Dream of Jeannie when Tony arrives at his home his fiancee Melissa finds Jeannie taking a shower and wearing Tony’s shirt, she immediately gets upsets and tells him that she has always been “tolerant” of his behavior, but really gets hysterical and storms out of his house. In this scene when Melissa says she is “tolerant” is falls right back into the ideology of women being submissive, and having accept the behavior of their male spouse and not question it. After Melissa storms out Jeannie tries to seduce Tony, turning her into the other common ideology of the seductress or “homewrecker”.

Although Tony is Jeannie’s “master” she constantly defies him and goes against his wishes and ultimately does what she thinks is best or funny. When the General and Melissa stop by Tony’s home to make sure he is fine after being deserted on the island, Jeannie turns herself into a clone of Melissa and makes Tony look crazy. After they leave Jeannie busts out into laughter but Tony doesn’t find it amusing, when Jeannie goes against his wishes she also goes against the ideology of women being totally submissive, and shows that men don’t have the control and although she is there to serve Tony he isn’t taking all control of her.

Country Hit That is Offensive to Many Women

In the song “God Made Girls” by Raelynn is a country hit that has some women really offended and has them ready to stand up for what they believe in. The song has some lines that stand out and some lines that are surprising they are in a song in 2017. On top of the lines that stand out another thing that hits feminists hard is that a women herself wrote this. Another interesting remark about this song is that Raelynn herself said “ just think that’s kinda funny because I didn't have that intention at all when I wrote the song.” The country hit is putting women into a stereotype of always pleasing the men and be what god made girls for, a girly girl.

In the lyrics of the song Raelynn portrays girls as being the more emotional ones and going right along with the stereotype of girls being the more sensitive. The classic stereotype for men is they are tough, don’t cry and can take everything thrown at them, this song goes right along with both of these stereotypes. Raelynn sings lines that go perfectly with these stereotypes the lines read “Somebody’s gotta be the one to cry, He needed something soft and loud and sweet and proud.” When she says “somebody's gotta be the one to cry,” she is referring to the girls that since the man will never cry in the relationship it will always be the woman because they are the more emotional ones. The next line that is pointed out is also recognizing the stereotype of men. Since men are strong and more tough than women saying he needed something soft and sweet is proving that the man needs a women like that because he doesn’t contain those characteristics. Raelynn goes right along with the stereotypes that society made and isn’t much help trying to break them down in 2017.

This song and many other pieces of culture have affected me as a women in America in many ways. Not particularly in this song do you see it but in America in general women’s sports is totally put lower than men's sports. Considering I play three sports this really affects me a lot. Another thing that surprises me everyday is how women are portrayed in and through the media. In this unit I realized a lot that women are being used as sex objects and for their bodies all the time in the media. Women, can and should be treated a lot better by society in America.

Critique of Family Guy

       Many people thinks that a woman's role in life is to take care after the family and stay at home. In the show ¨Family Guy¨ they show many ways how the women are stay at home wife while the men have the jobs. There a lot of evidence in this show showing how the women are like wife/mother while the husband the money maker.
       In an episode of ¨Family Guy¨ the main characters Peter Griffin and Lois Griffin are the perfect examples for this. Lois is a stay at home wife cooking for peter when he gets home from work and takes care of the kids. Lois staying at home is embracing the stereotype of how a women should stay at home. In the show all of the wife do not have jobs and take care of the children. Like when Joe came to town he got a job as a police and his wife Bonnie stays at home with the kids. Also the the show ¨Family Guy¨ show how a women should clean up after the men. Like Peter is always coming back from the bar drunk and is making a mess. And Lois is constantly cleaning up after him. Peter always destroying things and has all the power in the relationship and Lois is always doing what he said.
      The ¨Family Guy¨ shows women as a sex object like a character quagmire is always using women as sex objects. He sleeps with multiple girls everyday and doesn't care about them. It shows how a women are only meant for sex for men. Also in the show when Meg has a transformation and changes into a hot beautiful girl. It shows how she becomes a seductress catching the attention to all the men. Controlling them with her looks because before she was not so attractive she couldn't do none of the things she could do now.
So in conclusion, the show ¨Family Guy¨ have a lot of stereotypes about what a women should actually be like. Like they should be a stay at home wife, they should clean up after the male and they are sex object/ seductress. The show is constantly showing these stereotypes in it and which is promoting a false stereotype.

Feminism in 2017

The media portrays women as being very feminine and men being very masculine. Women can either be very sexy like a seductress or a housewife. Men are the ones that are seen working to provide for their family and being very muscular and tough. Women in the media are held to impossible standards. To be a man in the media you have to be very manly and tough and be the one to provide for your family. Only very few shows challenge these stereotypes of women.

One show that does not stereotype men or women is Modern Family. In the show Modern Family the family is all mixed. One of the main characters Phil, is not your average dad he is very silly and his wife Claire is very serious and smarter than Phil. The dads in media are always seen as very manly but Phil does not seem that manly at all. Both Claire and Phil work to provide money for their family. This is breaking a stereotype because men are usually the ones providing for their family. Cam and Mitch are a couple who are married. There aren't many other shows that have gay couples especially as main characters. Cam and Mitch are portrayed in a way that challenges the gay stereotype of being feminine and gamophobic. They are just regular guys.

A show that promotes stereotypes is Ugly Betty. We watched one episode in class and from what I can tell it promotes stereotypes for women because the main character, Betty is not the prettiest person in the world. She wants to go into the fashion world, but has gotten shut down by the way she looks. Which is unfair because they judged her ability by her looks. At one part of the show her boss thought she was a nobody because she was ugly, he then he realized she was very talented and started to treat her better.

Lastly, another example of a show that presents stereotypes is I Love Lucy. Lucy is a very bright character. When she suspects her husband of cheating, she does not hold back her anger, she makes sure to see and to stop her husband in the act. In one scene Lucy dresses up as another woman to make sure that her husband is not cheating on her. Lucy is a housewife but she also does what she wants to. She is silly and funny. This show was filmed a lot earlier than other shows, So it stereotypes men and women a lot more.

Now the media portrays men and women differently than they did before. Shows now don't stereotype men and woman as much as they used to. In reality women are successful and can be the breadwinner for their family and they don't have to be housewives. Men I now don't have to be tough.