*    After roll and quizzes were passed around, we watched a 1952 episode of “I Love Lucy.”

*    Afterwards, we had a class discussion.  What were the values or ideas expressed in the show?
    *    Things are good the way they are - the status quo exists for a good reason.
    *    Women in the workplace are not feminine.
    *    Women can’t manage money.
    *    Lucy criticizes Ricky’s inattentiveness, but not the basic system of marriage.
    *    The show’s humor comes from watching people act outside of  their normal roles.
    *    Women are emotionally needy; men are emotionally distant.

*     We discussed some other TV shows and other issues.
    *    The show “All In The Family” criticized many elements of the traditional TV family or cultural norms, but never the basic structure of heterosexual
            relationships.
    *    Professor McBride told us that high value of privacy is a very modern concept; and that in different times and places, people have construed privacy in
            different ways.

*    Then Erin Morse reported on women’s media and the images of women in different media over the last decades.  Following the analysis of Where The Girls
        Are:  Growing Up Female With The Mass Media by  Susan J. Douglas
    *    The author argues that conflicting and contradictory images and expectations of women has led to a “schizophrenia” in American women
        *    At the same time they detest the cultural objectification of women, and yet they feel a compulsion to take part in it
        *    Media images of women can be positive as well as negative.
            *    She uses the  example of Charlie’s Angels, which was derided as objectifying “soft-core porn,” but also showed “women working together to solve
                    a problem.”
    *    She also analyzed other social phenomena from the same perspective.
    *    Beatlemania was an opportunity for rebellion for young women
    *    Female musical groups espoused sexual liberation for women.
    *    Women’s magazines typified the contradcitory messages for women; they did (and still do) “on one page feature stories of women’s  triumphs, and on the
            next feature ads that objectify women.”
    *    “Pregnancy Melodrama” movies about the consequences of premarital sex were not as simplistic as before - some of them even had happy endings.
    *    She also told us about the typical media handling of the women’s liberation movement, comparing the treatment of Kate Millet (the 'bad' feminist who
            “needed to wash her hair more often”) with Gloria Steinem (the media-chosen good feminist and “new woman,” who was also written about in objectifying
            but praising terms).
    *    We also talked about Jackie Kennedy - who seen an example that was both liberating and confining - and Eleanor Roosevelt.

*    Finally, Professor McBride told us that she will be gone to two conferences over the next week and a half, consequently she will not be here for the next three
        classes.
*    She also told us that the quiz on Thursday will cover the reading for Tuesday March 20 as well as the reading listed for Thursday, and also it will cover “I Love
        Lucy.”
 
 

*    We began class by watching an episode of “I Love Lucy”.
    *    Synopsis of episode:
        *    The episode begins with Ricky coming home from work screaming at Lucy about her spending habits.  Fred and Ethel come over and Fred and Ricky
                complain that there are two types of people in a relationship, “earners and spenders, better known as husbands and wives.”  The four than get into an
                argument over what is more challenging, going out and earning a living as the men do, or keeping house all day as the women do.  In the heat of the
                argument they decide they will switch roles, Ricky and Fred will take care of the house, cooking and cleaning, and Lucy and Ethel will find jobs, earning
                the income.  As the episode continues both the men and women find themselves in trying situations as they attempt to fulfill their role reversals.  Ricky and
                Fred find that they cannot cook or iron, and Lucy and Ethel have trouble following directions and completing the tasks at their new jobs.  By the
                conclusion of the episode all four of them agree that they want to go back to the “normal” way of life with the men going out to earn a living and the
                women staying home to cook and clean.
 
*    Class Discussion:
    *    The episode demonstrated that “things are good the way they are.”
        *    The fact that men work and earn a living and that women keep house is just natural and the way it should be.
    *    It demonstrated that this construction is an internal order that should not be disrupted.
    *    During one scene, when Lucy and Ethel were at work, their boss, who was a female, was portrayed to be overly dominant and extremely harsh.
        *    This makes it seem as though a woman in the workplace was not a “normal” feminine woman, implying that if a woman works there must be something
                wrong with her.
    *    Throughout the episode it was obvious that men were always in complete control of the money.
    *    The portrayal of both the men and the women was very negative.
        *    Ricky is shown as almost physically violent in the first scene when he is yelling at Lucy.
        *    Lucy is always shown to be almost childlike, incapable, complacent and apologetic.
    *    Seeing each character playing the opposite of their gender role created the humor in the episode.
        *    Ex:  Ricky wearing an apron, Fred asking for a kiss goodbye.
    *    It was pointed out that “I Love Lucy” was not at all reflective of the kind of person that Lucille ball was in real life.  She was in fact very in control.
    *    The show as a whole represents only the hegemonic group of society, white, middle class, suburban, and heterosexual, obviously not reflective of real life
            American society in the 1950’s.
    *    However, as a result of the influence and dominance of the media these conceptions become the dominant idea of what is “normal”.

*    Next, Erin Morse gave a report on the book Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female With the Mass Media by Susan J. Douglass.  Erin summarized the main
        arguments of the book and gave several examples of how the arguments could be constructed.
    *    In the book Douglass creates a feminist revisionist history, which explores the conflict between media and the ideas of a women’s role.
    *    Examines the time period between the 1940’s to the1990’s.

    *    Erin discussed the concept that there is a conflicted discourse in media between elevating women and putting them down.
        *    For example “Charlie’s Angels” could be seen as negative; Charlie is in ultimate control, almost seen as their pimp, or positive; women work together to
                reach a goal, they are fighting crime and they are not shown as only housewives.
            *    This is an example of something that is neither feminist nor anti-feminist.
        *    Erin discussed several women throughout history that have stood in the gap between the conventions of feminism and anti-feminism, including Jackie
                Kennedy, Madonna and Hillary Clinton.
    *    Media has served as both a catalyst and an enemy to Feminism.
    *    The constant onset of media that both elevates and puts down women has led to a type of schizophrenia in American women.
    *    For example, some women say that they are feminists and hate to see women objectified, yet they continue to buy magazines that objectify women in the ads,
            while making them feel overweight, out of style, etc.

*    Finally, Dr. McBride announced that she will be gone for the following three classes and that Jill will continue in her place.