portrayal of women on popular television shows

As much as I would love to say that television has become more progressive in the recent years when concerning the topic of the portrayal of women. However, although there are a couple more examples of smart, working, independent female leads in shows, I can say with positivity that some stereotypes still remain true.

Roseanne Barr, lead of the self-titled show Roseanne, played a working class mother with a strong personality. Her place in the show was not just the character of a “wife.” In real life, she was a strong supporter of gender equality and was not afraid to admit she was a feminist. Because of this and her refusal to fit the mold of what the media wanted, she was cast as a “bitch”, a “femi-nazi”, and “impossible to work with.”

I understand that example is a little dated, but I think it plays true with other popular figures that we see in television and other media/political outlets today.

Women of color historically and presently are also presented in a negative light. They may not be portrayed as harshly as Roseanne, but I would like to argue that their portrayal is worse. Not only do these women serve as secondary characters to their husbands, they are usually “saved” by a white character or adapting to the white-normative rules of society (aka: working hard to reach the American dream… if it were that easy).

An example of this would be the character Gloria from Modern Family. She and her son were stuck in the slums of the city until Jay, her husband, met her, fell in love with her, and married her- pulling her out of her lifestyle and into an upper-middle class lifestyle.