Saturday, October 31, 2009

Summary of the "Equal Rights" Episode

In the final part of the "Equal Rights" episode, Lucy and Ethel end up teaching Ricky and Fred a valuable lesson in equality and humility. The men successfully pull a prank on Lucy and Ethel but the women quickly turn the tables and end up having their husbands arrested and thrown in jail. Of course they eventually sorted things out with police and the men were released, but Ricky and Fred were forced to think about their actions and realize that things won't always go their way. In the end, the couples were happily reunited and the realization of how important equal rights are became a reality.

Although it was a very comedic take on a serious issue, this episode reflects how the 50's culture viewed equal rights as somewhat of a joke at times. It is important to note how I Love Lucy set a precedent for depicting men and women equally within the family as well as society. This episode goes along with this week’s discussion on how I Love Lucy seems to have contradictory themes of supporting AND pushing the boundaries of the 1950’s. Lucy's efforts were continually thwarted, but her ambitions were never broken. Viewers regularly witnessed Lucy in roles that women in the 50's were typically never thought of having or succeeding in.

Some Questions to Think About:

Which points in the episode stood out the most to you?

Do you think that it portrayed an accurate depiction of families in the fifties? Why or why not?

Any other comments?

Friday, October 30, 2009

"Equal Rights" Clip #4



This is the final clip for the "Equal Rights" episode. We are not going to leave a description because we do not want to give away the ending. ENJOY!!!!!






Questions to Consider:

Did you expect the show to end the way it did?

What do you think about the ending in general?

Any other comments?


Thursday, October 29, 2009

I Love Lucy Pushing the Boundaries of the 1950's

Although I Love Lucy did portray the ideals and societal norms of the 50’s, there are also portrayals of a more modern day family. One example of a similarity between how the family is portrayed in I Love Lucy and families today would be their portrayal of exogamy. Having Lucy and Ricky being in an interethnic relationship, and being married out of their particular social group, definitely began to push the boundaries for its time. When Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz brought the idea of their show to CBS, they automatically turned it down because CBS believed Desi to be “too ethnic”. However, with Lucille and Desi performing some vaudeville acts to gain people’s support, CBS decided to go ahead with the show. Lucy and Ricky portraying an interethnic relationship, as they had in real life, was the first to do this in its time. This definitely shows what more modern day marriages are like with the United States being a “melting pot” of all different races and ethnicities. Even though in the 50’s people may have still been a little skeptical at the belief of an interethnic marriage, watching I Love Lucy, which millions did, may have shown viewers that this is now becoming the norm and that there is nothing wrong with being married with someone out of your own social group.

As of pushing the boundaries with gender, it is clear that it may not be as obvious as Lucy and Ricky’s exogamous relationship, but in many people’s opinions, it is still present. As feminist Anne Andes puts it, “Lucy is ultimately UNRULEABLE! …No she does not break the rules to make a feminist statement…But in her own rebellious way, she proves that women can break the molds within which their world tries to cast them...” (2007, para. 3). Therefore, even if people may not think that it is intentional, watching Lucy try to break free from her homemaker life, could definitely impact the viewers. Yes, Lucy is usually put back into her place, but occasionally she does get what she wants, and the fact that she is “disobeying” her husband, may have influenced women to do the same. With the amount of viewers, “40,000,000 regularly”, watching I Love Lucy, it would be hard to believe that no one was impacted by Lucy’s rebellious ways (Pan, n.d. para. 2). It is clear that the media impacts viewers, so women must have at least began to question their place in the family and why things were the way they were. Again, if Lucy was a happy housewife, like ads at the time always portrayed wives in the 50’s as being, why would Lucy, living in the same era, be constantly trying to escape it? An article by Wendy Pan explains that “these issues were very real to women in the post war 1950's and were clearly reflected in Lucy's continuous rebelliousness to become part of her husband's world” (n.d., para. 4). Pan explains that the show was depicting reality, just as how Lucy and Ricky’s exogamous marriage was. Therefore, this was pushing the boundaries of its time because reality in television was usually and for the most part nonexistant. Although I Love Lucy on the surface makes light of the issues of reality, and may cover them up with comedy, they were touching upon them nonetheless and are still noticeable.

Another example of I Love Lucy pushing the boundaries in the media would be when Lucy became pregnant. No one had ever brought up pregnancies on television because it was too risqué with its association to sex. However, because Lucille Ball was pregnant in reality, and with the writers explaining to CBS that the show should portray real-life situations, it was allowed. The cast had to actually say that Lucy was “expecting”, as mentioned in a previous post, but the fact that they even brought up the fact that woman can and do get pregnant, especially in this case with a multi-ethnic child, was a huge step in portraying what real families are actually going through. The night Lucille Ball actually gave birth to her son, Desi Jr., was the same night that Lucy Ricardo had her son, Ricky Jr. This was completely intentional and the viewers were clearly ecstatic. There were a total of 54 million people tuned in to watch Lucy’s pregnancy on January 19, 1953, which was more than the viewers who tuned in for President Eisenhower’s inauguration on January 20, 1953 (I Love Lucy, para. 3; Leiban, n.d., para. 6).

References:

Andes, Anna. (2007, May 30). Online Transactions. Message posted to http://vergingwriter.blogspot.com/2007/05/lucy-accidental-feminist.html

I Love Lucy, Retrieved October 20, 2009, from http://www.fiftiesweb.com/i-love-lucy.htm

Leiban, Nina. (n.d.) BALL, LUCILLE: U.S. Actor/Comedienne. Retrieved October 20, 2009, from http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=balllucille

Pan, Wendy. (n.d.). I Love Lucy History Goes on Making History. Retrieved October 23, 2009, from http://ezinearticles.com/?I-Love-Lucy-History-Goes-on-Making-History&id=1525551

Some Questions to Think About:

In general, how do you feel about this information?

Do you agree with the idea of I Love Lucy pushing the boundaries? Why or why not?

What do you think about the fact that more people watched Lucy's birth to Little Ricky than Eisenhower’s inauguration?

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

I Love Lucy Supporting the Ideals and Societal Norms of The Fifties and "Equal Rights" Clip #2

I Love Lucy Supporting the Ideals and Societal Norms of the Fifties

If one looks deeply into each episode of I Love Lucy, the sexual scripts, roles and behaviors expected of family members in the 1950’s is constantly shown. The way the show, and family, is physically set up, shows a lot about the time it took place. Lucy played a housewife and her husband worked, bringing home all of the money. He allotted her money each month to keep up the house. This includes the bills, the food, and any other aspect that is needed to keep up the physical matnenience of the house. It has been depicted that if Lucy spends too much money and does not have enough for the home, it is her fault, and she must make sacrifices of her everyday life to pay the bills. So, literately, Lucy’s domain is the home, and Ricky’s is bringing in the money. It is Lucy’s job every morning, even though she does not have to wake up for work, to cook Ricky’s breakfast, and have it waiting in the oven or on the table for when he walks into the kitchen.

One episode that is very famous is that of the “Job Switching” episode, when Lucy and Ethel go to work, and Ricky and Fred stay at home and take care of the house. This specific show is famous based on how it was funny that Lucy and Ethel had to shove chocolates in their mouths. Although, the whole premise of the show was that it is completely ridiculous for a women to go out and have to work. The show also shows Rickey and Fred at home attempting to cook and clean, and failing miserably. The whole episode reinforces this idea that women going to work, and men staying at home and doing domestic work, are completely unheard of during this time, just as a fellow classmate stated.

Although Ricky was following the sexual script in his time, another concept that may contribute to his behavior towards Lucy is the fact that Ricky is Cuban-American. In Cuban culture, men are seen as the head of the family, the provider, and the one who makes the decisions. It is also interesting that the fact of Ricky being of Cuban descent does not seem to bother anyone. This could be because he is married to a Caucasian woman, he is an entertainer incorporating his culture (being a Spanish style band leader), and makes a living for himself. It is also interesting to see that Lucy is often mocking his Spanish in a teasing sort of tone, making him sound kind of stupid for not being able to speak English. Since Ricky is successful and a man, however, he is still portrayed as being superior to Lucy. Lastly, Ricky’s success as an entertainer in the 50’s also shows that people without degrees were able to get well paying jobs. This is extremely different as opposed to today in society where you may even need a degree to attain at least minimum wage.

An extreme example of Ricky’s dominating relationship with Lucy is when Ricky is seen literately spanking Lucy when she is “acting up”. This occurred in about three I Love Lucy episodes including episode 61 entitled “The Ricardo’s Change Apartments”. Lucy wants a new apartment so she fills the entire house with toys and because she is being smart, Ricky comes home and spanks her when he sees the mess. A book describing every episode of I Love Lucy even states that “Ricky’s spanking of Lucy is disturbing, even in the context of the humor” (Fidelman, G.M., 1999, p. 62).

(To see this exact example yourself, go to 5 min 10 sec in the following clip)



It is pretty interesting to think that an act of violence such as this was completely appropriate to show, although when Lucy was pregnant, she could not say the word pregnant, but rather that she was “expecting”. This shows that society was okay with men having power over women, yet sex or even a hint towards sex is taboo.

As mentioned in the first posting, children did not play a large role in the family, and did not receive a lot of attention. Children were meant “to be seen and not heard” which is literally true in I Love Lucy by the audience rarely seeing Lucy’s son, Little Ricky. In a research article based on family relationships in domestic comedy, I Love Lucy received very low scores for parent child relationships. This suggests that “The parent child relationship was of minimal importance” (Douglas &Olson, 1995, p. 236). Just by watching the show proves this to be true because even though Little Ricky is shown in a couple episodes, especially near the end of the show’s production, he is never a main focus of the show in general. With these study results combined with the common beliefs of children in the fifties, it is clearly seen that I Love Lucy depicts the child and parent relationships of the family very well.

References:

Douglas, W., & Olsen, B. (1995). Beyond Family Structure: The Family in doestic comedy.
Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 39(2), 236. http://search.ebscohost.com/

Fidelman, G.M. (1999). The Lucy Book: A Complete Guide to Her Five Decades on Television.
Los Angeles: Renaissance Books.

Some questions to think about:

How do think this lack of relationship, if you believe there to be one, between parents and children affected the everyday family structure during this time?

Do we see this same parent-child relationship in TV programs today? Depending on your thoughts, what would that imply?

Do you think that media influenced everyday life of families in the fifties? More specifically, do you think because women and children viewers saw Ricky acting as a strong enforcer of rules and using violence to keep his wife in her place, that viewers then felt it was more normal for males to treat women this way?

Any other general thoughts?


"Equal Rights" Clip # 2

Here is the second clip from the “Equal Rights” episode. This is when Fred and Ricky try to prove their point about equal rights by “teaching Lucy and Ethel a lesson”. Pay attention to the language used, the characters’ reactions to different situations, and their attitudes. Enjoy!





Some Questions to Think About:

Do you think that Ricky and Fred’s actions were really portraying what it means to have equal rights, or were their actions just rude to do no matter what gender or sex you are?

When Ethel begins to blame Lucy “for opening her big mouth” and speaking up about equal rights, what does that tell us about the ideas and attitudes in the 50’s?

Do you think some of these attitudes are still held today?

Any other observations, feelings, or comments?

Monday, October 26, 2009

I Love Lucy "Equal Rights" Clip #1

Throughout the week we will be posting each installment of this specific I Love Lucy episode entitled, “Equal Rights”. We felt it would be interesting to space out the clips in their relation to the order in which we discuss our main points. It is also fun to anticipate the ending because it is really interesting and wraps up our overall discussion.

This first clip displays how equality between husband and wife truly was in the husbands favor, and is reinforced when Fred agrees. Lucy and Ethel both vocalized how they did not support Ricky’s comment, which goes against the stigma of other housewives during that time. Please feel free to comment on anything that you find interesting. Enjoy!




Sunday, October 25, 2009

Week 3 - Media Images of the Family: I Love Lucy

By: Madison Williamson, Jessica Navarrette, Meghan Slaalien, Michael Esclana, & Lauren Piligian


Please Enjoy Our Formal Introduction:

Families in the 50s and Background Information on I Love Lucy:

In the 50’s, family life was much different than it is today. The man’s role in the family was to be the provider to his wife and children. As stated on a web site that describes life in the 50’s, “Men were the main breadwinners in the family”. They were the head of the household, and were usually in charge of the family’s money. In some rare instances, women worked, mostly as secretaries. The woman’s main job in the home was to be a wife, mother, and housekeeper. PBS.org discusses how a common sexual script of women during the 1950’s was that of getting married immediately after high school. Getting married right out of high school or while in college was considered the norm. A common stereotype was that women went to college to get a M.R.S degree, meaning a husband. Although women had other aspirations in life, the dominant theme promoted in the culture and media at the time was that a husband was far more important for young women, than a college degree. The 1950’s was known as the baby boom area, although, children were not a very important dynamic of the family. Children were expected to “be seen and not heard.” Another strong characteristic of the 1950’s, according to fiftiesweb.com, was that divorce was highly frowned upon. With divorce came a very strong stigma. Therefore, there were a lot of unhappy marriages, because of societal pressure to stay married.

I Love Lucy debuted October 15th, 1951. Lucille Ball, a fiery red headed American, and Desi Arnaz, a Cuban born immigrant, were a married couple owning their own production company called Desilu Productions. This was very groundbreaking, as Lucille was the first women to part own a production company. The show was based off of a radio show that Lucille had previously starred in. I Love Lucy consisted of a married couple, Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, who lived in an apartment complex in the upper east side of New York City, in the 1950’s. Their best friends who are like a part of their family, or fictive kin, Ethel and Fred Mertz, lived downstairs, and owned the apartment building. Most of the television series depicts how Lucy always goes against the social norms that are expected of her. According to Christopher Anderson of the Museum of Broadcast Communications, “Lucy is a frustrated housewife who longs to escape the comfinement of her domestic role and participate in a larger public world, preferably to join Ricky in show business.” By the end of every episode, however, Lucy is put back into her place as housewife and is not usually successful in her attempts. Although I Love Lucy is intended to be a humorous depiction of a housewife in the 1950’s, it stands and symbolizes much more than meets the eye.

Television shot up in popularity in the 1950s with 17 million Americans owning a television set by 1951 (Families). With I Love Lucy debuting that same year, it is clear that the show would have a tremendous impact on American families. The media illustrates how families are expected to look and act. However, although most families were portrayed to be the norm on television, “its programs have often presented multiple and contradictory messages” (Spigel, L.). I Love Lucy is a prime example of this because of its depiction of the typical wife who is “supposed” to follow the rules and regulations of her husband; however she is constantly going against the societal norms and break free from these restraints. The show portrays that happy families consist of a working husband with a stay at home wife and as long as they love each other, their lives will be happy. However, if families like this were as happy as they are depicted to be, why does Lucy seem constantly unsatisfied with her life, and trying to be more than just a housewife?

References:

Anderson, C. (n.d.) I LOVE LUCY: U.S. Situation Comedy. Retrieved Octore 20, 2009, from http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/I/htmlI/ilovelucy/ilovelucy.htm

Spigel, L. (n.d.). Family on Television. Retrieved October 20, 2009, from http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/familyontel/familyontel.htm

Families in the Fifties, Retrieved October 20, 2009, from http://www.fiftiesweb.com/pop/info-family.htm


Some Questions to think about:

Do you think that when the show I Love Lucy was produced, it was intended to be more than just a comedy?

Did they mean to specifically depict women going against her husband’s wishes and society’s expectations?

How do you personally view I Love Lucy through the sociological lens?

Final Thoughts . . .

Thank you to everyone who participated in the discussion this week. This is a crucial time for homosexual families and our goal with this blog was to provide our peers with enough information to make an educated decision about where they stand on the topic of the same-sex family. It is clear that inequalities for gay and lesbian couples are still very problematic when it comes to marriage rights and adoption, but there is a lot of potential for change and acceptance in the near future. We hope that we were able to present the topic in a way that touched close to home for most people, whether it was in the personal stories, celebrity stories, or current events. Based on the discussion and poll results from this week, it is clear that the majority of our peers view gay marriage and adoption as something that should be an integral part of society. Most people seem to agree that no two people who are in love, no matter what their gender should be deprived of legal rights to their partner and that no child should be deprived of a loving home, even if it is with two mommies or two daddies. We hope that at least one of these posts has sparked your interest and that you will continue to follow the issue as it progresses.

Thanks!
Emma, Lisa, Kim, Cassidy and Jacqueline