back to home TVDo television sitcoms enforce stereotypes?
By Travis Dougherty
When watching a television sitcom or drama we are still presented with ethnic and gender stereotypes. Not as prevalently as in years past but the fact still remains that our society has set specific places in which individuals are to be cast. This is no longer as obvious as in the past where we might see only Asian people working at computer terminals or only female secretaries. Today we have become, as a society, much more in tune with the ways in which different peoples are stereotyped. It might be considered impossible that television should effect the everyday places in the real world such as the workplace. However through the subtle coercive power of the panoptic, television is still used to structure society in how to interact and how to classify or identify the Other. Through studying this coercion and how it is presented in the media today it may be possible to undermine this coercion through identifying it. Here we will analyze two television sitcoms and identify the stereotypical placement of individuals and how this effects the ways in which those classifications of individuals are identified in society.
In the majority of sitcoms today the race and gender relations are blurred due to the conscious efforts of those controlling the shows to achieve political correctness. I have chosen two shows which illustrate how these gender and ethnic definitions are being subtly integrated into the television sitcom. The first program, Grace Under Fire, is the story of a single mother and her children. In one episode, African-American men are portrayed as blue collar workers. Although they are portrayed as clean and well kept men, the fact remains that the African-American worker has been stereotyped into the role of the labourer. What does this suggest is the role of the Caucasian? I would say that it suggests that the Caucasian is not relegated to the realm of physical work and that the African-American is. This structures our identification abilities and leads to racist tendencies.
In another program, Spin City, the distinctions between gender and ethnicity are blurred to the extent that not only females may be constructed as secretaries, but now anyone with feminine traits. This can be seen in the character of the African-American, homosexual secretary. In an environment where the female is almost exclusively portrayed in the role of an assistant, to insert a male with feminine qualities does not remove the gendered stereotype.
When we as viewers are presented with a male as a secretary, we feel that the network is doing its part to break down the stereotype. This is not the case though. By characterizing the secretary as having distictly feminine qualities, what is actually shown to the trained watcher is that the female or feminine should always be second best to the typically masculine character of the boss. Although the employer is not always a male, they very often take on masculine traits and characteristics. What does this suggest about the power of femininity? It might suggest that the feminine will always be subjected to the will of the masculine. This too structures the ambitions and expectations of the viewers in ways which are often not beneficial to their ideas of self.
Through the use of these very subtle mechanisms, the television serves as a powerful identification tool in our society. Through its hidden practices, it serves to further the status quo. Therefore, when incorperating these programs into ourselves it is imperative to understand the subtle messages we are being given in order to truly end the stereotyped identification of the Other and begin to identify them as individuals as we should hope they would do to us.