ANCIENT ARCHETYPES IN MODERN MEDIA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF
GOLDEN GIRLS, LIVING SINGLE, AND SEXAND THE CITY
by
DEBORAH AN1\I MACEY
A DISSERTATION
Presented to the School of Journalism
and Communication
and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
September 2008
11
University of Oregon Graduate School
Confirmation of Approval and Acceptance of Dissertation prepared by:
Deborah Macey
Title:
"Ancient Archetypes in Modern Media: A Comparative Analysis of Golden Girls, Living
Single, and Sex and the City"
This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Journalism and
Communication by:
Debra Merskin, Chairperson, Journalism and Communication
Cheris Kramarae, Member, Womens and Gender Studies
Leslie Steeves, Member, Journalism and Communication
Biswarup Sen, Member, Journalism and Communication
Karla Scott, Member, Not from U of 0
Suzanne Clark, Outside Member, English
and Richard Linton, Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies/Dean of the
Graduate School for the University of Oregon.
September 6, 2008
Original approval signatures are on file with the Graduate School and the University of
Oregon Libraries.
© 2008 Deborah Ann Macey
111
IV
An Abstract of the Dissertation of
Deborah Ann Macey for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
in the School of Journalism and Communication to be taken September 2008
Title: ANCIENT ARCHETYPES IN MODERN MEDIA: A COMPARATIVE
ANALYSIS OF GOLDEN GIRLS, LIVING SINGLE, AND SEX AND THE CITY
Approved: _
Dr. Debra Merskin
Recombinant television, a common television practice involving recycled,
prepackaged formulas, updated to create programming that is perceived as novel, impacts
more than industry processes. While the industry uses recombinants to reduce risk by
facilitating aspects of production and audience affiliation, the inadvertent outcomes include
a litany of narratives and characters that influence our worldview. As did the myths of
earlier oral societies, television serves as one of our modem storytellers, teaching what we
value and helping us make sense ofour culture. This study focuses on how the prevalence
of recombinant television limits portrayals of women and the discourse of feminism in
three popular, female cast American sitcoms.
This study comparatively examines the recombinant narratives and characters in
Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City. While these programs are seemingly
about very different modem women, older White women in suburban Florida; twenty-
vsomething African-American women in Brooklyn; and thirty-something, White,
professional women in Manhattan, respectively, the four main characters in each show
represent feminine archetypes found throughout Western mythology: the iron maiden, the
sex object, the child, and the mother. First, a content analysis determines if a relationship
exists between the characters and archetypes. Then, a comparative textual analysis
reveals the deeper meanings the archetypes carry. Finally, a comparative narrative
analysis examines the similarities and differences among the series.
The findings reveal that a relationship exists between each modern character and
her corresponding ancient archetype, reflecting particular meanings and discourses. The
iron maiden archetypes, for example, generally bring forth a feminist discourse, whereas
the child archetypes exhibit traditional values. While the sex object archetypes are self-
absorbed, consumed with their own beauty and sexual conquests, the mother archetypes
seek psychological wellness for themselves and those around them, generally providing
much of the emotional work for the group. As reflected in these popular U.S. television
series, the similarities among the archetypes and narratives depict limited views of
women's lives, while the variance indicates differences among age, race, and class
demographics. These recombinant portrayals of ancient archetypes as modern women
suggest that our understanding of women's lives remains antiquated, reductionist, and
conventional.
VI
CURRICULUM VITAE
NAME OF AUTHOR: Deborah Ann Macey
PLACE OF BIRTH: St. Louis, Missouri
DATE OF BIRTH: January 16, 1970
GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED:
University of Oregon, Eugene
Saint Louis University, St. Louis
DEGREES AWARDED:
Doctor of Philosophy, Communication and Society, 2008, University of Oregon
Master of Arts, Communication, 1998, Saint Louis University
AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST:
Gender, Media, and Popular Culture
Television Criticism
Women's and Gender Studies
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
Graduate Teaching Fellow, Women's and Gender Studies, University of Oregon,
2007-2008
Graduate Teaching Fellow, School of Journalism and Communication, University
of Oregon, 2003-2007
Lecturer, University of Missouri at Rolla, Rolla, Missouri, 2003
Adjunct Professor, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, 1998 and 2003
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, 1996-
1998
Vll
Alumni Ambassador Program Coordinator, Office of Undergraduate Admission,
Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri 2000-2003
Marketing Representative, Miami International Airport European Office, Madrid,
Spain 1999-2000
GRANTS, AWARDS AND HONORS:
Certificate of Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student. Awarded by The
Instructional and Developmental Division of the International Communication
Association, 2006.
Certificate in Women and Gender Studies, University of Oregon, Eugene,
Oregon. Earned June 2005.
Kappa Tau Alpha, National Honor Society in Journalism and Mass
Communication, University of Oregon, inducted June 2004.
Graduate Affairs Committee Scholarship, University of Oregon School of
Journalism and Communication, awarded 2007-2008, 2006-2007, 2005-2006,
2004-2005 and 2003-2004.
Certificate University Teaching Skills, Saint Louis University, earned May 1992.
PUBLICATIONS:
Macey, Deborah A. "Politics in Popular Communication," pg. 3756-3759. The
International Encyclopedia of Communication (ed. Donsbach), volume 8. Wiley-
Blackwell (Oxford, UK and Malden, MA), 2008.
Olszewski, B., Macey, D. A., & Lindstrom, L. (online). The Practical Work of
Coding: An Ethnomethodological Analysis. Human Studies: A Journal for
Philosophy and the Social Sciences
VI11
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work would not have been possible (or completed) without the support of
many amazing people. First, I would to acknowledge my very large, but always
collegial, dissertation committee. I wish to thank Debra Merskin for her steadfast support
and genuine excitement for this project. Deb's commitment to her scholarship and
continued learning sets an example I can only hope to emulate with my own work.
A special thanks to Leslie Steeves for not letting me leave the program when I
walked into her office with a withdrawal letter after my first week of classes. She
believed in me before I believed in myself. Leslie's editing talent is unrivaled. She has
an amazing gift for reading my work, intuitively understanding what I am trying to say,
and facilitating better writing. I would also like to thank Bish Sen, who reminded me that
I loved learning, especially when it is challenging and engaging. Bish's humor and
brilliance made the saying "I don't know; nobody knows" sheer genius. Thanks to
Cheris Kramarae for her attention to detail, quick responses, and never ending
commitment to women in the academy. Her periodic check-ins, as well as her gentle
encouragement and constructive suggestions facilitated my progress. I am indebted to
Karla Scott, a wonderful friend, mentor, and scholar who knows more about the academy
than anyone. I was first introduced to feminism and the archetypes present in this
dissertation in her Gendered Communication course at Saint Louis University. Over
many meals, where she graciously never allows her students to pay, Karla Scott offered
her constant support and intellectual insight in developing these archetypes. I look
IX
forward to treating her to lunch soon. And finally, I would like to thank Suzanne Clark,
who fearlessly joined the committee late in the process, offering an insight and
enthusiasm that was much needed and appreciated.
I would also like to thank my colleagues, for without their friendship this journey
might not have come to fruition, and certainly wouldn't have been as much fun. Thanks
to: Carrie, always the funniest girl in the room, for demonstrating how to be a happy,
successful, and dedicated graduate student; Glenn for much gossip on walks home; Mary
for ice skating dissertation sessions; Kati for many walks and lots of wine tastings;
Jessalyn, a true SATC fan and excellent coder; Alina for her positive energy, creativity,
and encouraging WGS facilitation; my neighbors, Dave and Diane, for periodically
checking in on me; and Elizabeth Loux for keeping me sane throughout the process.
I am so grateful for my experiences with the WGS department. This amazing
opportunity restored my confidence in and passion for teaching. In particular, I would
like to thank: Lynn Fujiwara, whose intellect and wit guided us through a very
demanding year; my colleagues, Estella and Ryanne (and Russ) whose humanity can be
seen in all they do; and to all my facilitators for their inspiration, dedication, and laughter.
I would like to acknowledge my family; in particular, I extend my gratitude and
love to: my nephews, Michael and Matthew for letting me be a part of their amazing
lives; my sister Michele for her benevolent spirit; my cousin 1.W. for letting me be 25
again; Aunt Ginny, whose humor and generosity are beyond compare; Aunt Pat and
Uncle Jack, for their esteem and community scouting assistance; and of course my mom,
Barbara, whose daily demonstrations of strength and compassion are lessons for us all.
For the many goddesses in my life, and especially, the most beautiful Demeter in the
whole wide world, Barbara Jean Macey
x
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION ..
Archetypes and Their Prevalence ..
Rationale .
II. THEORY AND LITERATURE REVIEW .
Recombinant Television, Stereotypes, and Archetypes ..
Women's Talk .
Television Studies .
Feminist Theory, Waves of the Women's Movement, and Popular
Culture .
Media Representations ..
Research Questions and Rationale .
III. METHODOLOGY ..
Content Analysis ..
Textual Analysis ..
IV. ARCHETYPAL FINDINGS AND ANALySIS ..
Content Analysis Results .
Extended Examples from Content Analysis Sample .
Comparative Textual Archetypal Analysis ..
V. NARRATIVE FINDINGS AND ANAYLSIS ..
Setting ..
Xl
Page
1
3
7
11
11
23
25
33
47
54
57
57
64
71
71
73
85
138
138
Xll
Chapter Page
Family and Sisterhood 141
Prostitution................................................................................................... 150
Crime and Violence 156
Heteronormativity 166
Patriotism 174
VI. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 184
Research Question One 184
Research Question Two 187
Research Question Three 197
Research Question Four 201
Limitations and Future Research 202
REFERENCES 204
1CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
I belong to a generation who grew up on television. We never knew a world
without it, unlike our parents' generation who remember their families' first black and
white set. As a child, I remember Romper Room and Sesame Street. With Romper
Room, I waited eagerly for Miss Lois to greet me personally. My favorite part of Sesame
Street involved the pride I felt when I quickly identified that "one of these things was not
like the others." At the end of the show, I'd excitedly shout out the letter and number that
had brought us Sesame Street that day. Before walking to elementary school, I remember
staring glassy eyed at the Flintstones while eating my morning cereal. I watched One
Day at a Time and tried to emulate the good daughter, Barbara, and found it curious how
her parents' divorce coincided with that of mine.
In junior high, I certainly wanted my MTV and remember many a summer
afternoon hanging out with friends, ordering Domino's pizza, and watching actual music
videos. I also watched Who's the Boss and identified with the tomboy, Samatha Micelli,
and in high school my favorite characters included Mallory Keaton and Denise Huxtable.
As an undergraduate, my roommate and I were addicted to Days ofOur Lives and I
remember thinking it was interesting that soap operas were targeting younger audiences.
The soap opera was no longer just for housewives, but also for college students with free
time in the afternoon. I watched thirtysomething and Mad About You dreaming of the
2perfect partner. After college, shows such as Seinfeld and Friends were popular,
portraying the lives of peer groups as the new family unit. Later, Carrie Bradshaw
showed us a new meaning of thirty-something - single and fabulous?!] Time and again
television seemed to change as I did. "I couldn't help but wonder,"2 if I had grown up on
television or if television had grown up with me, and more importantly what I had
learned from those viewing experiences. Despite some critics who say television is a
mindless and frivolous wasteland, I believe television programs reflect a particular
worldview, say something important about American culture, and need critical
exploration. These many years of television viewing primed me to think deeply about the
meanings produced by, and reflected in, T.V. series.
Today, I usually watch television programs that tell stories about women's lives.
As a fan of many shows targeted to, and cast with women, I notice similar characters
reappearing. The most pronounced group of characters I see recurring on television
involves a quartet of women. Within this grouping, there is 'the smart one,' 'the sexy
one,' 'the na"ive one,' and 'the motherly one.' In this dissertation, I argue that the
similarities among characters are no accident and are important to understanding our
culture, not only because of their prevalent re-productions, but also because the variations
among these representations point to significant cultural differences in society.
] "Single and Fabulous?" is the headline from New York magazine in season 2, episode 4
of Sex and the City. An unflattering photo of the character Carrie Bradshaw appears on
the cover. She had been led to believe the headline was to read "Single and Fabulous!" -
exclamation point not question mark.
2"This phrase comes from Sex and the City. The lead character, Carrie Bradshaw, uses
this phrase before she asks the main question of her newspaper column. These
ponderings are the driving focus of the episode.
3The programs examined in this dissertation are Golden Girls, Living Single, and
Sex and the City; and each includes a quartet of women characters. While these shows
are seemingly about very different modern women (older White women in suburban
Florida, twenty-something African-American women in Brooklyn, and thirty-something,
White, professional women in Manhattan, respectively), the four main characters in each
show seem to represent four ancient feminine archetypes found throughout Western
mythology: the iron maiden, the sex object, the child, and the mother. This dissertation
closely examines the three series, using content analysis to establish if a relationship
exists between characters and archetypes as well as comparative textual analysis to
discover the deeper meanings archetypes carry and to explore the stories being told about
women on television. I believe these characters represent ancient, Western archetypal
patterns of the feminine, and the narratives consistently illuminate prevailing u.s. views
of women's Ii ves and interests, particularly notions of femininity, feminism, family, and
friendships. I examine the differences among the archetypes and series, to reveal
popularly accepted cultural perspectives on age, race, and class. The following section
discusses how I came to discover these ancient archetypes as well as their prevalence in
modern mass media. This is followed by a rationale for this study.
Archetypes and Their Prevalence
I'm a bitch, I'm a lover, I'm a child, I'm a mother,
I'm a sinner, I'm a saint, I do not feel ashamed.
Meredith Brooks - Bitch 1996
The song Bitch was popular around the same time I was introduced to Julia T.
Wood's Gendered Lives in a gendered communication course at Saint Louis University.
4In this text, Wood (1997) describes four stereotypes of women in the workplace: the iron
maiden, the sex object, the child, and the mother. The iron maiden is defined as
unfeminine, independent, ambitious, competitive, and masculine or similar to men. The
iron maiden in the work force is generally the woman who rises through the ranks in male
dominated professions. She is often portrayed as the lyrics above state - a bitch. The sex
object characterizes women solely by their sexuality; and appearance counts more than
intellect. Women as sex objects are hyper-sexualized and expected to conform to
heterosexist norms of beauty. Flight attendants and hostesses are jobs that have the sex
object built into the job requirements. The child represents women as less competent
decision makers than men in the workplace. The child's work is trivialized and
undervalued leading to decisions being made for them by men or patriarchal institutional
policies. Finally, the mother provides comfort and support to co-workers. In addition,
and despite her professional title, the mother's duties might involve fixing coffee, acting
as secretary, and planning social events. Administrative assistants incorporate these
maternal expectations. Three-fourths of women in the workforce inhabit this type of job
(Wood, 1997).
After reading about these workplace stereotypes, I began to see them everywhere,
particularly in media representations of women. Encountering the ubiquitous nature of
these similarly patterned portrayals of women made me curious about their origins. I
found the archetypal representations of the iron maiden, the sex object, the child, and the
mother can be traced at least as far back as Greek and Roman personifications. Finally, I
discovered these patterned portrayals illustrate ancient and familiar archetypes.
5Psychologist Carl Jung (1959) described archetypes as primordial types existing in the
collective unconscious and expressed through myth and fairytale. Debra Merskin (2008)
suggested, "Myths are the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves." As our modern
mythmaker, television, its programming, and in particular, Golden Girls, Living Single,
and Sex and the City, function as storytelling vehicles mythologizing about our
contemporary world through their narratives.
Jung identified how the concept of archetype operates through myth, believing
that stories, about our origins, lives, loves, and loss, are expressed through archetypes
(Walker,2002). Other scholars described archetypes as inferences "from a vast range of
symbols and images which appear to have some common property, or shared
characteristics, which allow them to be traced back to simpler yet stronger signs"
(O'Sullivan, Hartley, Saunders, Montgomery, & Fiske, 1994). These archetypal
representations remain ubiquitous, reoccurring in modern media and often found
collectively in ensemble casts. Archetypal characters are re-presented in ways that seem
normal and natural to audiences. With the rise of modern media, female archetypes are
found not only in musical lyrics, as the Brooks' (1996) lyrics above, but also in films,
such as Mona Lisa Smiles and The Sisterhood o/the Traveling Pants,3 and in literature,
such as the American classic Little Women. The archetypal patterns also appear on
3 The Sisterhood 0/ the Traveling Pants is a popular fiction title as well as a film. The
author, Ann Brashares, announced the last book of the series in January 2007. The film,
Sisterhood o/the Traveling Pants 2, debuted in theatres August 2008.
6television programs, in genres such as dramas, dramedies,4 and parodies such as Sisters,
Related, and Desperate Housewives respectively. Since television sitcoms, more than
other forms of media, cast women as lead characters (Dow, 1996), these archetypal
depictions can often be found on the small screen. The archetypes also inhabit "reality"
series such as How to Get the Guy, which, because of its "reality" status reinforces the
naturalization of these representations.
Wood (1997) spoke of these representations only in regard to stereotypical roles
of women in the workforce. However, these patterns are prevalent in modern media
representations and additionally are historically reminiscent of mythological goddess.
Familiar to Western audiences, the iron maiden is the symbolic equivalent of Artemis, the
goal-oriented, confident, and independent goddess, the embodiment of feminist ideals.
She does not need, or particularly want, a man in her life (Bolen, 1984; Downing, 1981).
The sex object can be traced back to the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite.
For Aphrodite women, power comes from their sexuality. Success is measured by
beauty and sexual conquests. Superficial appearances define this lustful archetype.
Women depicted as sex objects embody Aphrodite's desire for sensual pleasures. Sex
object archetypes are captivated by their own beauty and powerful sexuality (Bolen,
1984; Downing, 1981).
The child embodies the characteristics of Persephone. This goddess is the
passive, compliant child who allows others to act for and upon her. She represents the
girl who is waiting to be transformed and rescued by others. Persephone has a limited
4These are comedic dramas. The term was first used to describes programs such as Ally
McBeal.
7understanding of her strengths and desires, unlike the iron maiden and sex object
goddesses. She is sweet, na'ive, and innocent (Bolen, 1984; Downing, 1981).
Finally, the Mother represents Demeter, the maternal goddess. Women
represented as Demeter provide material, psychological, and spiritual nourishment for
those around them. While it is not necessary to be a biological mother, the roles of
caregiver, supportive listener, and sympathetic advisor are the most significant for
women who embody this maternal goddess (Bolen, 1984; Downing, 1981).
I argue that similar archetypal patterns are found in Golden Girls (1985-1992),
Living Single (1993-1998), and Sex and the City (1998-2004), reflecting the ancient
archetypes of the iron maiden, the sex object, the child, and the mother through these
modern television characters. In addition, I analyze how the characters function within
and among the series, and explore the narratives for modern discourses about women's
lives. As mentioned above, archetypal representations exist in every culture. However,
their articulations must be culturally specific to make the characters interesting and
relevant to modern audiences. It is important not only to identify these patterned
portrayals, but also to contextualize them by asking what they teach us and how they
shape our understanding of the world. Furthermore, in the following chapters, I examine
how television, particularly female targeted and cast sitcoms, portray women and explore
how feminine ideals and feminist understandings are presented to American culture.
Rationale
While some scholars might question the importance of studying television
characters, I believe it is difficult, and possibly dangerous, to discount the significance of
8this work given our media-saturated society and the role media play in perpetuating
ideological narratives. While one might argue that the representations of iron maiden, the
sex object, the child, and the mother merely provide balance for dramatic and comedic
effect, the consistent, persistent, and corroborated portrayals over time and across media,
have long-term, accumulating effects that can both define and constrain ideas about
women (DeFleur & Dennis, 1994). These limited representations contribute to society's
(mis)understanding of women's roles and value, and thus hinder further advancements
toward equality (Faludi, 1991). Feminist scholars readily acknowledge the effects these
narrowed representations/understandings have on women and girls' body image (Wolf,
1991, Bordo, 1993; Kilbourne, 1999), sexual relations (Steinem, 1983), and inequitable
division of labor in the public and privates spheres (Mainardi, 1970; Waring, 1997).
Sociologist, Michael Messner (2002) described how the media's often hyper-sexualized
and/or infantilized portrayals of women athletes trivialize their participation and
achievement in sports. In addition, Goudsmit (1994) argued that stereotypical
representations of, and biases toward, women contribute to the misdiagnosis of women's
stated problems as being "all in her head" (p. 7). Benedict (1992) and Caputi's (1987)
indictment of how the press covers sex crimes demonstrates how narrow representations
of women affect victims of sexual assault by blaming the victim. Intersect these effects
with race (hook, 1986: Roberts, 1997) and class (Bettie, 2003), and the disparities
increase.
On a panel at the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language and
Gender (OSCLG) conference in 2006, three speakers demonstrated how adherence to
9archetypal representations of women limits success in the workplace (Mancl, 2006),
ability to talk frankly about reproductive healthcare (Shenoy, 2006), and agency in
human rights issues (Albazaz, 2006). At first glance, these three presentations might
seem denotatively disconnected, but connotatively they reflect how real women's
experiences are influenced by archetypal understandings of women. Shenoy (2006) even
acknowledged the connection to ancient Hindu mythological goddesses. I argue the
prevalence and persistence of these archetypes in the media, across time and distance,
contribute to the internalization of narrowed understandings of women and their abilities.
Feminist scholars continue to critique and challenge the inequitable experiences
and representations of women. Part of this work involves dismantling hegemonic beliefs
about gender to reveal the social constructions at work that disempower women. Since
many of these archetypal characters still thrive in modern media, the work of analyzing
mediated representations is important, not only to understand the effects, but also to
change the social discourses about women. This dissertation confronts this challenge, by
exposing archetypal patterns in Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City,
revealing the variance among them that point to differences in cultural experiences
among the character demographics, and analyzing the discourse surrounding femininity
and feminism. These programs were chosen because they provide diversity among age,
race, and class. Specifically, I conduct a content analysis to demonstrate the relationship
between archetypes and characters in Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City.
In addition, comparative textual analysis of the characters and narratives is conducted to
explore deeper meaning among the archetypes and series. Through this critical
10
examination, the current study contributes to the literature in television studies and
feminist scholarship.
In the following chapters, I closely examine archetypal patterns present in
television representations and how these images function in ideological ways. In Chapter
II, I describe recombinant television; expand the discussion of archetypes and stereotype,
including their function in the media; discuss literature on women's talk as it relates to
the dialogue of the women in each series; review cultural studies scholarship that has
influenced television studies; and finally provide a historical understanding of the
feminist movement, its representations in the media, as well as popular culture portrayals
of women and feminism. In Chapter III, I describe the research methods employed in
this dissertation, including both content analysis and comparative textual analysis. In
Chapter IV and V, I discuss and analyze the findings. Chapter IV focuses on the
archetypal characters, whereas, Chapter V concentrates on narrative themes. Chapter VI
summarizes the findings and emphasizes the broader implications. Suggestions for future
research are also included in this final chapter.
11
CHAPTER II
THEORY AND LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter brings together many ideas to situate this study. The following
section explores the proliferation of television's use of patterned for~ulas and characters.
It describes the culture industry's use of stereotypes and archetypes. The distinctions
between archetype and stereotype are illuminated. I include a brief section on women's
talk and its particular function within television series. The influences of television
studies and the ideological import of television in the public sphere serve as both the
theoretical basis of and justifications for this study. Feminist theory also provides a
theoretical and historical framework to situate the dissertation within the third wave of
the women's movement. In addition, a discussion of gendered representations in the
media presents the ways in which women and feminism have been depicted. The chapter
concludes with four research questions and a brief rationale for each.
Recombinant Television, Stereotypes, and Archetypes
Recombinant Television
In his book, Inside Prime Time, Todd Gitlin discussed what he calls "The
Triumph of the Synthetic" in television production (1983, p. 63). Gitlin (1983) claimed
that network executives have an extreme aversion to risk and therefore take the safest
route in program development. He stated, "The safest, easiest formula is that nothing
succeeds like success" (p. 63). Common practice must then involve recycling
12
prepackaged formulas to avoid or reduce financial risk and fill airtime. Included in these
synthetic re-productions are spin-offs, copies, and recombinants. Spin-offs capitalize on
the appeal of a successfully established television series by developing a new series
around a popular character from the former, "spinning" this character off and expanding
independent storylines. Spin-offs are character driven, and television producers and
advertisers believe they assume less risk by developing a series around an already
recognizable character. Whether spin-offs actually are more lucrative than newly
developed programming has not been proven systematically, but those in the business
who believe "the single most important factor in series success is the appeal of its major
characters" (Gitlin, 1983, p. 67) bank on the triumph of the spin-off.
While the spin-off employs the use of a successful character, copies reproduce a
particular formula. Television professions regard almost all programming as imitations
of something else. Gitlin (1983) concluded, "The entire history of art is rife with
imitation" (p. 70), and television and "the present-day culture industry has erected an
apparatus for the mass production of self- imitating artifacts" (p. 71). Gitlin asserted that
writing for television is more of a craft than an art. Similarly, Gendron (1986) described
Adorno's criticism of jazz and other popular music as interchangeable parts that are
easily re-useable, replaceable, and reproducible, void of any real artistic depth. In the
mass-produced culture industries, including books, popular music, and movies, "imitation
runs rampant, but in television the process was raised to self-parody by the economics of
competition" (Gitlin, 1983, p.71). Networks would copy nearly any series that achieved
success. While there is some cache in being first, once this imitation becomes parody of
13
itself, the genre or formula would lose its appeal. Gitlin suggested that the "jiggle" genre
with Charlie's Angels as the genre's originator is a prime example of the downside to
rampant imitations (p. 63). Another difficulty of the copy involves determining what the
appeal of the formula is and reproducing it in the right balance. While television
producers continue to copy other successful series, Gitlin asserted,
More clones end up in speedy demise than network executives like to think.
Television audiences spot a copy when it is hurled right between their eyes.
Clones beg for comparison and usually suffer by it. But they are easy to
conceive, they do not stretch the imagination, and they keep the assembly line
moving. (p.75)
In only slight contrast to the clone or copy, Gitlin (1983) described the
recombinant as a recombination of elements to create something "new." This
recombination includes characters and/or genre splicing. One example of genre splicing
could include the dramedy, which is a combination of a comedy and a drama as
mentioned above. One benefit of recombinant programming is that while the series may
very well be a copy, the recombination of characters or formula often passes as novel. In
addition, recombinants serve as a sort of industry "shorthand" that facilitates pitching,
production, casting, and audience following. Gitlin confirmed,
Recombinant talk is splendidly practical, too, providing signposts for rapid
recognition, speeding up meetings, streamlining discussion about cultural goods
that might otherwise seem elusive, unwieldy, hard to peg. Meetings have to be
brisk, for the mass-cultural assembly line has to keep moving. (p. 77)
14
The need to cut costs and reduce risks drives the use of recombinants.
Beyond practicality, Gitlin (1983) and Sontag (1981) asserted that recombinant
thinking deeply pervades Western culture and thought. Gitlin explained that capitalism
needs novelty, or at least the perception of novel for the continuous consumption of
consumer products. He warned,
The inseparable economic and cultural pressure for novelty must co-exist with a
pressure toward constancy ... manufacturers want to deploy their repertory of the
tried-and-true in such a way as to generate novelty without risk. The fusion of
these pressures is what produces the recombinant style, which collects the old in
new packages and hopes for a magical synthesis. (pp.77-78)
Recombinant thinking does not have to be negative. Sontag (1981) noted that this type of
thinking allows one to categorize and compare one experience with, and as a variation of,
another. Koestler (1975) argued that this type of thinking, applying one idea in an
alternative context, produces much of the creative scholarship in academia. He stated,
"The creative act ... does not create something out of nothing: it uncovers, reshuffles,
combines, synthesizes already existing facts, ideas, faculties and skills" (p. 120). Gitlin,
however, reiterated "that recombination as such brings forth a hundred or a thousand
banalities for each new synthesis, and in the process degenerates into mechanical
juxtaposition to suit the rhythm of consumption and fashion in a consumer society" (p.
78). Gitlin made it seem as if successful recombinants are rare. Given the culture in
which American television is created, it seems we should expect this kind of recombinant
fusion, and often.
15
Stereotypes
The term "stereotyping," appropriated from the language of printing by Lippmann
(1922/1965), describes a way of classifying groups of people by very simplified and
generalized characteristics or traits. Cultural studies research has examined the ways
stereotypes are used in mass media representations of gender, race, and class to connect
and reflect ideas of ideology and hegemony (Hall, 2003; Kellner, 1995; O'Sullivan et aI.,
1994). Television often uses stereotyping within programming. Butsch (2003) discussed
the use of the White working-class buffoon stereotype viewers have seen in Ralph
Cramden of the Honeymooners, Archie Bunker of All in the Family, Homer Simpson, and
most recently Doug Heffernen of King of Queens. A beautiful and sophisticated female
partner generally accompanies this working-class buffoon character. This seems like a
very successful recombinant form to follow.
Butsch (2003), as well as Gitlin (1983), asserted that this stereotype is used
because novel program development is costly and networks are extremely resistant to
risk. That being said, All in the Family, created by Norman Lear, was lauded for its
progressive treatment of feminism and racism. All in the Family might have been that
one in a hundred recombinant that was actually innovative, although it is unclear if the
Archie Bunker character served as the buffoon racist or working-class hero. In addition,
the character of Edith, Archie's wife, does not fit more current versions of this working
class buffoon and his beautiful, domineering wife. One might think about how this
change produces different meanings among the characters and within the All in the
Family series.
16
Producers revamp tried and true hits essentially by re-employing the similar
characters and genres updated to prevailing social and cultural values of the time.
Scholars (Butsch, 2003; Gitlin, 1983) suggested this is done because of the time pressure
not only to pitch shows to executives, create scripts, and cast actors, but also to connect
with viewers to attract and maintain large coveted audiences to sell to advertisers. Not
only is the use of stereotypes in recombinant programming financially safe, but also it
often reinforces the dominant ideology of a White supremist, capitalist, patriarchal
society.l The prevailing understandings in the White, working class recombinant sitcom
depict working class men as incompetent and in need of supervision, thus legitimizing his
lower class status (Butsch, 2003). With regard to personal, heterosexual relationships,
the working class male buffoon is portrayed as the likeable, but inept partner and/or
father figure, incapable of cleaning up after himself or looking after children, thus
reinforcing gender and class expectations. This male buffoon representation does not
empower women. Rather, series that employ this stereotype punish the female character
counterpart for her poor partner choice. She is frequently constructed as the neurotic,
nagging, domestic shrew who bullies and manipulates her husband like a domineering
tyrant. This fits well with the hegemonic forces at work to maintain the status quo power
structures and women's position as the natural guardian of the private sphere.
When networks do break with traditional and/or stereotypical programming, their
reasoning generally stems from economic needs rather than social concerns (Zook, 1999).
In her discussion of the FOX Network, Kristal Zook (1999) suggested that the only
I bell hooks uses this expression "White supremist capitalist patriarchal society" to
acknowledge the intersections of race, class, and gender.
17
reason novel programming targeted toward African Americans became visible in the
early 1990s was because the struggling network decided to attract the underserved urban
markets instead of fighting for a share of the big three ABC, CBS, NBC. FOX's
"narrowcasting" developed programming that targeted Black viewers and attracted
advertisers wanting to reach Black consumers. Increased Black authorship and
representations on television were short-lived. As FOX became more successful,
executives shifted toward wider (Whiter) audiences to bring in bigger advertising dollars
(Zook, 1999). With cable television increasing its market share by incorporating this
narrowcasting or fragmented audience philosophy, broadcast networks continued to
target large audiences, and thus FOX succumbed to this pressure to gain more market
share.
Programs such as In Living Color, Martin, and Living Single were not only Black
cast shows, but also produced by African Americans (Zook, 1999). The FOX network
gave many of these producers the autonomy to create their own visions as well as the
power to hire writers and directors. Still, recycled successful formulas appeared to
quickly attract audiences to familiar characters. FOX's novel narrowcasting was not
immune to these recombinant techniques. It would seem that even with that autonomy,
producers needed to be able to use the industry shorthand to successfully get a series to
air. In many ways, Martin, could be seen as the recombinant of the working-class
buffoon with racial changes and cultural updates. Bolen (1989) might assert that these
working-class characters are actually archetypal representations that could be traced back
18
to Greek mythology of the cast off son who is not appreciated in a masculine hierarchal
society because he does not value or desire the material success of the patriarchy.
Archetypes
lung (1959) introduced the idea of archetypes in the field of psychology. He
described archetypes as primordial forms that exist in the collective unconscious and are
expressed through myth and fairytale. He stressed that archetypes are frameworks or
structures, not specific content. Archetypes are latent, pre-existing patterns of behavior.
In the world of television, these archetypes manifest as the broad blueprint of the
recombinant characters that have become commonplace in the media. These character
types are not stereotypes in the way that stereotypes are often negative, specific, and
historical, but instead are fluid and shifting. While lung asserted that archetypes are
"empty and purely formal" (p. 79), they are imbued with meanings that are often taken-
for-granted and rarely interrogated.
Bolen (1989) asserted that archetypes "evoke feelings and images, and touch on
themes that are universal and part of our human inheritance" (p. 6). Bolen also suggested
that these shared understandings of our human experiences are conveyed through
archetypal stories. If we think about television as a modern day storyteller, then it makes
sense that producers of television and other media would use evocative archetypes to
capture audiences. In addition, the lack of interrogation allows the patterns to persist and
become naturalized within the cultural norms, thus ringing true to our understanding of
human nature (Bolen, 1989; Hall, 2003).
19
According to lung, archetypes exist outside of the material world and in the
collective unconsciousness. Archetypes are not individualized understandings, but
primordial forms and basic structures that are collectively held within every culture.
Each culture's ideological social, economic, and political systems can be projected on to
an archetype. These archetypes placed within a hegemonic system can then become
stereotypes.
Stereotypes are overly simplistic, one-dimensional, and generally negative types
that are used to define an entire group. While stereotypes can change over time, they
generally become concretized within specific cultural contexts. Ramirez Berg (2002)
asserted that stereotypes are the sum of "category making" (or archetypes) plus
ethnocentrism and prejudice used by in-groups to characterize, and thus marginalize, out-
groups (p. 15). Stereotypes relate to power relations among particular groups. If
marginalized groups are examined throughout the history of the United States, there are
similar archetypes used to categorize different groups, thus creating negative stereotypes
that are used to justify historic and institutionalized oppression. For example, the
stereotypes of the Asian American Fu Man Chu, the African American buck, the Latin
American bandito, and the Native American bloodthirsty savage are all derived from a
masculine archetype. While the archetype is the general pattern or form here, the
stereotypical representations are negative and one-dimensional portraying these figures as
hyper-violent, hyper-sexualized, and uncivilized. These negative representations were,
and still are in some cases, used to create fear among White Americans to justify
exclusion, exploitation, enslavement, seizure of property, and extermination. Feminine
20
stereotypes such as the African American jezebel, the Native American princess, the
Latin American Harlot, and the Asian American dragon lady are derived from the sex
object archetype. While Aphrodite, the Greek mythological embodiment of the sex
object archetype, has both good and bad qualities, the racialized stereotypes focus on the
negative and are used to oppress these marginalized groups (Bogle, 2004; Feng, 2002;
Feng Sun, 2003; Kilpatrick, 1999; Ramirez Berg, 2002; Takaki, 1993). While the media
often employ stereotypes, particularly of its villains, they also tap into these archetypal
patterns that are easily recognizable and reflect them back to audiences in much of their
programming.
While lung discussed archetypes in terms of a collective unconscious, and Bolen
reflected upon how real women embody goddess characteristics in their lives, this
dissertation understands archetypes as part of a collective media conscious, and the
archetypal television portrayals as an ideological reflection of modern women's
experiences. The term archetype represents the broad patterns of typical characters that
have become commonplace in the media. These character types are not stereotypes in the
way that stereotypes are often negative, specific, and historical, but instead are fluid and
malleable. These archetypes, while not as one-dimensional as stereotypes, still carry
cultural ideology in their representational forms.
The ideology embedded in these archetypes embraces narrowed understandings of
women that can limit their perceived value in society, seemingly diminishing the need for
equity. I argue the most prevalent archetypes of female characters on television include
the sex object, the iron maiden, the child, and the mother as mentioned above. Some of
21
limiting notions about women present in these archetypes include: for the child, women
as weak, dependent, and passive similar to the idea of women as chattel or property; for
the sex object, a woman's power is derived solely from her sexuality; for the iron maiden,
her masculine manner at best allows her success within patriarchal structures or ridicules
her as unfeminine; for the mother archetype her identity is wrapped up in the care for
others at the expense of self. These continuous and repeated representations can
contribute to society's understanding of women. The media portrayals are examples of
the perpetuation of these archetypes only redesigned for the present. This dissertation
goes beyond a discussion of women's representations in the media. Instead, I argue that
television characters and programming about and targeted to women represent gendered
expectations of females and can limit the discourse in their lives and contribute to, along
with other influences, a climate that undervalues women's experiences, thus
disempowering them. These types of media representations say something about
women's place in our culture.
While I argue these archetypes, or aspects of them, are prevalent throughout
popular culture, Kaler (1990) asselted that Golden Girls was the first to portray the
"pattern of the complete woman - the four dominant stages of a woman's life-as virgin,
spouse, mother, and wise woman" (p. 49). These stages reflect the child, the sex object,
the mother, and the iron maiden respectively. Kaler used lung's "quaternity" to describe
the four character representations that make up the psychological pattern of
completeness" (p. 49). Kaler also described earlier television shows such as Gunsmoke
that used a "triad-plus one formula," with three men and one woman. Similarly, the cast
22
of Seinfeld was not complete without Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss). While we
think of Seinfeld as truly innovative television (and it was in some respects), there were
still recombinant aspects at work. Kaler explained a complex use of the Jungian
quaternity in MASH. Kaler (1990) described Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan as
maintaining "all four phases of women simultaneously: daughter to Colonel Potter,
temptress to Hawkeye and Burns, mother to Radar and her patients, and wise woman to
her nurses and BJ" (p. 50). The multiple archetypes activated in Houlihan's character
reflect Bolen's (1983, 1989) discussion that many archetypal traits exist in individual
men and women. These archetypal qualities are activated (or can be activated) at
different times in individuals' lives (Bolen, 1983, 1989). Kaler (1990) attributed MASH's
13-year success (plus syndication) to the employment of this Jungian quaternity, asserting
that its success resulted from its representation of a "psychological pattern of
completeness" (p. 49) that viewers are comfortable with because it does not seem to
disrupt the natural order of things. Kaler (1990) asserted that we are comfortable and
familiar with these portrayals not only because of their prevalence, but also because they
represent "the right mix of archetypal patterns" (p. 49) that viewers recognize
subconsciously. According to Kaler, Jung's quaternity represents patterns of the
complete personality. While Jung would argue these archetypes are inherently a part of
our personalities, I assert that the prevalence of these archetypes over time, and across
various media, socially construct these patterns as natural. This dissertation does not
seek to reconcile whether archetypes are inherent in our psyches or cultural
23
manifestations; rather, it searches for the meanings embedded in the media
representations of the archetypes.
The idea that these ancient archetypes remain relevant in modern media
representations of women is what is significant. A thorough investigation of these
characters, the narratives surrounding them, and their discourse is necessary to
understanding the attitudes toward and about women as well as the climate of femininity
and feminism in our society today.
The following section includes a brief discussion of women's talk to provide
context for understanding how the prevalence of women's communication in the series
functions as a way of community building as well as consciousness-raising.
Women's Talk
When archetypal characters appear in the ensemble casts it is interesting to
examine how their communication works within the television series because this talk
can be seen as reflective of mainstream discourse of femininity and feminism. While
Bonnie Dow (1996) asserted that the dialogue in Designing Women reflects a form of
consciousness-raising, it might be beneficial to first examine what scholars have said
about the way women communicate.
Most scholars agree that language is a social and symbolic process that reflects
and sustains cultural norms (Barthes, 1972; Kramarae, 1981; Lakoff, 1975; Wood, 1997).
Wood asserted that "masculine and feminine styles of communicating [embody] two
distinct speech communities" (p. 166). She suggested that men and women are socialized
into these particular gendered communities. Wood (1997) maintained that gendered play
24
of children cultivates distinct communication communities. Boys' games encourage
them to use communication to assert themselves, compete, and attract and maintain
attention, whereas girls' play involves cultivating collaborative and cooperative
interaction. Communication is the objective of girls' play, not external rules or goals.
For girls it is important to maintain relationships through communication, thus paying
attention is important. Thorne (1993) described these phenomena in her ethnographic
study of children's play in elementary schools. Both Thorne (1993) and Wood (1997)
acknowledged these are normative patterns and that there are often negotiations of these
generalizations. Thorne (1993) asserted that these negotiations are easier for girls than
for boys, which is consistent with Wood's suggestion that boys' main directive is "don't
be female" (p. 131). Masculine talk stereotypically involves exerting dominance,
independence, and even status in a direct and forceful manner (Kramarae, 1981; Wood,
1997).
The goals of feminine speech include maintaining relationships through talk that
is generally inclusive, supportive, passive, and private (Kramarae, 1981; Wood, 1997).
Kramarae (1981) asserted that women's talk is generally silenced in the public sphere.
This lack of public voice can be seen in government, as there are only a few women in
political positions, and in media, as television nightly news anchors are mostly men and
women are still too often portrayed as the sexualized object or sidekick. Television
programming such as Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City are useful sites
for the exploring gendered representations because these series center around the lives of
women.
25
Other scholars (Houston, 1985; Scott, 1995; Allen, 2002) challenge assumptions
about feminine communication styles as reflecting White, middle-class patterns. Houston
(1985) argued that Black men and Black women's communication styles are at a level of
parity. While Scott (1995) asserted the function of communication for Black women is to
build and maintain a sense of community, she found that Black women's talk was direct,
assertive, and honest in a blunt kind of way. Scott (1995) asserted that code switching for
Black women, back and forth from Standard English to a "Black woman's voice,"
allowed Black women to move across cultural borders. The terms "girl" and "look" mark
a switch that not only asserts identity as a Black woman and membership in that group
but also "marks a particular ideological position through an articulation of consciousness
about that position." Scott called this "a Black women's voice" (p. 136).
The function of talk on Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City is an
important cultural artifact to study not only because the shows based around the
dynamics of talk among its characters, but also because this talk contains ideological
assumptions about femininity, feminism, identity, and race. This talk deepens the
political import of the dialogue. The discourse occurring in the public sphere through
television programming validates the need for scholarship in television studies. The
following section explores the many influences of television studies and describes how
these areas contribute to the present study.
Television Studies
The legitimacy of television studies has been debated since the invention of the
medium. Much of the early research centered on the view of television as a social
26
problem (Newcomb, 1994). For many years, scholars ignored television for its low
culture aesthetic and early studies focused on negative effects such as violence against
children. Television studies arose as an academic endeavor out of four major fields: 1)
literary studies, 2) film studies, 3) the Frankfurt School, and 4) cultural studies
(Newcomb, 1994), briefly described below.
Literary studies focuses on the meanings derived from texts. It influences
narrative theory in that it examines the rhetorical structures of the story. At the end of the
1960s, literary studies began to turn its focus from canonical literature to popular
entertainment. Concurrently many conventional structures, such as patriarchy and
racism, were questioned and challenged (Newcomb, 1994), thus creating avenues for
feminist examinations of popular culture. Another area Newcomb described as a
contributor to the rise of television studies includes film studies. Newcomb suggested
that because of film's status as a fine art, critics and scholars considered the medium
worthy of study from its early days. Once scholars began to examine popular films, and
this was not without opposition, the transition to television was inevitable for exploring
popular entertainment as a cultural influence.
The Frankfurt School consisted of critical thinkers such as Horkheimer and
Adorno, who believed that mass-produced cultural products serve to control and
dominate the masses. They coined the term "culture industries" to describe the
institutions that produced the standardized goods of the mass media (Horkheimer &
Adorno, 1972/1944). For Adorno, the term "popular culture" masked the power and
influence the culture industries and their commodities had over consumers (Witkin,
27
2003). To many, popular culture connotes entertainment and triviality. Witkin (2003)
asserted that the term popular culture also suggests that it arises from the people as
opposed to being produced in large corporations. In Adorno's view, popular culture is
not an expression of individuals or communities, but serves to manipulate consumers in
the interest of the producers and the marketplace. While Adorno disliked much of
popular culture, paradoxically, he and the term culture industry, gave these popular
artifacts the weight needed to describe their influence on society, thus demonstrating the
need for intellectual scrutiny (Witkin, 2003).
Adorno and Horkheimer (1972/1944) argued that we receive much of our
knowledge and understanding about the world through the culture industry's filter. The
"reality" we are shown presents a particular view that maintains status quo power
relations. Those in control of the technical means of production create a reality that
normalizes the domination of the mass audience while claiming that the standardized
productions are based on consumers' needs. Critics of the Frankfurt School challenge
that Adorno and Horkheimer overestimated the conspiratorial intent of the producers
while underestimating the audience as passive, uncritical consumers. In spite of these
challenges, the Frankfurt School remains relevant and influences many scholars,
particularly those interested in critical and cultural studies.
The work of British cultural studies includes scholars such as Raymond Williams
and Stuart Hall. Williams (1965) defined culture as a whole "way of life" that expresses
meanings and values through the artifacts and institutions in everyday interaction.
Television and its programming make up a big part of our modem way of life. Williams
28
also asserted that patterns and relationships among and within these artifacts were useful
in cultural analysis. The reoccurring archetypes found in television representations of
women, for example, reveal central ideas about gender in American culture, while the
inconsistencies of these archetypes point to specific cultural disparities or possible
ruptures in the conventional understanding of gender.
The interdisciplinary nature of this dissertation incorporates something from each
of these. Literary studies provides an avenue to focus on narratives, whereas film studies
draws on examining popular visual media. The Frankfurt School influences the critical
nature of this piece as does cultural studies. In addition, cultural studies allows for the
study of the values and meanings embedded in popular texts that have become a part of
our everyday lives through television.
Hegemonic and Ideological Functions o/Television
Newcomb (1994) asserted that Marxism and structural anthropology also
influence cultural studies. Marxism scrutinizes the economic structures that form the
material "base" of society. Structural anthropologists examine the "mental structures"
that are common across cultural and geographical boundaries (p. 5). While Gramsci
(1929-1935) criticized Marxism for its narrowed focus on the material base, he asserted
that the ideology embedded within the 'superstructure' was also powerful. Ideology
involves the taken for granted knowledge, notions and characteristics particular social
groups deem normal in their culture. This knowledge often serves the interests of ruling
classes (Horkheimer & Adorno, 1972/1944). Gramsci's notion of hegemony referred to
the idea that dominant social classes exert social and cultural control over underclasses to
29
maintain the power of economic resources and political structures in society. Similar to
Althusser's concept of Ideological State Apparatuses (lSAs), hegemony embodies the
notion that social institutions such as the media function to maintain hierarchical power
structures by reproducing a common sense understanding of the world so that those in
subordinate classes are complicit in their own submission while sustaining the interest of
the dominant classes. These dominant forces are powerful because they are made to
seem normal and natural- reified over time, often through media, in their reproductions
and repetition. Unlike Althusser's ISAs, Gramsci asserted hegemony is not fixed - it is
open to challenge, debate and revision. It is not a closed system. There are fractures in
which competing or oppositional positions can challenge dominant ideologies. This
resistance exposes the unnaturalness of these normalized assumptions. Here again, media
playa role not only in the reinforcement of dominant ideology, but also its disruption and
resistance.
Michel Foucault (1980) conceptualized dominant ideology and power slightly
differently. He emphasized the role of discourse in the maintenance of hegemony.
Foucault used the term power/knowledge to describe the relationship between these ideas
and saw ideology as embedded in discourse. Foucault argued that knowledge is not only
a form of power, but also that power is mired in the production of knowledge in
particular historical moments (Foucault, 1980). Foucault asserted that power operates at
all sites of social interaction, not simply in a downward linear fashion. He stated that
humans, as social beings, are complicit in power relationships as both oppressors and
oppressed. In addition, Foucault contended that knowledge is produced through
30
discourse about particular topics. The study of discourse about feminism, for example,
would include 1) statements made about feminism, 2) rules about particular ways of
talking about women or feminism, 3) subjects who, with expected characteristics,
personify the discourse, 4) knowledge about how feminism obtains authority, 5)
institutional practices, and 6) acknowledgement that new conceptions of feminism will
arise and influence and/or change prevailing ones (cited in Hall, 2003). Foucault (1980)
argued that discourse both constructs and constrains knowledge about the topic. Without
denying a real, material existence, Foucault suggested that knowledge only has meaning
within the discourse about it and this discourse occurs in multiple sites, including popular
culture.
Hall (1980) concurred:
Reality exists outside language, but it is constantly mediated by and through
language: and what we can know and say has to be produced in and through
discourse. Discursive 'knowledge' is the product not of the transparent
representation of the 'real' in language but of the articulation of language on real
relations and conditions (p. 169).
Television serves as a production site of "specific articulation(s) of language on the
'real '" (Hall, 1980, p. 170). What we know to be real about women and feminism exists
in part through mediated messages. This 'knowledge' becomes more real or truthful
when presented through multiple sites, including media, and specifically through
programming by and about women. Gitlin (1986) asserted that television is "the
principal circulator of the cultural mainstream" (p. 3). Hall (1980) asserted that some
31
representations are so pervasive within a particular culture that they appear normal and
"conceal the practices of coding" (p. 170). When this naturalization occurs, the encoded
meaning has "achieved equivalence" with the decoded meaning (Hall, p. 170). Thus,
messages, ideas, and ideology are encoded at the production level, but these messages are
always produced through discursive codes, which are then decoded by audiences again
through culturally bound codes. When this "achieved equivalence" occurs, it is unlikely
that viewers would have an oppositional or negotiated reading or the text. Hall (1980)
described three decoding positions: preferred, negotiated, and oppositional. They are
defined below.
Hall (1980) identified three decoding positions or ways audiences create meaning
from particular texts: the preferred or dominant, the oppositional, and the negotiated. The
preferred reading appropriates the "dominant-hegemonic position" (p. 174) and reflects
"achieved equivalence" (p. 170). A preferred reading takes on the meaning intended by
the creator of the message. An oppositional meaning occurs when the preferred message
is understood, but then re-coded through an alternative perspective. For example, Kellner
(2003) suggested that a preferred reading of Die Hard involves audiences finding
pleasure in the restoration of the state, patriarchal order at the resolution of the film. In
contrast, Fiske observed an oppositional reading of this film when individuals at a
homeless shelter cheered at the destruction of authoritarian structures and characters
during the film (Fiske, 1993; Kellner, 2003). Negotiated readings operate with a mixture
of dominant and oppositional understandings. Negotiated readers accept the authority of
the hegemonic meanings in a broad sense, but allow situational exceptions that illuminate
32
contradictions in the dominant discourse (Hall, 1980). Hall (1980) claimed that
audiences invoke the negotiated position most frequently. While this dissertation does
not include an audience analysis, it is concerned with the encoded character development,
the functions of these similar personas, and the polysemic nature of reading television
narratives.
While literary studies, film studies, the Frankfurt School, and, most prominently,
cultural studies, influence this current inquiry, feminist theory also plays a central role.
In addition to the above-mentioned influences of television studies, Newcomb (1994)
asserted that feminist theory is central to television studies for two reasons. First,
feminist theory calls into question dominant and patriarchal understandings of societal
norms. This includes media representations that might reflect normalized values.
Second, television is sometimes considered a feminine medium, not only because of its
presence in the private sphere, but also its "consumer-targeted content" and its "open,
unending narrative strategies relates somehow to feminine experience" (Newcomb, 1994,
p. 5). These open-ended strategies are similar to the feminine form Rogers (1991)
discussed with regards to soap operas created specifically for women. Whether or not
television is truly a feminine medium is not the focus of this dissertation. The series
examined in this study typify programming targeted to women. Each encompasses four
female leads and is meant to reflect aspects of single women's lives. It is too simplistic
to suggest that simply because these series have female casts, the shows must necessarily
embody feminist thinking. Quite the opposite, these series need scholarly attention to
33
scrutinize the multitude of meanings embedded within these texts that are possibly
masked as feminist because the programs are about women.
For these reasons, the following section explores feminist theory and the women's
movement. An historical overview of the feminist movement provides context of the
various ideological fractures among feminist thinking. Ideological fractures can be seen
in the different archetypes that are called upon in rhetorical representations. The
privileging and/or ridicule of certain archetypes can legitimize particular interests over
others (Dow, 1996). In addition, representations of women in popular culture are
explored, followed by research questions and rationale.
Feminist Theory, Waves of the Women's Movement, and Popular Culture
This dissertation uses a feminist theoretical frame to explore three female cast
sitcoms, Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City. This feminist frame is
applied to the literary studies focus on the narrative structures, film studies influence of
texts in visual popular entertainment, critical and contextual approaches of the Frankfurt
School and Cultural Studies examinations of "how ideology is produced and functions"
within these television series (Brown, 1990, p. 403).
The following section includes an historical overview of the three waves of
feminism in order to provide an understanding of the fractures that exist within and
among each wave. This background information includes insights on how feminism
struggles to construct and maintain a public image and voice. In addition, it paves the
way for the analysis and discussion of television representations of feminism.
34
In a general sense, feminism has two components. It is a theoretical perspective
that understands gender as central to the organization of society and a social movement
that seeks equitable treatment of, and opportunities for, both sexes. Many feminist
scholars (for example Lorber, 1991; Steeves, 1987; van Zoonen, 1995; Wood, 1997)
asserted that sex role differences are attributed to the social construction of gender, not
innate biological differences. Most feminist scholars, and in particular, Lorber (1991) see
gender as a phenomenon that is socially constructed rather than biologically determined.
The idea that gender is a learned behavior, socially constructed through interactions,
one's social location, and a multitude of experiences means that it is not fixed by one's
biology, even if sex has its own influences on the construction of gender. Therefore,
historical, cultural, and economic factors have a great influence on gender roles and
expectations. These social roles and expectations for women have historically served the
maintenance of patriarchal power structures. Feminists continue to critique these power
structures in order to change existing inequities for women and all marginalized groups.
Feminism, however, is not simplistically monolithic, and within each wave of the
feminist movement, competing fractures and agendas exist regarding the direction of the
movement. The following section weaves together prevailing U.S. feminist thought
among the three waves of the women's movement and describes mediated
representations of feminism within each wave.
The First Wave
This overview provides an abbreviated understanding of the women's movement
in an attempt to demonstrate the multiplicity of feminism. In its brevity, this discussion
35
does not take into account many other nuances within and between the three waves of
feminism. In addition, describing feminism as three distinct waves continues to be
debated within feminist circles. The three waves discussed here are U.S. focused, and
included to sketch some of the competing beliefs and viewpoints of feminist thinking.
Within and among each wave of the women's movement there exist theoretical
fractures in feminist thought. The first wave of the women's movement extended from
the mid 1800s through the early 1920s and revolved around abolition of slavery,
women's suffrage, and temperance (Campbell, 1989). Women and African Americans
shared struggles of inequality while they worked together to achieve parity with White
men (Wood, 1997). Even though a strong connection between abolitionist efforts and
women's rights existed, racial divisions caused strife within the first wave, especially
when the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave Black men the right to vote and
excluded women. This racial divide could be seen not only in the expectation that Black
women walk behind White women in demonstrations, but also in broader social and
racial justice agendas of suffragists such as Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell
(Campbell, 1989). Racial struggles within the feminist movement still exist, and the
criticism of the modern women's movement as an exclusively White and privileged
interest group remains a central divide within feminist thinkers today (The Combahee
River Collective, 1977; hooks, 1989).
Two distinct branches of feminism emerged during the first wave of the women's
movement: liberal and cultural. Liberal feminism holds that men and women are
generally "alike and equal in all important respects" (Wood, 1997, p. 74) and therefore
36
deserve equal opportunity and access. In the case of first wave feminism, this included
securing the right to vote. Liberal feminism focuses on rational logic and changes
through established systems. It takes a non-essentialist approach and seeks change
through patriarchal channels, such as established institutions and legislation. Cultural
feminism maintains that men and women are different and that disparate privileges and
opportunities should be granted to each. The essentialist belief that women are more
moral and nurturing prevailed among cultural feminists. Cultural feminism embodies the
ideal of traditional femininity and celebrates domestic roles. Cultural feminists of the
first wave believed that their moral superiority and concern for others entitled them the
right to vote (Wood, 1997). Cultural feminists involved in Temperance and Maternal
movements embodied the mother archetype.
One major obstacle to women's participation in feminist movement involved lack
of access to the public sphere and public speaking opportunities. Women who were
allowed to speak publicly were often ridiculed and would spend a significant portion of
their speech simply justifying their right to speak publicly as a women since the
conventional wisdom was that she was unfeminine and immoral for speaking out
(Campbell, 1989). Much of the mainstream press coverage during the first wave framed
women working to earn the right to vote in derisive ways, making scathing comments
about their agenda, intelligence, and especially their un-femininity (Campbell, 1989;
Israel, 2002). The unfeminine representations of public speakers kept many women out
of the movement, especially those aligned more closely with cultural feminism.
37
Characterizations of women as unfeminine reflect commonalities with the iron maiden
archetype.
Although the ideologies of cultural and liberal feminism hold conflicting views,
these groups managed to work together to achieve women's suffrage. The focus on
suffrage instead of broader issues and inequalities, the political climate of the time, and
the inability for first wave feminists to secure a place for women's voices in the public
sphere hindered further gains. Change can best be achieved through common objectives
and understanding. With a fragmentation of ideological values and fewer commonly
shared goals, the first wave in the women's movement quieted until the 1960s.
The Second Wave
Second wave feminism emerged as other counter-conventional ideologies were
also being challenged through the civil rights and anti-war movements in the 1960s.
Post-World War II propaganda persuaded women to return to the private, feminine,
domestic sphere allowing men to regain their position in the paid labor market. Banished
to the private sphere, women of the second wave still struggled to find a public voice. In
1963, Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique was published. This pivotal book
described how suburbanization left many White middle-class women isolated and
unfulfilled. While this book is criticized for its exclusionary focus on White, middle-
class women, it helped reinvigorated the modern women's movement. The
fragmentation that existed in the first wave between the basic ideologies of cultural and
liberal feminism survived. However, it seems as though cultural feminism served as
backlash to any feminist agenda within this second wave by the liberal feminists who
38
were able to obtain a voice in the public sphere. For example, cultural feminists who
valued motherhood and domestic life were sometimes excluded from liberal feminist
agendas. Still other fractures surfaced in the second wave.
Radical feminism grew out of New Left politics, which focused on "protesting the
Vietnam War, racial discrimination and governmental abuses" (Wood, 1997, p. 79;
Howell, 1990). Many women who participated in New Left politics were outraged by the
overt sexism present within a politic that promoted and preached equality. Women
working side by side with men to fight inequalities discovered their participation was
often relegated to servicing the men's 'real' political work by making coffee and food or
typing and copying flyers and speeches instead of writing and presenting them (Wood,
1997).
Black women experienced similar discrimination working in the Civil Rights
movement. This discrimination was compounded by their exclusion from the mostly
White, middle class focus of the women's movement. Black women found separatist
approaches to be inadequate and impractical because they excluded men, particularly
Black men and the struggle for racial parity. (Combahee River Collective, 1977).
Steeves (1987) and van Zoonen (1995) also asserted that the separatist approach of
radical feminism is ineffectual because of its inability to promote change and its
exclusion of men. In addition, Steeves (1987) and van Zoonen (1995) as well as Black
(hooks, 1989) and Latina (Anzaldua, 1990) scholars criticized liberal and radical
feminisms' focus on the privileged White, middle class, and capitalist perspective,
39
advocating for a socialist feminism that concentrates on exposing economic disparities as
well as racial and patriarchal.
New feminisms continued to emerge. Other feminist scholars, within this second
wave, started to reveal the multiple inequities of race, class, and sexual orientation
(Anzuldua, 1990; Hill-Collins, 1989; hooks, 1989, Roberts, 1999; Mink, 1998). Lesbian
feminism as well as Womanists emerged during this second wave of feminism. Lesbian
feminists center much of their agenda on basic civil rights that are afforded to
heterosexuals, and explicitly exclude homosexuals, such as insurance coverage, housing
and property, and marriage (Van Gelder, 1984; Wood, 1997). According to Wood
(1997), Womanists included women of color who define themselves by race and gender.
They critique White middle-class feminism for its exclusion of their experiences.
Womanists seek to educate others about the intersections of gender and racial oppression.
Others (Anzuldua, 1990; Combahee River Collective, 1997, Frye, 1983; Hill-Collins,
1989; Lorde, 1984; Roberts, 1999; Mink, 1998) and in particular hooks (1989)
challenged all sites of oppression.
Press (2000) described the development of feminist communication theories by
exploring women's roles in the public sphere. She stated that women's participation
within the public sphere brought issues of public and private life to the forefront of public
discourse. These issues include domestic violence, welfare, abortion, sexualities, and
child and elder care. During the second wave, the media both ostracized and
incorporated feminism in part by controlling the way some aspects of feminism were
represented publicly. On the one hand, media were able to erode feminism by negatively
40
portraying some of the more extreme and visible representatives of radical feminism, and
focusing negatively on the sexuality of some leaders such as Andrea Dworkin and Kate
Millet. On the other hand, the media needed to embrace feminism because of its growing
acceptance. Therefore, the media presented a version of feminism that seemed less
threatening to mainstream power structures -liberal feminism, which seeks access
through established institutions without dismantling the power structures. While this type
of liberal feminism allowed some women to access to masculine privileges, it failed to
offer a much-needed critique of oppressive racial, social, and economic inequities
embedded in established institutionalized patriarchal systems.
While the preceding discussion does not represent all variance, criticisms and
nuances of the feminist movement, it provides a wide-ranging overview of the
mainstream, and sometimes competing, feminist thinking that contribute to the diverse
women's movement. This dissertation extends the discussion of feminism and its media
representations by claiming that by maintaining fractures and/or promoting specific
agendas, media serves to control the discourse surrounding feminism, ultimately
weakening and depoliticizing feminist efforts. The various fractures in feminist thought
are sometimes maintained through archetypal characters' portrayals.
The Third Wave
Distinct and different conflicts exist within and between the waves of feminism.
Race emerged as a central conflict within the first two. Still, other tensions within the
second wave included differences such as gender, sexuality, and class. While these many
divisions existed within the second wave, what is most often presented in the media
41
involves liberal feminism, focusing on White, middle-class, heterosexual, women.
Lesbian and socialist feminisms simply have not been compatible with broadcast
commercial television's goals of reaching large audiences (Raymond, 2003; Messner,
2002; Dow, 1996).
When the third wave surfaced is debated. Siegel (1997) viewed the defeat of
ERA and the Reagan-Bush era as the major setbacks within the second wave that lead to
the emergence of the third wave. Katie Roiphe, influenced by conservatism of the times,
is often seen as one of the faces of the third wave. Her privileged background allowed
her access to media, which has made her and her backlash more visible. Although some
scholars (Baumgardner & Richards, 2000; Heywood & Drake, 1997; Wood, 1997)
believe Roiphe's feminist backlash should not be confused with third wave feminism, her
visibility in the media certainly contributes to the discourse of feminism.
Scholars (Heywood & Drake, 1997; Lotz, 2001; Orr, 1997; Siegel, 1997; Walker,
1992) asserted that the third wave emerged, not in this conservative backlash, but from
the multicultural conflicts within the second wave and the critique of the second wave for
its White middle-class, and growing institutionalized academic, agendas. Lumby (1997)
believed that second wave feminists' failure to acknowledge their own power and
privileged positions within established institutions contributed to the divisions between
the second and third wave. Others (Steeves, 1987; van Zoonen, 1995) contended that
socialist feminism, planted firmly in the second wave, addresses these issues with a
grassroots, activist approach, which they say is lacking in the mainstream third wave.
42
Another major distinction between second and third wave feminisms involves
generational differences. These differences include not only age cohorts, but also when
one's feminist consciousness is (or was) raised (Orr, 1997; Siegel, 1997; Siegel, 2000;
Karlyn,2003). Siegel (1997) stated, "age may be less important in shaping political
outlook than the historical moment at which one enters the movement" (p. 55). Siegel
(2000) attributed some of the third wave's alienation from the second wave to its inability
to speak to sexuality, motherhood, and romantic love in a way that is useful to third wave
feminists, who have been born into a world where the accomplishments of the first and
second wave were already a given. Third wave feminists are indebted to the activists
who came before them, who broke down patriarchal boundaries. However, third wave
feminist thinking complicates the binary of patriarchy and views identities and
perspectives as shifting and ambiguous. Third wave feminists must balance the many
contradictory tensions internalized in their individual perspectives. Therefore, third wave
feminism is often seen as a series of lifestyle choices. Heywood and Drake (1997) stated
that the lives of third wave feminists "have been shaped by struggles between various
feminisms as well as by cultural backlash against feminism and activism, we argue that
contradiction marks the desires and strategies of the third wave" (p. 2). The authors
commented further,
Young feminists who grew up with equity feminism, got gender feminism in
college, along with poststructuralism, and are now hard at work on a feminism
that strategically combines elements of these feminisms, along with Black
feminism, women of color feminisms, working-class feminism, pro-sex feminism,
43
and so on. A third wave goal that comes directly out of learning from these
histories and working among these traditions is the development of modes of
thinking that can come to terms with the multiple, interpenetrating axes of
identity, and the creation of a coalition politics based on these understandings ... as
different strains of feminism and activism sometimes directly contradict each
other, they are all part of our third wave lives, our thinking, and our praxes: we
are products of all the contradictory definitions of and differences within
feminism, beasts of such a hybrid kind that perhaps we need a different name
altogether (Heywood & Drake, 1997, p. 3).
A significant critique of third wave feminism involves its focus on individualized
concerns. Personal narratives pervade popular and scholarly literature about third wave
feminism. Rebecca Walker's To be real: Telling the truth and changing the face of
feminism and Barbara Findlen's Listen up: Voices from the next feminist generation
represented third wave feminist theorizing as well as accentuated the multiplicity of
positions with which their contributors identify (Siegel, 1997). This focus on individual,
multi-perspective voices and experiences contributes to the critique of the third wave as
having no collective feminist or activist agenda. Whereas many second wave feminists
became aware of the feminist consciousness through grassroots organizations, many third
wavers have their feminist awakenings in institutional spaces. Because the academy
serves as a space of consciousness-raising for many third wave feminists, Siegel (1997)
believed that these personal narratives of the third wave are embedded with second wave
theoretical frameworks. She stated, "second wave theory enables a third wave
44
epistemology ... the narrators fluently and casually draw on theoretical formulations to
explain and make sense of their everyday existence" (p. 62).
Among third-wave feminists, a disconnection exists from any one strand of
feminism from the second wave because the concepts of feminist and feminine were
generally presented as opposing and mutually exclusive. Campbell (1983) reflected this
strife when she states, "The inability to reconcile personhood and womanhood is the
ideological dilemma at the core of feminism" (p. 101). According to Campbell (1983),
womanhood embodies a more traditional concept of femininity, whereas personhood
symbolizes those qualities that are often associated with masculinity and feminism, such
as strength and independence. This struggle has been present in all three waves. Third
wave feminists want to break down these dichotomous socially constructed categories
and individually define feminism. While third wave feminism is steeped in
contradiction, it celebrates individual perspectives within a collective movement (Walker,
1995; Heywood & Drake, 1997; Baumgardner & Richards, 2000). Many scholars
acknowledge the difficulties in creating a collective agenda through individualistic
standpoint narratives (Orr, 1997; Baumgardner & Richards, 2000; Karlyn, 2003), but
they also recognize that knowledge is partial and that there are multiple ways of knowing.
They find value in the everyday experiences (Collins, 1989) and believe these
perspectives should not be dismissed. In addition to third wave feminism valuing of
individual experiences, Baumgardner and Richards (2003), advocates of a strong third
wave agenda, argued that feminism exists everywhere, and in particular, through popular
culture.
45
Third Wave Feminism and Popular Culture
Third wave feminism occurs, although not exclusively, through and within
popular culture, "where young women are refashioning feminism toward their own ends"
(Karlyn, 2003, p. 3). Karlyn (2003) stated that third wave feminists focus on
individualistic concerns and new communication technologies. The Riot Grrrl
movement, for example, emerged out of the punk scene in the early 1990s, challenging
male dominated punk rock. The Riot Grrrl movement, as well as other musical tours and
mediated endeavors such as zines, the Internet, and magazines such as Sassy and Bitch,
rebelled against the language that oppressed them, re-appropriating words such as "girl,"
"slut," and "bitch," making them powerful expressions of third wave feminism
(Baumgardner & Richards, 2000).
Karlyn asserted that "popular culture infuses the world in which today's young
women live, and the face of feminism today, for better or worse, is being written across
media culture" (2003, p. 2). Lumby (1997) agreed,
If feminism is to remain engaged with and relevant to the everyday lives of
women, then feminists desperately need the tools to understand everyday culture.
We need to engage with the debates in popular culture rather than taking an elitist
and dismissive attitude toward the prime medium of communication today (p.
174).
Karlyn suggested that third wave feminists create, change, and perform their identities
through the consumption of mass media. In order to understand the future of feminist
46
movement she asserted the popular texts that young women consume need scholarly
exploration. Karlyn (2003) stated,
In third wave feminism, popular culture is a natural site of identity-formation and
empowerment, providing an abundant storehouse of images and narratives
valuable less as a means of representing reality than as motifs available for
contesting, rewriting and recoding (p. 8).
Merskin (2006) discussed similar uses of the Internet for girls. According to Merskin
(2006), girls are actively disrupting the dichotomous representation of "good girl" versus
"bad girl" and they are creating a new and different identity called the "Jammer Girl."
This "Jammer Girl" creates a positive image of a healthy, activist female, challenging the
commercialized and unrealistic ideals of beauty. While there are many positive aspects
for third wave feminism advocates, the individualized focus, in addition to the many
contradictions, complicates the progressiveness of the movement.
While the first wave struggled to find and maintain a public voice, representations
of feminism in the second and third wave were, and still are limited. The public face of
feminism for the second wave focused on (White, middle-class, heterosexual) liberal
feminism's struggle for equal access to patriarchal structures. Representations of the
third wave reinforce the ideas that feminism is dead and/or a very individualized, and
sometimes consumeristic, set of lifestyle choices. When only one fracture of feminism
dominates the public sphere, collective action becomes difficult and limited. Finding
commonalities among oppressed peoples can affect change. Maintaining divisions and
divisiveness prohibits that change and promotes the status quo. Studying media
47
representations of feminism and femininity is important in examining how resistant
messages can enter the popular discourse. The next section looks specifically at
constructed representations of feminism in popular culture texts.
Media Representations
Karlyn (2003), Moseley and Read (2002), and Lotz (2001) analyzed a 1998 Time
Magazine cover with a headline that asks "Is Feminism Dead?" The cover featured
Susan B. Anthony, Betty Friedan, and Gloria Steinem as faces of American feminists in
black and white contrasting those images with a full color shot of Calista Flockhart (the
actress who played one of the most popular female television characters of that year, Ally
McBeal) as representative of the new face of feminism. While the cover caused much
debate, Moseley and Read (2002) suggested that, despite popular press opinion, the
character of Ally McBeal embodied feminist qualities. The authors set up their argument
in contrast to previous scholarship that depicted characters such as Bridget Jones and
Ally McBeal as the 'anti (feminist)-heroines of the nineties" (2002, p. 233). Moseley and
Read (2002) distinguished their analysis from earlier research that measured feminism by
the character's focus on career versus personal life, by asserting that it is not the conflict
of career over personal life that marks one as feminist, but the struggle to hold them in
balance together. Moseley and Read explored three key tensions about women
characters: 1) feminism and femininity, 2) fantasy and reality, and 3) public and private.
The authors assel1ed that Ally McBeal (the character and the show) blurred the lines
between these tensions, creating a feminist sensibility that represented these tensions as
48
"mutually pervasive and impossible to separate" (Moseley & Read, 2002, p. 247). This
reflects the conflicting and contradictory convictions of third wave feminism.
Wilcox (1995-97) explored three television series that presented female and male
leads as a couple in work and romance. The author conducted a textual analysis of
Remington Steele, Moonlighting, and Lois and Clark. In each series, the female lead
holds an official position of authority over the male character (as the supervisor or
through having more experience and/or seniority). The author contended that, although
the female characters may demonstrate strength and independence, the male characters
are constructed as superior. This demonstrates that although women are achieving more
prominent roles on television, they are ridiculed within the show for their failure to see
that their male counterparts play the 'real' hero, and the females' contributions are
belittled.
Karlyn (2003) asserted that popular culture serves as a natural site of
empowerment for third wave feminism. In her exploration of the Scream Trilogy, Karlyn
demonstrated how girls are empowered by these films' rejection of femininity. Karlyn
(2003) suggested that young women identify with the female characters in Scream and
asserted that those who are not engaged with, and knowledgeable of, popular culture and
its consequent influences and abuses, fail to achieve any empowerment within the film.
The Scream characters who lacked popular culture knowledge are killed off and those
who critically engage with the popular texts can resist its influences and create their own
stories (Karlyn, 2003). This reflects the importance of young women's real life need for
critical consumption of popular media.
49
In Prime-Time Feminism, Dow (1996) traced portrayals of feminism on television
sitcoms from 1970 - 1995. Dow demonstrated the complexity of the shows and
characters to illustrate how they embodied feminist ideals as well as succumbed to
dominant patriarchal forces particular to the time and context of the shows. Dow began
with The Mary Tyler Moore Show (MTM) (1970-1977). She argued the most progressive
moments of MTM involved the character Mary Richards' occupation as a production
assistant, a job usually reserved for men. Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore) was not the
first single working-woman on television; however, she was the first who had a career,
not just a job that was a prelude to finding the right man and getting married. This
challenged feminine expectations about women at the time. Other sitcoms on the air
around the same time featured women as husband hunting, incompetent but charming,
and/or as widows or mothers (Dow, 1996).
Dow (1996) argued that while MTM disrupted the notion of women's desire to
have children, the show kept the idea of family intact through the family Mary Richards
created at the news station. For its time, MTM embodied a liberal feminism that was
palpable to the broader American public, but subverted a more progressive feminist
agenda. This portrayal highlighted the tenets of the second wave's White, middle-class,
liberal feminism that strove for equal access and opportunity among men and women.
However, this access and opportunity was generally limited to White middle class
women (Dow, 1996). Mary Richards embodied the middle-class feminine ideal. She
was attractive, heterosexual, and served as the caregiver for all in her newly created work
family. So while MTM challenged notions of women in domestic spheres, the show still
50
showed women doing most of the nurturing within the family of the public sphere (the
workplace). Patriarchy still structured this workplace family. Even though Mary
Richards was allowed access, she was not able to challenge institutional structures (Dow,
1996).
MTM did prove to be progressive in another way. This involved Mary Richards'
life in her private sphere. Dow (1996) asserted that the female community created
around Mary's apartment with Rhonda (Valerie Harper) and Phyllis (Cloris Leachman)
(in the first few seasons), served as a consciousness-raising space. However, because this
consciousness raising was always relegated to the private sphere, it never really
challenged patriarchal structures. Mary Richards could identify sexism, but in her role as
the good girl (the dutiful wife, mother, and daughter to the men in the show) she did not
act on it. The progressiveness of MTM is seen as lifestyle choices. As positive as those
choices may be for women, they are tempered by the lack of structural challenges (Dow,
1996). In addition, Dow argued that by highlighting liberal feminism, the goals of
broader social justice issues, such as racism and poverty, were further marginalized.
In Dow's (1996) examination of One Day at a Time (1975-1984), a show about a
divorced mother and her two daughters struggling to make it on their own- 'one day at a
time,' she described majorfeminist themes such as independence, self-actualization, and
fulfillment. Dow asserted that One Day at a Time illustrates television's appropriation of
radical feminism's critique of patriarchy by filtering it through liberal feminism's focus
on individual choices and solutions. Dow (1996) stated that Ann Romano (Bonnie
Franklin) not only noticed sexism (as did Mary Richards), but also talked about it and
51
lived a life affected by it. The character of Ann Romano desired autonomy, economic
independence, and an equalitarian relationship. However, the political import of these
desires was mitigated by the show's individualized focus on the personal psychology of
Ann Romano and other characters.
Dow (1996) asserted that Designing Women (1986-1993) portrayed the most
progressive feminist agenda of all the shows she examined. In this sitcom, four women
made up the main characters. They included Julia Sugarbaker (Dixie Carter), Suzanne
Sugarbaker (Delta Burke), Charlene Frazier (Jean Smart), and Mary Jo Shively (Annie
Potts). The show highlighted their interactions at the workplace. Even though Designing
Women presented working-women, this show magnified the femininity of the characters
and their work. Each character wore the latest feminine fashions and together they ran an
interior design firm out of the Sugarbaker's posh Atlanta home. The office looked more
like an upscale living room than a place of business, which provided the perfect setting
for the female (and feminine) interaction (Dow, 1996). The characters represented the
four archetypes examined in this study. Dow (1996) described Julia as, "a widow in her
late forties and the senior member of the design firm, intelligent, elegant, and
opinionated, often displaying her indignation about some social issue" (p. 106). This
description embodies the archetype of the iron maiden and "elegant" points to her upper
class status. Dow's description of Suzanne, Julia's younger sister, embodied the sex
object archetype. Suzanne was depicted as an egocentric former beauty queen. Dow
stated that Suzanne functions as the narrow-minded opposite to Julia's feminist political
agenda. Suzanne provided comic relief in the form of self-absorption and feminist
52
backlash. Charlene represented the child. She is described as "intellectually
unsophisticated" and na'ive, but also "friendly and trusting" (1996, p. 106). Charlene was
the laughable conventional character, who also served as the comic relief for the feminist
tensions discussed on the show. However, Dow (1996) commented that, although
Charlene was portrayed as less sophisticated, she "often makes insightful comments
about human nature" (p. 106). This is certainly true of the child archetype. Finally, Mary
Jo is defined as the "everywoman" (p.l06). In the case of Designing Women, Mary Jo
was a thirty-something single mother who is intelligent and attractive, but also insecure
as she struggled to make her way in the world. In this study, I have called this archetype
the mother, but the everywoman designation that Dow (1996) used also works well.
Designing Women revolved around the talk of the four women. Dow argued that
this talk "parallels the essential process of consciousness-raising" (1996, p. 108). Dow
defined the function of consciousness-raising as "the realization of the political status of
women as an oppressed group and the ways in which sexual politics governed their lives"
(p.l08). Despite the acknowledgement that the women of Designing Women did not
always create an "atmosphere of equality," their conversations "function to create a
woman-centered analysis of sexual politics, the ultimate goal of consciousness-raising"
(Dow, 1996, p. 109). Each character brought her personal experiences to the dialogue.
These experiences are framed by their character's archetypal personality. While
Charlene (the child) related her experience to the frivolous, and Mary Jo (the
everywoman/mother) connected with her personal struggles and care for others, it is
almost always Julia, the iron maiden archetype, who informed the dialogue on a broader
53
political level (Dow, 1996). This, I assert is the function of the iron maiden in shows
such as Designing Women.
In Dow's discussion of Murphy Brown (1988-1992), she contended that the show
functions as a parody of feminism, a cautionary tale about the cost of being a feminist.
This constructs Murphy's iron maiden archetype into a buffoon character. Dow (1996)
argued that the buffoon representation trivializes feminism. She suggested that this
trivialization reflected the backlash against feminism prevalent at the time. Finally,
Dow's examination of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, a drama that breaks the sitcom
pattern of her analysis, described Dr. Quinn's portrayal as having an explicit liberal
feminist agenda, but this agenda was tempered by romanticized portrayals of
motherhood.
This dissertation builds on Dow's discussion of Designing Women, by extending
Dow's (1996) idea that the main characters represent and frame discourse based on their
personalities. I argue that the main characters of Designing Women represent ancient
archetypes and that these archetypes portray patterned qualities. I contend that if these
archetypes are present in Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City, they will
each bring forth a specific discourse regarding femininity and feminism. The success of
the show's archetypal characters resonates with audiences because of their consistent and
continuous presence in popular culture. One could argue that the use of these archetypes
is simply a function of the fast-paced, low risk world of syndicated television, but a
closer examination is necessary to reveal the underlying meanings reflected by the
archetypal characters present in the series.
54
Research Questions and Rationale
RQ1 - Do the four archetypal patterns of the iron maiden, the sex object, the child, and
the mother exist among the four main characters in each series? Are Golden
Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City recombinant series?
This question provides a starting point for a systematic and replicable way to ascertain if
these archetypal patterns are re-presented in the series. The dissertation project needs to
first establish that the archetypes actually exist in some form within the series.
RQ2 - What are the similarities and differences among the archetypes in each series?
How do the archetypes function within each series? Is one archetype's
perspective privileged in particular narratives? If so, what does this privileging
say about womanhood and feminism?
Third wave feminism esteems individualistic interpretations. Therefore understanding
how the different characters represent specific values might indicate how a particular
perspective is positioned within culture. For example, Dow (1996) asserted that Murphy
Brown, although touted as a feminist show, served more as a cautionary tale about the
cost of feminism rather than a show promoting feminist ideals because Murphy Brown,
the title character, is portrayed as the feminist buffoon rather than the wise women. In
contrast, Designing Women, a show popularly viewed as feminine (not feminist), is able
to bring forth many feminist issues through the wise woman, iron maiden archetype, Julia
Sugarbaker. These archetypes not only provide balance among the characters and
narratives present in a television story, but also specific archetypes possibly create a
narrative space for feminist discourse.
55
RQ3 - Are there similar narratives among the series? Are there narratives that are
unique to each series? What do these stories communicate about the age, race,
and class differences among the casts?
These questions serve as the over-arching theme of this dissertation. Karlyn (2003),
Merskin (2006) and others suggested that third wave feminism occurs within and through
popular media. Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City were popular television
programs that each aired five years or more and targeted women specifically. These
programs aired on primetime from 1985 - 2004. This provides an extended timeframe to
examine (if and) how narratives are maintained and changed over time. The analysis of
unique or differing narratives points to socially constructed differences among age, race,
and class among the characters. Because the shows are similar in their format, these
variations might represent significant social and historical understandings of the
differences among particular demographics.
RQ4 - How does talk function within each series? What does this talk convey about age,
race, and class differences among the characters?
Since the shows focus on the talk among the characters, a discussion of the
communicative function seems necessary. Language is a socially constructed, symbolic
process that reflects and maintains cultural norms (Barthes, 1972; Kramarae, 1981).
Identifying how the communication works within the series might illuminate broader
cultural meanings.
The following chapter presents the methodologies used to address the above
research questions: a content analysis and a comparative textual analysis. The content
analysis serves to answer RQ1. The textual analysis allows for a deeper exploration of
the archetypes, narratives, feminist discourse, and use of talk in, and comparatively
among, the series, to respond to the remaining research questions.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter focuses on the methodological approaches employed in this
dissertation. The content analysis used to answer RQl determines if the ancient
archetypes exist within the modern character portrayals. This quantitative approach
systematically establishes a starting point for the comparative textual analysis. The
textual analysis allows for a deeper exploration of the meanings embedded within and
comparatively among the characters, the narratives, and the series.
Content Analysis
This dissertation examines three television sitcoms from three separate decades.
RQl asks if the archetypal patterns of the iron maiden, the sex object, the child, and the
mother exist among the four main characters in Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and
the City. To answer this, I conducted content analyses of the first season of each series.
While content analysis is used in many disciplines, historically and currently, this method
is often employed many mass communication research. Modern uses of content analysis
began with the rise of mass produced newspapers, and spread to radio, and eventually
film and television (Krippendorff, 1980). According to Klaus Krippendorf (1980),
"content analysis is a research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from
data to their context" (p. 21). Berelson (1952) defined content analysis as "a research
technique for the objective, systematic and quantitative descriptions of the manifest
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content of communication" (p. 18). Kerlinger (2000) described content analysis as a
systematic, objective, and quantitative method for examining communication
phenomenon. The use of a content analysis for this study serves as a systematic and
replicable way to demonstrate if these archetypal patterns are re-presented in the
characters of the series. In addition, content analysis establishes a starting point for the
broader inquiry and deeper textual analysis of this dissertation by providing descriptive
parameters that can be used to compare characters across series to begin answering RQ2.
Wimmer and Dominick (2003) clearly delineated the steps for conducting a
content analysis: 1) formulating the research question, 2) defining the population and
selecting a sample, 3) articulating the unit of analysis, 4) operationalizing the categories
of content to be analyzed, 5) train coders and check inter-coder reliability, and 6) code,
analyze, and draw conclusions from the collected data. While step one is already
established, steps two through five are explained below. Step six is addressed in the
results and discussion chapters. While I provide quantification of the results from the
content analysis, I also provide qualitative examples from the texts to illustrate the way
the archetypes materialize in these programs.
Sample Selection
Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City were chosen for several reasons.
First, each series has four main female characters: Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak (Bea
Arthur), Rose Nylund (Betty White), Blanche Devereaux (Rue Mclanahan), and Sophia
Petrillo (Estelle Getty) starred in Golden Girls; Khadijah James (Queen Latifah),
Synclaire James (Kim Coles), Maxine Shaw (Erika Alexander), and Regine Hunter (Kim
59
Fields) acted in lead roles in Living Single; Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker),
Charlotte York (Kristen Davis), Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon), and Samantha Jones
(Kim Cattrall) headlined Sex and the City.
Second, the series were seen as groundbreaking: Golden Girls for its prominence
of older women in primetime; similarly, Living Single was a part of FOX's
narrowcasting, reaching African American audiences with Black actors and producers;
and Sex and the City for its frank and explicit discussion of sex by and about women.
Third, these series were selected for their popularity and longevity. Golden Girls
ran for seven seasons, Living Single, five, and Sex and the City, six. Each series can still
be seen in syndication today. Lastly, these series span nearly 20 years, with first seasons
overlapping the last of the previous or picking up the following year. If these series are
recombinants, then this demonstrates the persistence of these archetypes in American
popular culture.
The complete first season of each series were selected as the population for the
content analysis. Only the first season is included in the population for content analysis
portion of this study because this is when the creators establish the characters. After that,
and despite the little development because of the episodic nature of television sitcoms,
the characters' personalities are basically set. From the first seasons there are 25
episodes from Golden Girls, 27 episodes from Living Single, and 12 episodes from Sex
and the City. In order to have a sufficient number of observations, I took slightly more
than a 20% sample from each series. To achieve this sample size, I employed a
systematic sampling technique. Krippendorff (1980) stated that in content analysis where
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texts appear regularly, systematic sampling is favorable. I included the pilot episode in
all series and every fifth episode of Golden Girls and Living Single, and every fourth
episode of Sex and the City, since it had shorter seasons. Time constraints prohibited the
use of the entire population. I analyzed episodes 1,5,10,15,20, and 25 from Golden
Girls and Living Single, and used episodes 1, 4,8, 12 from Sex and the City.
Unit ofAnalysis
In this content analysis there are two levels of units of analysis. The first one
involves coding specific instances (i.e. dress, demeanor, and dialogue by and about the
characters) within an episode. The second involves identifying the dominant archetype
per character per episode. The latter is used as the unit of analysis in reaching an
acceptable level of inter-coder reliability. A graduate student and I did all the coding.
While inter-coder reliability was high using the fonner unit of analysis, there were times
when coders did not have the same number of instances, meaning that one coder might
have coded the dress of a character, as well as her comments as one instance where the
other coded it twice. And while coding dress per scene and dialogue separately seemed
like an easy fix, coding lines of dialogue proved more difficult to be exact. For example,
a character such as Rose on Golden Girls might have a series of inane lines that are
interrupted by a cynical comment about Rose's foolhardiness by Dorothy, then followed
by more of the absurd from Rose. This complicated the way coders categorize the scene.
The whole scene could be coded as one mark for Rose as the child, or one as Rose for the
child archetype and one for Dorothy as the iron maiden archetype, or one per line of
dialogue for Rose's comments as the child plus one for Dorothy as the iron maiden for
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her cynicism, or all lines for Rose as the child since Dorothy's line was pertaining to
Rose's childish behavior. As the dialogue complicated matters of coding the characters,
the coders decided that dominant archetype per character per episode would serve as the
unit of analysis used to reach inter-coded reliability. I include details on coders and inter-
coder reliability following the next section.
Coding Categories
This study examines four archetypes: the iron maiden, the sex object, the child,
and the mother. As discussed in Chapter 2, the archetypes harken back to the goddess of
Western Greek and Roman mythology. The archetypes are operationalized for this
project based on how Bolen (1984) and Downing (1981) described the manifestation of
the mythical representatives in real women's lives.
The iron maiden archetype
The iron maiden is the personification of the Greek goddess of the hunt and the
moon, Artemis, (Bolen, 1984; Downing, 1981). This archetype embodies an overall
masculine style. She might wear a business suit and have sharp, blunt, and shorter
hairstyles. She is cynical, competitive, sometimes abrasive and mean-spirited, and often
antagonistic toward men. Her viewpoints might be considered feminist or just plain
bitchy. The iron maiden values women's right to be equal. She typically works in a male
dominated profession and achieves high status. Although she may desire a romantic
partnership, she is independent and does not need a man in her life or finds romantic love
impractical and/or incompatible with her career ambitions and independent needs.
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The child archetype
Persephone, the maiden goddess is eager to please, passive, and compliant (Bolen,
1984). The child archetype incarnates a classic to ultra feminine style. She might be
dressed in skirts and girly accessories such as bows, ribbons, or flowers. Her hairstyle
might be longer and flowing to indicate her femininity. She might wear pearls,
symbolizing traditional values. White and light colors surround her. She is prudent and
conventional. She is seen as prim, puerile, and simple. The child is portrayed as dumb
and immature, although sometimes she makes surprisingly profound statements as
children sometimes do. She is na'ive and her comments are usually silly or ridiculous.
The child believes deeply in the romantic love of fairytales at the expensive of reality.
She desires romantic love above most other goals. Her career is much less relevant in her
life than love.
The sex object archetype
Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty reigns over women's sensual desires
(Bolen, 1984). The sex object archetype flaunts an overtly sexual style. Her dress and
demeanor are alluring. She is concerned with the male gaze and does what is necessary
to get that attention. She is sensual and superficial; the objects around her are lavish.
The sex object takes great pride in her sexual experiences. Money, power, and sex are
more important than love or commitment. She derives power from sexuality and believes
women should use their sexuality to get what they want. The comments made by and
about her are mostly sexual and/or shallow. She brags about her sexual exploits and finds
pleasure in her physical appearance. Everything about her is provocative and focused on
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getting the male's sexual attention. Her sexual appetite is insatiable, and she constantly
wants a new man, conquest, or sexual experience in her life all the time.
The mother archetype
The mother archetype is the most difficult to define for this study because, in two
of the series, the characters are childfree. In her discussion of Designing Women, Dow
(1996) used the term "everywoman" to describe this re-occurring archetype. This
designation works well when discussing characters who are not biological mothers. In
this case, the mother archetype or everywoman, is the center of the group or the star
vehicle of the show. Bolen (1984) described this maternal archetype as a seeker of
psychological wellness for herself and the other characters. This archetype performs
much of the emotional work for the group. The stories she tells reflect the complexity of
the world, not the absurdity as the child's stories would exhibit. The mother archetype is
more neutral on issues, as she constantly questions, contemplates, and over-analyzes the
dilemmas in her life as well as in others. She generally provides emotional COmfOlt and
support for those around her.
Coders and inter-coder reliability
Two coders compared all the episodes in the sample and reached 100% inter-
coder reliability for the dominant archetype per character per episode. The author trained
one coder and together coded all sample-selected episodes. While the second coder was
fairly familiar with each series, she was only superficially aware of the present study.
The coders received definitions of the archetypes as explained above and independently
conducted a two-episode test, asked questions to clarify the archetype definitions and unit
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of analysis complexities discussed above. Then both researchers independently coded the
remaining episodes in the sample using full-page tables to track the instances of
archetypal behavior in a single episode. Where characters embodied qualities of different
archetype equally, the character was given a dual archetypal designation and these
variances among the archetypes and the series are investigated in the textual analysis.
Textual Analysis
The textual analysis portion of this dissertation expands Dow's (1996) rhetorical
analysis of five prime-time television series. Dow (1996) described rhetorical analysis as
an argument brought forth to interpret meaning in polysemic texts. She argued that
television serves a "distinctive rhetorical function in defining feminism" (p. 6).
Television texts serve a discursive function. I conducted textual analyses on Golden
Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City to answer research questions two through five,
which address more discursive functions and latent meanings within the texts.
Since I am conducting an analysis of television texts, access is generally not a
problem (Stokes, 2003). All seven seasons of Golden Girls are available on DVD and
were analyzed. Only one of the five seasons of Living Single can be purchased on DVD,
while seasons two through five were recorded from the syndicated version on the Oxygen
Network. The entire Sex and the City series (seasons 1-6) is available on DVD and
included in the study. This textual analysis provides a non-intrusive way to understand
the meanings created within the texts. Examples were selected from several episodes to
illustrate recurring themes. The selection of these series offers a sample of American
women of different ages and races across a twenty-year time frame. Golden Girls ran
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from 1985 - 1992 on NBC and is still in syndication on Lifetime network. Living Single
was a part of FOX's narrowcasting programs from 1993 - 1998 and remains in
syndication on the Oxygen network. Sex and the City arose from HBO's original
programming in 1998. HBO produced new shows for six seasons, ending in 2004, and
sold edited versions for syndication on TBS and WB (now CW). These series allow me
to discuss not only the similarities and differences among the character types, but also
discourse about race, age, feminism, and femininity among the series.
I chose situation comedies for several reasons. First, while much of media
content uses recombinant characters and narratives so that audiences can easily relate to
the characters, find them likable (or unlikable), and follow storylines, sitcoms, unlike
films, have an opportunity to develop these characters more fully in subsequent seasons
(after success is proven). However, I argue that producers often overdevelop the
stereotypical behaviors of characters, possibly indicating the necessity of balance among
the characters. Second, television's presence in the home increases individuals'
awareness of and/or familiarity with the series, characters, and discursive themes. In
addition, the long-term and continuous run of the shows has a great impact on shaping
and influencing viewers' perceptions of what it means to be an individual in American
culture over time (Tichi, 1991).
Golden Girls, Living Single and Sex and the City were selected for their inclusion
of four female leads as well as their broadcast success, measured by length of time on air.
Designing Women was not included although popular around the same time as Golden
Girls, because of Dow's (1996) excellent exploration. This dissertation expands on
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Dow's (1996) analysis of Designing Women by discussing the significance of the
archetypes within the series. While Dow (1996) noted many parallels in the feminist
discourse on Designing Women to the women's movement and attributes most of the
political and public agenda to the iron maiden character, Julia Sugarbaker, she does not
discuss the significance of the archetypes within the series as this study addresses.
It is not enough, however, to assume that series featuring female leads bring forth
a feminist agenda, as Dow (1996) demonstrated with Murphy Brown. The particular
messages within texts need to be examined for how they might shape, reflect, and
challenge feminist thought. Television might reflect, if not shape, public discourse and
understanding of many issues. Knowledge created through media messages reflect "how
human beings understand themselves in our culture and how our knowledge about the
social, the embodied individual and shared meanings come to be produced in different
periods" (Foucault cited in Hall, 1997, p. 43). In addition, Foucault argued "all
discourses construct subject-positions, from which alone they make sense" (Foucault
cited in Hall, 1997, p. 56). He stated, "These subjects have the attributes we would
expect as they are defined by the discourse" (Foucault cited in Hall, 1997, p. 56).
Foucault asserted that subjects personify, and are subjected to, the discourse. In the case
of discourse about women's lives, including issues of femininity and feminism, I assert
that the archetypes present in the three series are the expected characters/subjects that
produce the surrounding narrative discourse.
Cultural narratives, which are often told through the media in our electronic
world, are sometimes described as similar to the myths prevalent in oral cultures. Myths
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explain how broader societal norms are constructed and normalized. They teach
individuals how to live according to, and within, these broader expectations (Campbell,
2001). Campbell (2001) posited that myths exist to explain the world around us. Myths
call for a deeper awareness of how we participate in our lives, teaching us how to live,
from birth to death, in this world. Campbell suggested that myths are signposts along the
way that not only train us, but also help us search for the deeper significance in the
meaning of our lives, allowing us to discover who we are. Although Campbell did not
analyze popular television narratives, television does serve this mythical function for
many in the modern world.
Campbell emphasized the pedagogical aspect of myths, affirming that myths
provide models for a particular society. And as society changes, new sets of metaphors
appear in the cultural narratives not only to update the traditional, but also validate and
maintain certain societal values. This is why the twenty-year time frame of the three
television series is important to examine, and quite possibly another reason why we
continue to see recombinant series in television programming. Campbell (2001)
suggested that individuals have to find the aspect of myth that aids them in conducting
their life within the culture. While Campbell looked for over-arching commonalities,
Doniger explored instances of difference. Doniger (1998) challenged Campbell for what
she calls his "static monomyth" (p. 64) approach and cautioned against reductionism and
essentialism (which she finds in Campbell) through rigorous comparative analysis of
myth within, and across, cultures. In addition, Hall (1975) stated, "the really significant
item may not be the one which continually recurs but the one which stands out as an
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exception from the general pattern" (p. 15). Doniger (1998) looked to those moments of
difference to describe significant distinctions among different societies.
I incorporated Doniger's (1998) comparative mythological analysis to examine
the similarities and differences among the three series. Doniger stated, "human
experience is inherently narrative; this is our primary way of organizing and giving
coherence to our lives" (1998, p. 56). Doniger suggested that myths (as narratives)
contribute to the discourse of many human experiences. These narratives are shared
among groups of people to describe their culture. Many of these narratives are told
through the media, and particularly television. Doniger (1998) suggested that, when
examining the same myth across cultures, the specific deviations and omissions point to
cultural variance. In the case of this dissertation, the variance might point to differences
across time and/or characters' demographics.
The examination of the three television series begins with what Hall (1975) called
"a long preliminary soak" (p. 15), in which I immersed myself in the material. The "long
soak" occurred through regular and repeated viewing of these series in first-run and
syndication production. After the deep soak, I became intimately familiar with the texts
by watching them closely, taking notes, and summarizing each episode. I specifically
looked at the plot and resolution of the episodes and described how the characters
function within the narrative (Stokes, 2003). I examined the texts for explicit and
implicit statements made about feminism and femininity, as Foucault suggested. From
this detailed reading of each episode, similar themes and narratives emerged. Once I
found a critical mass of themes or narratives within the series, I carefully re-watched
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episodes containing these themes, detailing character behavior, dialogue, and outcomes,
drawing out comparisons among the characters, series, and resolutions to answer research
question three. The discussion and evaluation of research question four occurred more
peripherally within the detailed readings of dialogue.
Contextualization is a key component to cultural studies research. Doniger (1998)
asserted scholarship needed not only comparisons, but also contextualization. She
insisted that phenomenon be contextualized both within the bounds of the culture and
also within the particular historical moment. Foucault also advocated for historical
grounding. I provide social, historical, and political background, contextualizing the time
frame of each show by examining these popular sitcoms to see how the narratives fit or
challenge the prevailing social and political climate of society at the time of their original
air-dates wherever possible.
As mentioned above, this dissertation is more than a content analysis of the
representation of women in each of the series. While the content analysis serves as a
starting point for providing descriptive definitions of each archetype and demonstrating
archetypal prevalence in each series, the comparative textual analysis offers a more in-
depth exploration of the series (Doniger, 1998). This textual analysis reveals both latent
and manifest meanings embedded within the texts (Hall, 1975). Similarities among the
characters in each of these series are interesting, but the differences might reveal
significant discursive distinctions among the demographic groups presented. The
narrative function of these programs addresses what stories are important in women's
lives. Although many of the episodes of the three series are not produced by women, the
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characters in many ways serve as the storytellers, therefore the narratives seem as if they
are not only about women, but also being told by them. This type of comparative textual
analysis of the narratives, within Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City,
describes the qualities of the individual characters as well as the reoccurring themes
within the texts. Thus, the goal of this analysis is not only identifying and describing
these ancient archetypes in television programming starring women, but also the
implications these archetypes have for society's views about women in modern American
culture.
The next chapter discusses the results of the content analysis. In addition,
Chapter IV expands on the content analysis findings by providing a deeper textual
analysis discussion of the archetypal characters and the meanings created within and
among the series. Chapter V provides a discussion of narrative themes among the series.
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CHAPTER IV
ARCHETYPAL FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
Content Analysis Results
Research Question #1 asked do the four archetypal patterns (iron maiden, sex
object, child, and mother) exist among the four main characters in each series? Using
definitions of the archetypes described in Chapter III to categorize the characters of each
series, I determined that the answer to RQ1 was that there is indeed a relationship
between characters and archetypes in all three series. The characters in Golden Girls,
Living Single and Sex and the City seem to be reincarnations of similar archetypes, which
reflects Gitlin's (1983) notion of the ubiquitous nature of recombinant characters. While
each series was lauded as original programming, these recombinant characters indicate
otherwise.
Golden Girls
In Golden Girls, Rose embodies the child archetype in six of the six episodes
coded. While Rose occasionally was sexual or demonstrated nurturance, the
overwhelming characteristics conformed to that of the child archetype. Blanche, on the
other hand, embodied the experienced sex object in six of the six episodes. Comments
made by, or about, her often referenced her many sexual exploits. While Blanche and
Rose fell neatly into the prescribed archetypes, the Dorothy and Sophia roles were harder
to characterize. In this series, Dorothy plays the divorced daughter of the 80 year-old
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Sophia. In this sample, Dorothy dominantly represents the iron maiden archetype in four
of the six episodes coded. In the remaining two episodes, Dorothy embodied the
characteristics of both the iron maiden and the mother equally. Although not a male
dominated profession in US culture, Dorothy is the only character who has had a long-
term career as a high school teacher. Sophia's role, especially in the first season, is
smaller than the other women's and so there is less text to code for her. Sophia embodies
the iron maiden archetype in two of the six episodes due mostly to her sharp-witted one-
liners. In the remaining four episodes, Sophia embodies both the iron maiden and the
mother archetype.
Living Single
In Living Single, Synclaire represents the child archetype in six of the six episodes
coded. Her long, curly hair with colorful headbands, full, flowing, flowery dresses, and
her wide-eyed expressions are unmistakable as the child archetype. In addition to her
appearance, Synclaire's dependence on Khadijah for work and a place to live, her silly
comments, and her hopeful outlook on life correspond to her role as the child archetype.
Regine embodies the sex object in five of the six episodes. Her role in the sixth is too
small to make any archetypal determination. Regine, although portrayed as the sex
object archetype, has fewer sexual encounters than the other characters in this series as
well as the sex object archetypes in the other series. Her sex object status stems mostly
from her superficial focus on appearance above substance, her need to be desired by men,
and her belief in the magnetism of her own beauty. Max symbolizes the iron maiden
archetype in four of the six episodes. In one episode she embodies the iron maiden and
73
mother equally and in the other the iron maiden and sex object. Max's career as a lawyer
and her antagonism toward men reflect her iron maiden archetype. Khadijah represents
the mother archetype in two of the six episodes. In the remaining four episodes, she
embodies the mother and iron maiden archetypes equally. As the owner of a popular,
African American magazine, Khadijah exemplifies both the mother archetype, as the
conveyer of culture and provider of jobs, and the iron maiden as she is her own boss.
Sex and the City
In Sex and the City the characters distinctly fall into the archetypes. Charlotte,
with her prescribed romantic ideals of love and marriage, her prim and proper demeanor,
and her ultra feminine style place her neatly in the child archetype. Samantha portrays
the sex object archetype with a zealousness never quite seen before on television. She
loves her body and indulges its every desire. Miranda personifies the iron maiden
archetype. As a lawyer she is in a highly masculine profession. She dominates the men
she dates and is cynical of their affections. Carrie, with her voice-over narrative, serves
as the primary storyteller in this series, and the mother archetype. She is the center of the
series and provides much emotional support to the other characters. As a journalist, her
advice extends beyond her group of friends to her loyal readers.
Extended Examples from Content Analysis Sample
Golden Girls
The characters are established immediately in this series. In the first scene of the
first episode, Dorothy enters complaining about a new generation of students where she
teaches. Her grumblings reflect the cynical, self-righteous tone of the iron maiden
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archetype. Rose is upset because there are too many sad people where she works and
Dorothy reminds her that she works in grief counseling. Rose's lack of common sense
marks her as the child archetype. Blanche's entrance signifies her as the sex object
archetype as she is wearing a fur, representing her upper class status, and has cucumbers
on her eyes, to maintain her youthful appearance. Blanche states provocatively that she
doesn't "need them on her thighs" implying that her thighs are as lovely as ever. Not
only are the characters established immediately, but also markers of age pervade this
series. For example, in the first episode, Dorothy says, "I would kill to be 40 again." She
continues, talking about how, when with a group of 20-something teachers at work earlier
that day, she had forgotten that she was older than the other women. Later, when she got
in her car and looked in the mirror, Dorothy said she didn't recognize the person staring
back at her. Rose responds with a stupid question, "Who was it?"
When Sophia first appears in the scene, she is met by Dorothy who shouts
curiously, "MaT' as in what are you doing here. Sophia is literally the mother of Dorothy
and in some episodes they share sweet sentimental moments as mother and daughter.
Later in the series, although not in this sample, Rose and Blanche also describe Sophia's
role as motherly. While Sophia's representation does not always fall neatly into the
mother archetype, she embodies the ethnic mother stereotype from the old country,
complete with stories from Sicily that begin with, "picture this ... Sicily 1920-something
... ," her pocketbook secured tightly to her arm, a slap on the back of the head if you have
done something wrong, and enough Italian cooking to feed an army. For example in
season 1, episode 10 when it is suspected that Sophia might be having a heart attack, she
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continues to offer the doctor food that she has spent the day cooking (and eating). "You
hungry? ... You want some food?" she asks the doctor. Sophia not only wants the doctor
to eat, but she also wants to see his delighted expression about the food's good taste.
When Sophia does not fit into the mother archetype, she generally becomes the iron
maiden archetype. This is due mostly to her quick-witted, sarcastic, comedic remarks
about herself and others. For example in the first episode, Sophia says Blanche "looks
like a prostitute," calls Blanche's boyfriend a "scuzzball," and tells Rose to "get a
poodle" to cure her loneliness.
In other episodes, Sophia marks herself as old literally or by describing the way
her body does not function as it used too. In season 1, episode 5, Sophia states, in
response to Dorothy suggesting she should see a doctor because she looks pale, "I'm an
old white woman, you want color, talk to Lena Horne." In season 1, episode 15, Sophia
informs Rose that the man in her bed is dead. Rose questions Sophia in disbelief. Sophia
responds, "You don't think I'd recognize death? I lived in a retirement home, death
visited more often than children." Sophia moves beyond the mother archetype because
her age allows her the freedom to step out of rigid mothering roles set for women. She
can be flippant and funny instead of nurturing as the role dictates.
However, Sophia is not without nurturing abilities. There are many scenes when
she and Dorothy play cards or have a tete-a-tete where Sophia offers comfort and advice
to her daughter. The real twist here, which explains Dorothy's embodiment of the mother
archetype combined with the iron maiden in two of the six episodes, is when Dorothy
sometimes has to play the parent to her aging mother. For example in season 1, episode 1
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Dorothy has to pay for the cab Sophia took from the retirement home. Sophia states,
"I'm a totally independent person. I need $67." In season 1, episode 5, Dorothy and the
doctor are talking about Sophia's health as if she were not there, Sophia says "What am I
two-years-old? I don't know my own symptoms? I lived in this body since I was born if
something goes wrong, I'm the first one to hear about it." Because age and aging are
such prominent features in this series, a distortion of archetypes occurs. Even with these
disruptions, Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia represent the archetypal patterns of the
iron maiden, the sex object, the child, and the mother respectively. While Golden Girls
offered viewers portrayals of women beyond their thirties, the repetitive nature of these
archetypal mediations still only provides a limited, and sometimes caricature,
representation of women on television.
Living Single
In much the same vein as Golden Girls, the characters on Living Single represent
the four archetypes described in this study. In this case, disruptions to the archetypes
reflect notions of race instead of age. While style is important in Golden Girls, the
clothing and hairstyles of the women on Living Single visibly mark their representative
archetype as much as their interactions. The first episode of this series clearly portrays
the four characters as the four archetypes. For example, in the first scene of episode 1
Synclaire sits at her desk wearing an oversized urban beret with a rim. As she answers
the phone in a strange British accent, Khadijah questions her use of this accent. Synclaire
responds by stating, "I'm making them think we're international." Khadijah's
questioning resembles that of a mother with a teenage daughter, who has recently
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acquired the style and persona du jour of her peers. This very first scene sets up the
dynamic between the child and mother archetypes. Khadijah, as the mother archetype,
supports Synclaire by employing her as the secretary at the office of the urban magazine,
Flavor, owned by Khadijah. Flavor, a magazine about urban, African American culture
contributes to Khadijah's standing as the mother archetype. Through this magazine,
Khadijah carries and conveys a sense African American culture in New York. This
magazine gives Khadijah a voice to provide advice and solace to the Black community.
As Regine, who works at an upscale boutique, enters the scene, she wears a short black
skirt, a low cut cream shirt with sheer sleeves, and high heels. She brags about her new
man stating, "good news ... couldn't wait for you to get home to rub your noses in it ...
the stretch limo outside belongs to my new boyfriend." She continues talking about how
she and her boyfriend were going out for lunch, but "never made it out of the limo ... he
ate caviar from my cleavage and we drank champagne from my shoes." Regine, the sex
object archetype, does not stop there. She says, "he could be the one ... he is fine,
educated, wealthy, and a has butt with dents on the side with the promise of power."
Khadijah admonishes Regine, "you need to start looking beyond the man's wallet." This
monologue and exchange explicitly portrays Regine as the sex object and Khadijah as the
mother archetype of the series. In her first appearance, Max embodies the iron maiden
archetype when she walks in the apartment with a swagger, and boasts, "my look and my
law were fierce ... don't touch me unless you want to get burned." She has short, angular
braids and often wears a suit (although the short lengths tend to sexualized her). In
addition to her shortened masculine name, Max carries a brief case to signify her
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powerful position as a successful lawyer. When discussing her divorce case, another
main character Kyle Barker (T.e. Carson) says he feels sorry for the husband in the case.
Max responds by stating, "someone's got to protect women's rights," reflecting the iron
maiden archetype as the carrier of feminist agenda.
Later in this same episode, Synclaire finds out that Regine's new man is married.
Like a child, Synclaire cannot contain herself and blurts out this secret to Regine. To
comfort Regine, Khadijah puts her arm around her and says, "Look ... listen, as much as
I love to be right, and you know mother does love to be right. I wish I was wrong this
time, but girl, the man is married." The use of "look" and "girl" here are indicators of the
way language marks their racial identity as Black women. In this particular case, "girl" is
used to mark solidarity among the women, whereas "look" acknowledges that the
position that Khadijah is taking with Regine might cause strife (Scott, 1995). In this scene
Khadijah not only calls herself a mother, but also provides consolation, which is
representative of the mother archetype. In the last exchange between Khadijah and
Regine, Khadijah advises Regine, "You have to start taking care of yourself." Regine
says, "you're right, Khadijah." Khadijah responds to the camera, "Mother always is."
Again Khadijah refers to herself as mother, although her character embodies the mother
archetype; it also exemplifies the iron maiden as Khadijah is often seen as the voice of
reason among the group. This representation of the strong, independent, but nurturing
mother is reflective of the Black mother's need to be self-reliant and stoic in order to
prepare herself and her children for the harsh realities of racial oppression. hooks (1993)
says this "strong black women is practically deified in black life" and "makes care for
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material well-being synonymous with the practice of loving" (p. 233). Khadijah's
representations of the mother archetype are intersected by race l , which compel her to
embody both mother and iron maiden archetypes. Markers of race appear in the language
and cadence of the characters' speech as well as upon the body.
In this series, when the iron maiden archetype is intersected by race, as in the case
of Max, the archetype becomes hyper-sexualized. Max's suits, while representative of
her high-powered position in the masculine domain of law, are often so short that her
power seems derived from sexuality as it would be for the sex object archetype. This is
an example of Max's embodiment of both the iron maiden and the sex object archetypes.
Another example of the iron maiden archetype acting in a sexualized way occurs in
season 1, episode 15. Max is so consumed with her man du jour that she leaves the
Christmas celebration to have sex with him. And while she dominates the men she has
relationships with, Max objectifies herself, as well as men, in a sexualized way. These
disruptions to the classic archetypes in Living Single reflect notions of race, specifically
the strong, independent mother and the hyper-sexualized black body. hooks (1992)
connects this idea of the hypersexual woman of color to the colonization of the Black
body. This body is seen as a site for exotic, other worldly, and primitive pleasure.
Sexualizing Max, who shows many characteristics of the iron maiden archetype,
diminishes the power, strength, and independence this archetype typically characterizes.
I While all persons and characters are gendered, raced, and classed, the use of race in this
dissertation generally refers to Blackness.
------------.... -
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The sexualization in this series turns this character from a feminist iron maiden to a sex-
crazed buffoon.
Sex and the City
Since this show revolves around sex (hence the title), all of the characters are
sexualized even though they fall neatly into the archetypal patterns. Carrie represents the
mother archetype, as she is not only the voice over narrator, but also an advice columnist,
offering counsel to many loyal readers. In the first season, many of the episodes begin
with "Once upon a time." The narratives revolve around social and sexual relationship
mores that Carrie grapples with while doing "research" for her columns. For example, in
season 1, episode 1, Carrie ponders whether women can have sex like men -- that is
without feeling emotionally involved. Carrie is the central character who connects all the
other characters in this series. The other characters often seek out her opinion for solace
and guidance, particularly Charlotte the child archetype. For example in season 1,
episode 8, Charlotte contemplates about having a three-some with her boyfriend, Jack,
and confides in Carrie about the dream she had. Carrie advocates, "Dreams are a good
way to experiment." When Charlotte asked, "Do you think it means I should do it?"
Carrie responds, "It's your call, but don't do it just to make Jack happy." Charlotte
suggests, "but maybe it will bring us closer" and Carrie responds, "Sweetie, don't you
think it's weird you are thinking about sleeping with someone you don't know, to get
closer to Jack?" To this, Charlotte queries, "but how well do we ever know the people
we sleep with?" In a voice over, Carrie describes Charlotte's character, "that was the
thing about Charlotte, just when you were about to write her off as a Park Avenue
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Pollyanna, she'd say something so right on you'd think she was the Dali Lama."
Charlotte interrupts this narration asking, "Do you think my hair is too shiny today?"
And Carrie in a voice over states "and then she'd say something else." This exchange
establishes the characters of Carrie and Charlotte as the mother and child archetypes
respectively. While Carrie offers comfort and advice, Charlotte asks absurd questions
that make her look silly and na'ive.
Charlotte embodies the child archetype in other ways as well, specifically through
her controlled sexuality. Even though she was seriously thinking about having a three-
some with her boyfriend, sexual experimentation is out of character for Charlotte. This is
confirmed in the same episode when Carrie asks in a voice over, "if Charlotte was
actually considering a three-some who wasn't?" meaning that if the sweet, proper, na'ive
Charlotte would consider this, it must be conventional. Charlotte finds herself in other
uncomfortable sexual situations as she tries to negotiate the narrow boundaries between
the good girl who "plays by the rules" and an adult single woman living and dating in
Manhattan. For example in season 1, episode 4, Charlotte's boyfriend wants to have anal
sex with her. Again she confides in Carrie for advice. In a hilarious cab scene with the
four women, all the archetypes weigh in on the subject. Carrie, the mother archetype,
arranges to pick up the others because Charlotte "needs all the girl support" she can get.
Miranda, the iron maiden archetype, states, "it's all about control ... if he goes up there
either he'll have the upper hand or you will ... the question is if he goes up your butt will
he respect you more or less ... that's the issue." For the iron maiden archetype, the issue
is not about sex or romance; it is strictly about power. Samantha, the sex object
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archetype, chimes in, "Front, back, who cares a hole is a hole ... this is a physical
expression that the body was designed to experience and p.s. it's fabulous." For
Samantha everything is about sexual pleasure. Charlotte ends this exchange still
confused, "what are you talking about? I went to Smith," implying that this is not proper
talk for her genteel upbringing. Ultimately Charlotte decides that she cannot be "the up-
the-butt girl" because "men don't marry the up-the-butt girl ... whoever heard of Mrs.
Up-the-Butt '" no, no, no ... I can't, I want children and nice bedding." While
Charlotte's embodiment of the child positions her as prudent and uptight sexually, her
decision not to compromise for the man's desire demonstrates real strength in
understanding what is right for her, even if her reasoning is lacking.
In opposition to Charlotte's sexual prudence, Samantha embodies the sex object
archetype with fervor. In addition to the cab scene, Samantha constantly and explicitly
describes her sexual exploits. For example in season 1, episode 4, Samantha is sleeps
with the chef of a new restaurant her public relations firm is promoting. In the morning
after the restaurant opening, Samantha calls Carrie to tell her, "I am so fucked ... I mean
literally ... I have been fucked everyway you can be fucked." Carrie stops her for a
moment chiding, "If you keep talking like that I'm going to have to charge you by the
minute." Samantha continues, "him on top, me on top, me on my side ... on his side, on
his face ... have you ever done that? ... Do it immediately." Samantha's character is so
essentialized as the sex object archetype that even when she thinks she is in love with a
man in season 1, episode 12, she has to break it off because his penis is not big enough to
pleasure her.
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Miranda Hobbs is the quick-witted, sarcastic, and often pessimistic, cynic of the
group, especially when it comes to love. She is also ambitious and driven when it comes
to her career. Miranda is the epitome of the liberal feminist career woman, often pointing
out the double standards between the sexes and offers legal assistance when necessary.
She believes in equal opportunity for men and women, but through the already
established patriarchal structures. Miranda does not believe in the fairy tale of happily
ever after and does not want or need a man to complete her.
Miranda is seen as sexually unappealing for a three-some in season 1, episode 8
when the other women exclude her from their choice of sexual third. This notion of the
sexually unappealing iron maiden pervades each series. This is significant in that it
reflects real life backlash of feminist criticisms that only sexually unattractive women
believe in feminism because they are unable to get a man. Miranda, especially in this
first season, wears big masculine business suits, has stark red hair, and a blunt cut. In one
scene, this suit comes complete with a man's tie. In this same scene in season 1, episode
4, Miranda says in response to Carrie's concern about her new relationship, "It's not like
we're throwing out our schedules." For the iron maiden archetype, this means that career
concerns always trump matters of the healt.
The archetypes of the iron maiden, the sex object, the child, and the mother
appear in all three series. Miranda from Sex and the City, Max from Living Single, and
Dorothy from Golden Girls represent the iron maiden archetype. It is through the iron
maiden archetype that a feminist perspective can be embedded within the text of the
program. Depending on how the characters are represented, this feminist perspective can
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be privileged or trivialized. If the iron maiden is portrayed as the buffoon, as is the case
in Murphy Brown, according to Dow (1996), the feminist perspective serves as a
cautionary tale rather than a progressive agenda. On Living Single, Max's hyper-
sexualized role also reduces the impact of her feminist politics. Miranda's feminism
remains strictly in the ideology of personal choice. Dorothy, arguably the most feminist
character, extends her feminism to broader social issues.
Samantha, Regine, and Blanche embody the sex object archetype in Sex and the
City, Living Single, and Golden Girls respectively. Although each of these characters
owns her sexuality, this archetype has little substance beyond sex. Charlotte, Synclaire,
and Rose's portrayals of the child archetype degrade women to little girls. This is most
prominent with Synclaire and Rose, and the discourse of these two characters is often
discounted even if they are saying something significant. Charlotte's portrayal of the
child archetype is slightly more complex, which provides this character with more import
than the other child archetypes. Finally, Carrie, Khadijah, and Sophia portrayed the
mother archetype. While Sophia is reduced to the comedic stereotype of the ethnic
mother, Khadijah embodies the strong independent mother common in notions of the
Black family. Carrie, as the mother archetype, serves as the connecting character in a
series that values the camaraderie among the group. While the idea of family among the
four characters is important in each series, the use of insult of humor in Living Single and
especially Golden Girls disrupts the notion of female solidarity, which is the most
progressive outcome of Sex and the City.
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While each series was praised as groundbreaking and innovative, the recombinant
nature of the archetypal representations prove otherwise. While Golden Girls brought
older women to primetime; Living Single broke many racial barriers in television; and
Sex and the City portrayed the very intimate lives and friendships of women; their
archetypal representations limit the diversity in women's roles in the media. As
television serves as our modern storyteller, reflecting hegemonic norms and values, these
limited representations contribute to society's understanding of women's roles, and thus,
hinder further advancements toward diversity and equality. These results, from a limited
first season sample, provide a starting point in which to examine these series further.
Having demonstrated that the archetypes are present in each series, I use a textual
analysis of the archetypes throughout the length of each series and a comparative
narrative analysis to explore particular themes within and among the series.
Comparative Textual Archetypal Analysis
This section expands on the archetypal roles of each character throughout the
duration of each series. It provides a deeper understanding of how the archetypes
function within each series. In addition, this section provides a comparative analysis of
the particular archetypes and narratives among the three series.
The Iron Maiden Archetype
The characters of Dorothy Zbornak, Maxine Shaw, and Miranda Hobbes, from
Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City respectively, embody the iron maiden
archetype. Within the three series, the iron maiden archetypes have very similar roles.
They are masculine, perceived as ugly or at least less attractive than the other characters,
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independent, sometimes bitchy, and bring forth the most feminist perspective of all the
other archetypes.
Golden Girls
Dorothy, played by the statuesque and husky-voiced Bea Arthur, is so
unmistakably masculine that she is often compared to men. For example, after Dorothy
has benign growth removed from her foot in season 1, episode 18, Rose describes her as
the "big ugly man with a limp." In season 2, episode 20, Rose is creating a documentary
for a class project. Throughout the episode, Dorothy receives comparisons to Fess
Parker, a former actor who played Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, and Senator Eugene
Smith in the Mr. Smith Goes to Washington series. In season 6, episode 12, Dorothy's
brother, Phil, dies. Throughout the series Phil's masculinity is questioned as he is
married to a welder and he likes to cross-dress. At the funeral, Phil's wife, Angela,
dresses Phil in women's clothing for all eternity. Slightly confused by Phil's dress and
seeing the statuesque presence of Dorothy, the priest questions Dorothy's sex, as he is
unsure if she is a man or a woman. In season 7, episode 24, the four women attend a high
school reunion, even though none of them attended this high school. The women choose
nametags from the no-show table. When Sophia realizes her name-tag reads, "Myron
Zucker," she says, "Here Dorothy trade with me." In addition to Dorothy's masculine
appearance, this character's masculinity is displayed through the harsh, acerbic tone, and
her perceived unattractiveness.
The other women in the house often make Dorothy the bud of their jokes about
her lack of a sex life. While Dorothy does date periodically throughout the series, her
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lack of romantic life also reflects her independence. This independence comes through in
her strength to take a stand against things she thinks are unjust. In season 1, episode 19,
Dorothy and Rose decide to install new plumbing in the bathroom. When Lou, the
plumber, brings the new toilet in he laughs at Rose and Dorothy chiding, "going into your
feminist phase a little late in life ... ladies, the installation of the toilet is a delicate
procedure. It takes schooling, a trained technician, it takes a man, for god sakes!"
Dorothy insists, "We're going to install it ourselves. Women are capable of more than
just cleaning these things." The plumber refuses to haul the toilet into the bathroom. He
taunts, "You want to play plumber? Why don't you play moving man too," and leaves
the toilet in the living room. Dorothy slams the door in the plumber's face. The episode
is a comedy of errors, but resolves with Dorothy and Rose installing the toilet. Dorothy
and Rose feel so proud and want everyone to admire their accomplishment. As Dorothy
and Rose boast, Sophia remarks, "Knock it off. It's water not oil."
In a more serious story line in season 5, episode 1 and 2, Dorothy complains that
she has been ailing for five months. She says she "can't speak, can't get out of bed, it's
too difficult to raise my arm." Several doctors run tests and tell her she is not sick, then
refer her elsewhere. The different doctors tell Dorothy she is "getting old," or needs to
"see a psychiatrist." The most condescending doctor, Dr. Budd, suggests Dorothy, "Take
a cruise, see a hypnotist, change your hair color." Dorothy feels no one believes that she
is really sick. The doctors make her feel as though she is making up symptoms.
Dorothy's experiences are reflective of Goudsmit's (1994) study of the misdiagnosis of
females' ailments. Goudsmit asserted that doctors misdiagnosed female patients
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assuming that the symptoms are "all in her [the patient's] head." In addition, Goudsmit
argued that because of misdiagnoses, female patients were also offered ineffective
treatments.
Frustrated, Dorothy turns to her neighbor, pediatrician, Dr. Harry Weston,2
because she knows he will at least listen to her. Dr. Weston believes Dorothy and refers
her to a trusted doctor in his medical center, Dr. Chang. After reviewing her medical
history and running a few tests, Dr. Chang diagnoses Dorothy with chronic fatigue
syndrome. Dorothy is simply relieved to know that she is not crazy, but can actually
name what has been ailing her, even though this debilitating illness can only be managed,
not cured. While dining with Rose, Blanche, and Sophia to celebrate her diagnosis,
Dorothy states, "I can't tell you what a relief it is to just be sick, not sick and crazy, and
to know what I have and that there are a lot of other people with the same thing." During
this dinner celebration, Dorothy notices Dr. Budd eating at a nearby table. Dorothy
approaches,
Dr Budd ... you probably don't remember me, but you told me I wasn't sick. Do
you remember you told me I was just getting old ... Well I'll tell you, Dr. Budd, I
really am sick. I have chronic fatigue syndrome. That is a real illness. You can
check with the Center for Disease Control.
Dr. Budd starts to respond, but Dorothy continues, "Well I'm glad, at least I know I have
something." Dr. Budd tries to excuse himself from the conversation. Dorothy says, "Not
so fast. There are some things I have to say. There are a lot of things that I have to say.
2The character Dr. Harry Weston (Richard Mulligan) also starred in two Golden Girls'
spin-offs: Empty Nest and Nurses.
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Words can't express what I have to say, what I went through, what you put me through."
Dorothy begins to tear up, and again Dr. Budd tries to end the exchange. Dorothy
commands, "Sit. I sat for you long enough" and continues,
I came to you sick, sick and scared, and you dismissed me. You didn't have the
answer and instead of saying, 'I'm sorry I don't know what's wrong with you,'
you made me feel crazy, like I had made it all up. You dismissed me. You made
me feel like a child, a fool, a neurotic who was wasting your precious time. Is
that your caring profession? Is that healing? No one deserves that kind of
treatment, Dr. Budd, no one. I suspect that had I'd been a man, I might have been
taken a little bit more seriously and not told to go to the hairdresser.
This exchange is significant because it reflects gendered issues with regards to women's
ability to make informed decisions regarding their bodies and their health. When health
care professionals discount women's knowledge about their bodies, their agency
decreases.
Dr. Budd tries to defend himself from Dorothy's attacks, but his wife, sitting
across from him, tells him to "Shut up!" Dorothy persists,
I don't know where you doctors lose your humanity, but you lose it. If all you
doctors, at the beginning of your careers, could get very sick and very scared for a
while, you'd probably learn more from that than anything else. You better start
listening to your patients. They need to be heard. They need caring. They need
compassion. They need attending to. You know, someday, Dr. Budd, you're
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gonna be on the other side of the table and as angry as I am, and as angry as I
always will be, I still wish you a better doctor than you were to me.
Dorothy returns to her table feeling "better than I have felt in a long time." She raises her
glass "to my friends who made being sick a little easier because they cared."
While many episodes of Golden Girls deal with illness and/or have political
import, this one seems to be explicitly feminist. Differential treatment of female patients
has long been a feminist issue. Feminist scholar, Goudsmit (1994) examined several
cases of misdiagnoses and differential treatment between male and female patients. She
discovered that women were seen as weak or hysterical. In one of the studies (Ayanian
& Epstein, 1991) Goudsmit examined, she found female patients with more severe
symptoms of heart disease were under-diagnosed and offered fewer procedures, such as
by-pass surgery. Goudsmit (1994) also stated, "the assumption that the cause is
psychological or psychosomatic tends to stop practitioners from checking for other
contributory factors, and this may lead to errors ... inappropriate treatment, and to a great
deal of unnecessary suffering" (pp. 7-8). Dorothy's criticism of her treatment is more
than substantiated, as this type of stereotypical treatment could be deadly, not just for
women, but also for the elderly. This episode epitomizes a political stance, expressed in
Golden Girls through Dorothy, the iron maiden archetype.
Living Single
Max of Living Single is similar to Dorothy in that she is often referred to as
masculine, ugly, or evil by the other characters, specifically Kyle and Regine. Kyle and
Max have an on and off, love and hate, friendship and romantic involvement. Their
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banter is insulting, but often playful, instead of hateful, partly because it supposedly hides
and/or represents their true passionate feelings for each other. In season 1, episode 3,
Kyle knocks at the door of Khadijah, Synclaire, and Regine's apartment, and Max
answers and informs, "Khadijah, you have a big 01' head of broccoli at the door" making
fun of Kyle and his dreadlocks. Kyle says he is in such a good mood that even the sight
of Max will not ruin his day. Max questions, "what doctors discover a cure for ugly?"
Kyle retorts, "No, baby you just gonna have to wait." In season 1, episode 9, Khadijah is
leaving for a dinner date, and Max reminds her to "bring me home a doggie bag." Kyle
remarks, "They named a whole bag after you." In season 2, episode 16, Kyle and Regine
are writing a screenplay. Kyle says, "It needs a villain ... Maxzilla, the shrew."
Throughout the series, Max tells Kyle to "be a man!" Kyle once responds, "If I was half
the man you are, I might be willing" (SI, Ell). Referring to Max as masculine is not
limited to just her repartee with Kyle.
In season 3, episode 16, Max wants to borrow the dress Regine is creating, as the
costume designer for a soap opera. Max begs saying she needs it for a reception at the
mayor's mansion, where people such as the district attorney, JFK Jr., and RuPaul will be
there. "I mean you don't want me to be out-dressed by a drag queen?" Regine walks
over to Max and takes her hands, stating in an affected tone, "That's not a fair
comparison. RuPaul is more feminine." In season 3, episode 15, Regine says to Max,
"You look like a virus with braids." Max responds, "You look like a leprechaun with a
weave." This kind of banter occurs throughout the series among all of the characters,
although it seems more prominent between Kyle and Max and Max and Regine. In
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another example of Max's masculinity, Regine, describing how no man can resist her,
states, "If Max had two-percent more testosterone she would be hitting on me." In
season 5, episode 10, Synclaire pretends to be a man and she mimics Max's behavior.
Unlike Dorothy of Golden Girls, Max's independence involves more of a
stubborn, selfish need to be right than any real feminist perspective. Her feminist stance
is reduced to one-liners and self-aggrandizing. Her law is always "fierce," and others
should watch out unless they "want to get burned." In season 4, episode 2, Max runs for
City Alderwoman. When Khadijah interviews her for Flavor, Max's responses are less
than substantive.
Khadijah: One of the biggest problems in the school district is speeding in school
zones. Now, as alderman, what would you do about it?
Max: Children are not speed bumps!
Khadijah: And?
Max: And ... next question.
Khadijah: Graffiti. Now your opponent, Malava, favors an increase in police
controls. See now that can lead to higher taxes. Now what do you propose?
Max: It's time to win back our walls!
Khadijah: How?
Max: Dedication, perseverance, and a word I'm not afraid to say - sweat!
Khadijah: You know, Max, when you answer these questions, it's ok to actually
say something.
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Max: Well, Khadijah, look that's my secret, my press conference proved I know
how to talk to the voters. I mean, what you say isn't near as important as the
rhythm ... Next question!
Khadijah shaking her head in disbelief: Crime?
Max: Not on my streets!
Khadijah: Education?
Max: Books are silent friends.
Khadijah: Employment?
Max: Work works!
Khadijah ends the interview and decides to endorse the third party candidate, Perez, in
Flavor's local politics section. Khadijah, the mother archetype, carries more of a
feminist agenda in this series than Max, the iron maiden archetype. While this seems
contrary to the iron maiden archetype, it does reflect a common understanding of the
strong, independent, Black mother in many Black and African American communities
(hooks, 1993).
In addition to Max's inflated feminist stance and self-importance, this self-
proclaimed "proud freeloader," has a gluttonous appetite for food, her work, and sex.
Max can be seen rummaging for food in her neighbors' home, eating M&M's in her
cereal, devouring a slab of ribs at a barbeque, and drinking blue Kool-Aid out of the
pitcher. Max's insatiable appetite is a major part of her character. This gluttony
contributes to Max's portrayal as unflattering and masculine because she is not delicate;
and it can be seen in her romantic life as well. Max's on-screen kisses are ravenous. She
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seems to devour her men as well as her food. Throughout the series, Max's character
becomes more hyper-sexualized. She is gluttonous in her consumption of men. Max's
hyper-sexualized representation and comedic gluttony reduce her ability to carry a real
feminist agenda.
Max's work comes first in her life as she sacrifices many relationships and the
love of her life, Kyle, in season 4, episode 27, when she uncompromisingly stays in New
York as he leaves for his new job in London. Max boasts of her work and courtroom
strategies, although she is more vibrato than substance. In her romantic relationships,
Max is in control, seemingly unemotionally attached. In season 3, episode 17, Max and
Kyle break-up for the first time. She tells him, "You let your emotions get involved."
Kyle replies, "Excuse me 'Tin Man,' I have a heart ... what do you care about?" Max
quickly rattles off, "Food, shelter, my career, and good sex," although it is clear she cares
about Kyle too. When Kyle asks if she needs a ride, Max refuses the offer and says, "I'll
be taking a cab." Even in the series finale when Max and Kyle reunite, Max cannot
admit her feelings for Kyle in a loving way. Kyle says, "This is either the cruelest trick
the cosmos have ever played or proof positive we are destined to be together." Max
responds, "No, Kyle, we are doomed to be together."
Sex and the City
Similar to Max and Dorothy, Miranda Hobbs, of Sex and the City, is the quick-
witted, ill-tempered, sarcastic, and often pessimistic, cynic, especially when it comes to
love. While Miranda is not seen as masculine or unattractive as are Max and Dorothy,
she is mistaken for a lesbian by a co-worker in season 1, episode 3, not chosen by her
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friends for a hypothetical three-some in season 1, episode 8 (discussed above), and told
she acts "like the guy" (S3, E4) in her relationships. In season 1, episode 2, Miranda
calls herself "the intellectual beard" while dating a man who is obsessed with models.
"So obviously not a model," as described by her date's friend, Miranda's appearance
lacks a "supermodel" quality. In this same episode, Miranda points out that "the
advantages given to models and beautiful women in general are so unfair it makes me
want to puke ... we should just admit that we live in a culture that promotes impossible
standards of beauty." While Miranda begins to critique the unobtainable and possibly
dangerous feminine beauty expectations, Carrie reflects, "Yeah, except men think they
are possible." This statement deflects a broader social critique and reinforces the idea
that beauty ideals are expected of heterosexual women who desire male partners. Then
Charlotte says, "I don't know. That no matter how good I feel about myself, if I see
Christy Turlington ... I just want to give up." Miranda scornfully concludes, "well I just
want to hold her down and force feed her lard, but that's the difference between you and
me." And the discussion of beauty standards resolves into personal mockery,
representing Miranda's bitchiness instead of feminist critique.
Miranda, like her iron maiden counterparts, is also ambitious and driven when it
comes to her career. It is interesting to note that both Miranda and Max are lawyers. The
Harvard Law graduate earns partner status at her law firm in season 3, episode 9.
Miranda is the epitome of the liberal feminist career woman. She often points out the
double standards between the sexes and offers legal assistance when necessary; but as
seen above, her critiques, similar to Max, usually do not go beyond the superficial, and
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rarely challenge patriarchal institutions. Most reflective of her iron maiden archetype,
Miranda maintains rigid boundaries for herself, especially when it comes to affairs of the
heart. Miranda does not believe in the fairy tale of happily-ever-after and does not need a
man to complete her or for any reason. In season 1, episode 9, Miranda introduces
Charlotte to "the rabbit," a vibrator that Miranda is more in touch with than any man who
came before (no pun intended). In season 4, episode 4, Miranda implements a sex strike,
turning to chocolate instead of men. Romantic and sexual entanglements do not motivate
Miranda; she seeks pleasure through her work accomplishments.
As Miranda prides herself on her work achievements, she is often frustrated when
the other women only want to talk about their romantic and sexual escapades. For
example in season 2, episode 1, Miranda tries to engage the other women with talk of her
new palm pilot. As Miranda tires of the other's trivial conversation during brunch one
morning, she admonishes them,
O.K. That's it. I'm outta here. All we ever talk about is Big or balls or small
dicks. How does it happen that four such smart women have nothing more to talk
about but boyfriends? It's like seventh grade with bank accounts. What about us,
what we think, we feel, we know, Christ, does it always have to be about them?
Just, you know, give me a call when you're ready to talk about something besides
men for a change.
Miranda storms out of the coffee shop and wanders the streets alone. However, at the
end of this adventure, she runs into an ex-boyfriend (with the girl he left Miranda for) and
hides. Miranda is then ashamed of her rigid expectations about how long it should take
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to get over a man. This episode resolves with Miranda waiting for Carrie at the coffee
shop, where Miranda allows her friend the space and time to reflect upon her relationship
with Big and her newly single status. Endings such as this are common in Sex and the
City. They emphasize the importance of the women's friendship, which are imperative in
the characters' lives, yet, in this case, discount the significance of Miranda's critique.
Miranda does not want to be defined by, or dependent on, a man. When Miranda
purchases her apartment in season 2, episode 5, she is bombarded with questions about
whether or not there is a man moving in with her and if the money for the down payment
is coming from her husband or her father. Her response to all of these questions is
simply, "Just me." While talking with the other women, Miranda claims, "I'm telling
you, if I were a single man, none of the would be happening ... I've got the money. I've
got a great job and I still get, 'it's just you?'" Miranda expresses her frustration with the
mainstream perception of women needing to be taken care of by a male figure. In
addition, this quote reflects the differential gendered treatment of men and women.
While taking measurements of her new apartment, Miranda encounters her new
neighbor. As the neighbor welcomes Miranda to the building, she recounts a story of the
last tenant.
So glad to have a young person moving in, brings a little life to the place. Ruthie
(the former tenant) kept pretty much to herself - never married (hushed tone).
She died in there you know ... it was a week before anyone realized she passed,
rumor has it, the cat ate her face ... So, just you?
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Overall this episode challenges the notion that a woman needs the support of a man, as
Miranda has the means to take care of herself, although the import is minimized by the
cautionary tale told by her new neighbor. Miranda panics about being alone and ends up
in the hospital. At best, this episode demonstrates the importance of the friendships
among the main characters, but discounts women's ability to be happy, independent, and
single.
In season 2, episode 8, Miranda first meets Steve, the noble bartender, when he
pours her a glass of wine, while she grumbles about Carrie, who according to Miranda,
"just dropped your [Carrie's] life and ran over to his [Mr. Big's]," instead of meeting
Miranda as they had planned. Miranda and Steve go back to her place for a sexual tryst.
As Steve is dressing to leave, he asks if he could call her. Miranda, while nonchalantly
smoothing on lotion, believes they should just call it what it is ... "a one night stand."
Instead of saying good night, Miranda says "great sex" as Steve leaves her apartment. In
this scene Miranda stays true to form with the cynicism, with regards to romantic affairs,
of the iron maiden archetype.
The following day Steve convinces Miranda to allow him to meet her later. After
Miranda humiliates Steve in front of her friends, she sees Big entering the restaurant to
meet Carrie. So surprised that Big actually followed through on one of his commitments
to Carrie, Miranda lets down her guard and decides to believe, if only for a moment, in
the (Sex and the City modern girl's) fairy tale. Miranda races out of the restaurant and
chases Steve in the rain telling him she can believe in him and take a chance on love.
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This is the first time Miranda allows herself to open her heart and it is her first serious
relationship of the series.
It is not all happily-ever-after for Steve and Miranda. Their relationship suffers
because of the different career ambitions, economic status, and commitment to the
partnership. In season 2, episode 9, Miranda and Steve struggle with boundaries and
schedules. In season 2, episode 10, Miranda asks Steve to attend a work event with her,
but he has to wear a suit, which as a working-class bartender, he does not own. As they
shop for a suit, Miranda offers to pay, but this only frustrates Steve. In the store, Steve
charges part of the suit, writes a check, and pays cash for the balance. Steve is
uncomfortable with his inability to pay and will not let Miranda contribute, even though
she has disposal income. Their class differences contribute to their break up.
While getting pedicures with her friends, Miranda contemplates, "When single
men have a lot of money, it works to their advantage, but when a single woman has
money, it's a problem you have to deal with. It's ridiculous. I want to enjoy my success
not apologize for it." Later Steve arrives at Miranda's door in a t-shirt and jeans saying
that he returned the suit. Steve tells Miranda that she deserves someone "on her level."
Miranda, fighting back tears, angrily says, "So I'm being punished for being successful"
and slams the door.
This episode and others demonstrate how successful women do not have the same
power and advantages in relationships that successful men are afforded. In season 3,
episode 12, Miranda decides to go to a speed dating function. As the men sit down and
talk with Miranda, they rattle off their accomplishments. As soon as Miranda mentions
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she is a lawyer, the eyes of the man across the table gloss over. No one is interested in
hearing about her successes, much less dating her. Ultimately, Miranda lies and says she
is a flight attendant; and suddenly the man across the table is intrigued. As soon as
Miranda has a job that is deemed feminine, as thus socially acceptable for a woman to
occupy, then she becomes more attractive to the opposite sex.
Miranda's character does develop throughout the series however. While she
learns to love, Miranda remains in control of her life and her relationships. Steve and
Miranda get back together and break up periodically throughout the series. They support
each other through Steve's new business venture (S5, E5), Miranda's mother's death (S4,
E8), Steve's testicular cancer (S4, E8 & 9), Miranda's pregnancy, as well as share
custody of their son, Brady. In the final season, Miranda decides that she loves Steve.
Over "three dollar beers," Miranda asks Steve to marry her, after the two of them list all
the things they don't want in a relationship. Although it is difficult for her to open up to
this, when she does, Miranda finds a rich life full of love, not only with her new husband,
Steve, but also their child and her new mother-in-law. On the one hand, Miranda remains
cynical. While looking for a wedding dress, she demands "no white, no ivory, nothing
that says 'virgin.' I have a child. The gig is up." On her honeymoon, Miranda is
uninterested in what she considers the "artificial" expressions of romance. She tells
Steve, "I can't have sex anymore. I have a brain. I am not the honeymoon type." On the
other hand, Miranda softens throughout the series, learning to be vulnerable and open to
love in her partnership with Steve. For Miranda, having a baby brings her character the
most growth, as others depend on her. As the independent career woman, Miranda's
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lifestyle threatens patriarchal norms. As the married mother, Miranda falls in line with
patriarchal expectations. While I do not believe Miranda's feminist perspective is
reduced with this softening of her character, the perception of her might seem less
threatening.
The Sex Object Archetype
The characters of Blanche Devereaux, Regine Hunter, and Samantha Jones, from
Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City respectively, embody the sex object
archetype. These characters are hyper-sexualized, superficial, and consumed with their
own beauty. They connect beauty and sex with power.
Golden Girls
For those who do not remember Golden Girls well, when I mention the series and
the sex object archetype, they are often shocked. They do not quickly connect a series
about older women with sexuality, most likely due to mainstream narratives about the
mature female body. They have forgotten the Southern beauty and charm of Blanche
Devereaux. Blanche works in an art gallery and believes she is as lovely as the exhibits.
It seems every other line out of Blanche's mouth involves self-admiration or sexual
innuendo or both. For example, In season 1, episode 21, Blanche says she "treats her
body like a temple." Sophia mocks, "Yeah, open to everyone, day or night." This type
of ribbing is common among the four women in Golden Girls. Blanche compares herself
to one of the Charlie's Angels stating, "I was once told I bore a striking resemblance to
Cheryl Ladd ... but my bosoms are perkier." Dorothy scoffs at this remark, "Not even if
you were hanging upside-down from a trapeze!"
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Blanche sees herself as the most beautiful and sophisticated of the group. In
season 2, episode 20, she says to Dorothy and Rose, "I couldn't go on if I looked like the
two of you." In the same episode Blanche considers cosmetic surgery after attending a
class reunion where many of her classmates have had "work done." She decides against
plastic surgery because the doctor "looked at my body with desire." She says, "if I could
land myself a doctor, I'd wait and have him pay for it '" besides, as long as I have the
three of you to grow old with, I'll always be the youngest, and the prettiest, and the most
desirable. "
Blanche expects the other women to tell her how beautiful she looks. While
deciding what to wear, Blanche asks, "Sophia, by placing this pearl necklace between my
bosoms, does it make me look like I'm a sex-starved slut who is in need of a man to
bed?" Sophia quickly responds, "Yes!" "Good, then pearls it is," concludes Blanche. In
another episode, Blanche inquires, "What do you think of my new dress? Is it me?"
Sophia describes the dress, "It's too tight. It's too shOJt and shows too much cleavage for
a woman your age." Dorothy interrupts, "Yes, Blanche. It's you."
In addition to Blanche's beauty, her sexual exploits are also extravagant. She had
so many sexual partners that she wore red to her wedding. Blanche says, "Oh please, it's
bad enough hearing all those snickers as you walk down the aisle, but me in white, even I
couldn't keep a straight face." In season 2, episode 9, Blanche announces that she
"pretended to be a virgin half a dozen times." In speaking of her sexual experience,
Blanche says,
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My first was Billy. Oh, I'll never forget it! That night under the dogwood tree, the
air thick with perfume, and me with Billy. Or Bobby? Yes, that's right, Bobby! Or
was it Ben? Oh who knows, anyway, it started with a "B."
In talking about one of her current male conquests, Blanche says, "He is so sophisticated
and charming and rich and handsome. He fairly screams Blanche. At least, he will when
I'm through with him." In season 6, episode 14, Blanche's gay brother, Clayton, returns
to Miami with his boyfriend. Blanche, still uncomfortable with his sexuality says, "My
goodness, what would the neighbors think if they saw two men lying in my bed?" Sophia
quips, "They'd think it's Tuesday!"
Blanche connects attractiveness with power. As she ages, Blanche is afraid of
losing her beauty because she sees it as a loss of power. Season 2, episode 1, Blanche
thinks she is pregnant. While she and Rose have a frivolous discussion of the color of the
pregnancy test, Dorothy brings the conversation back to the matter at hand, "Who is the
father?" As Blanche looks through her date book, unsure of who the father might be, she
says, "Well, that was a particularly active time for me. You know I was looking quite
stunning. I had just had my teeth bonded and I was really irresistible." Blanche returns
from the doctor even more distressed than upon discovering, through the home test, that
she was pregnant. She locks herself in her room while Dorothy and Rose try to console
her by saying the baby will be fine because it will have three mothers. As Dorothy and
Rose argue over which university the baby will attend, Blanche interrupts, "I'm not
pregnant. It's worse, much worse." Rose thinks Blanche is dying and nervously rattles
on,
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I'm sorry. I'm sorry for thinking all those bad things about you when I thought
you were pregnant, like what a SLUT you were for sleeping with all those men.
Things only a tramp would do. But, now that you're dying, please forgive me,
Blanche.
Blanche dismissively interrupts again, "I am not dying, but I might as well be. It's
menopause. Well, I wish I could die because as far as I'm concerned this is the end of
my life."
Dorothy, Rose, and Sophia take Blanche to see a psychiatrist because of her
dramtics. When the doctor questions Blanche about why she thinks her life is over, she
responds, "Because it is. Because it means I'm old. Because it means I'm not a real
woman anymore." The doctor interjects, "All it really means is that you no longer are
able to bear children." Blanche reproves,
Oh it means much more than that. I just don't know how it happened. You know,
only yesterday I was Magnolia Queen. You're a man. You don't understand.
You don't get old and lose your appeal. Look at Mr. Cary Grant. Now he can
have any woman he wants and he's in his 80s. Just show me a woman in her 50s
who can do that!
The doctor interprets, "It's not just menopause. It's what it represents to you - growing
older. And growing older represents a loss of attractiveness." The doctor questions
Blanche, "Is that all there is to you - sex?" Blanche retorts, "Yes!" The doctor persists,
"Men only value that in you?" Blanche replies, "Well, they used to. Now my only hope
is to become an intellectual and find a retired Jew."
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When Blanche returns home from the psychiatrist, Dorothy reiterates what the
doctor has told Blanche, "You have to find all the other things you are ... It [menopause]
makes no difference at all in your life whatsoever. It's just a concept, not based on
reality." Here Dorothy describes how menopause is socially constructed as negative or a
loss in women's lives. Nineteenth century physicians saw menstruation as a disabling and
restricting eternal wound. This type of understanding about women's bodies still lives
with us today. Dorothy describes how women are blamed "for being crazy when we get
them [periods] and crazy when we don't." Dorothy explains to Blanche that she did not
see menopause as "having anything to do with my [Dorothy's] sexuality." The episode
resolves with Blanche coming to terms with menopause because "beauty like mine
cannot fade overnight" and her friends "helped her get through ... right there throughout
it all."
Living Single
Regine, the sex object archetype in Living Single, is actually the least sexed
character within the series, but falls into the sex object archetype because of her
superficiality, narcissism, and vanity. Regine is often called a "diva." Both Blanche and
Regine view men as a means to a more affluent lifestyle. Unlike Blanche's
characterization of a hyper-sexualized southern belle, Regine's behavior is more affected.
Regine's trademarks include her ever-changing wigs, "smooches," her signature farewell,
and her squeal of exclamation, "ahh, sookie sookie now." In season 1, episode 17,
Khadijah is throwing a party to thank her Flavor Magazine advertisers. Khadijah
describes the party as a simple, casual affair. Regine convinces Khadijah to let her plan
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the party. Khadijah agrees, "You got $200." Later Regine describes her plans, " How
'bout this for the buffet table, an ice swan, surrounded by calla lilies, a dozen white
doves." Khadijah reminds, "You got $200." Regine cajoles, "Khadijah, this party is an
extension of you." Khadijah responds, "I don't recall any ice swans where I'm from.
And if you take a closer look, underneath all those wigs, you'd find your roots."
Affronted, Regine retorts, "I am everything I pretend to be." This exchange dramatizes
Regine's brazen pretentiousness as she desires to be seen as urbane and sophisticated.
In season 2, episode 24, a toy company makes a doll in Regine' s likness. The
Shirene Doll has "six inter-changeable wigs" and says "smooches." It is discovered that
the Shirene Doll is highly flammable and her wigs easily catch fire, just as Regine was
imagining all the ways she would spend her royalties from Shirene. Regine says she had
cut off her family when she thought she was in the money. Regine tries to renounce her
background as she cultivates a diva favade for herself to meet the "right" men - rich and
handsome. Khadijah tells her, "You're gonna have a hard time finding a man. You're a
snob from the projects!" In many ways, Regine appropriates Helen Gurley Brown's
Cosmo Girl style and performs an identity that reflects money, sexuality, and through this
sexuality, power (Ouellette, 1999).
Regine's superficiality can be seen in many ways in addition to her dating choices
and denial of background. Regine is a gossip and in need of admiration. In season 1,
episode 13, Kyle falls in love with Stacey (Nia Long) who is really just looking for a
physical relationship, but Kyle wants more. While the women talk about Kyle, Regine
says, "I can't believe you all going on and on about Kyle and you haven't said boo about
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my holiday wig ... He is in love and no man can think clearly when he's in love, I should
know. That's when I get the big money gifts." Regine dances around the kitchen as if
she has won the lottery. Max responds, "Every time a word comes out of your mouth,
you set the sisterhood back 100 years." Regine says, "Well, Max, next time you
marching for women's rights, look up, I'll be in the box seats, with a fur on my back and
a man on my arm." In season 3, episode 9, Scooter, Khadijah and Regine's long-time
friend, proposes to Khadijah. Regine only focuses on the ring stating, "two-carat ... very
persuasive ... for three carats, I'd marry damn near anyone."
Regine disassociates herself from "the projects" where she grew up as well as
from her mother. Regine's mother is an obnoxious loud mouth, who dresses loudly as
well. She embarrasses Regine with her dress, demeanor, and constant questioning about
"when you gonna meet a man and put some beans in that oven?" In season 2, episode 13,
Kyle is up for a promotion for recommending that his firm consider an African mutual
fund. Kyle's supervisor, Lawrence, suggests Kyle's dreads are not corporate enough and
advises him to change his hair. Kyle struggles with this decision stating that his hair is
"an expression of his culture." While Khadijah states she would not change her
appearance, which is why she works for herself, and Max unsupportively says, "Kyle,
you're a stockbroker, you're a sellout either way," Regine has no problem transforming
her appearance for those she wants to impress. While this episode speaks to African
Americans' resistance to denying their heritage and assimilating to mainstream White
culture, Regine has no qualms with this transformation. Kyle confronts the partners at his
firm and declares confidently, "I will not violate my personal integrity ... my hair is part
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of my heritage and a statement of pride." None of the other bosses had a problem with
Kyle's style, except Lawrence. Lawrence, who is Black, says he was only trying to help.
Kyle replies, "that is the saddest part, you actually believe that." It is disappointing to
Kyle and the other characters that one would have to deny who they are to get ahead.
While Regine was proud of Kyle for standing up for himself, she still suggests that she
would change her identity to be accepted, to please someone else's expectations, and/or
to get what she wants. Regine kowtows to whatever she believes will make her seem the
most desirable to others. She cooks for men because she says good food is a "man trap."
Although Regine is a "strict vegetarian" she often cooks meat for her boyfriends.
Regine's careers are also ret1ective of her superficiality. For the first half of the
series, Regine works in a high-end clothing boutique. In season 3, episode 5, the
boutique changes to a discount retailer (and Regine's mother's favorite store). Later in
the episode, Regine accepts a position as a costume designer on a soap opera. Also in the
series, Regine works as a stylist consultant to both Max and Khadijah.
Although Regine remains narcissistic, her character is not without growth over the
course of the series. Regine's confidence is shaken when she decides to get a breast
reduction in season 2, episode 11. She describes her breasts as "one of my greatest
aspects ... they are what make me a diva." Soon after the breast reduction, Regine dates
Darryl (Heavy D), a man she would normally consider beneath her. The other characters
like Darryl because he is down to earth. Khadijah calls him "a rare brother" because he
just wants to "treat Regine as well as I can for as long as she'll let me." Later, Regine
breaks it off with Darryl because he is not ambitious enough for her.
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With her confidence back, Regine dates Keith, an artist who she describes as
"handsome ... cool ... kind ... strong and his paintings sell for quite a bit of money and
he ain't dead yet" (S3, E2l). Regine's mother finds Regine and Keith on the rooftop
having sex (S3, E26); while this causes some conflict between Regine and her mother, it
also brings about a more mature acceptance of the other. In season 4, episode 3, Regine
breaks-up with Keith for not paying enough attention to her at one of his art exhibits.
This marks a real turning point for Regine as she is without a man, and a job; the soap
opera she worked on was cancelled.
Regine decides to get into style consulting and event planning. In season 5,
episode 7, while trying to get a job coordinating a charity event, Regine meets Dexter, a
formerly heavy-set philanthropist. Regine cannot stop telling Dexter the truth. She even
says, "heck you can call me Nay Nay if you want," her childhood name from the projects.
In order to book the job and spend time with Dexter, Regine says she will take 15% off
the lowest bid. When Regine receives the budget, she realizes it is not enough money to
plan the event. Regine is distraught because she wants to tell Dexter the truth, but she
also wants to impress him. While talking with Khadijah, Regine states,
You know that all my life I've done whatever it takes to get the man. But with
Dexter I was completely honest. He asked me ifI'd ever been to Italy ... you
know I have a dozen patented responses to that question, some of which have me
descended from Venetian royalty, but what did I tell him? No. And get this I said
he could call me Nay Nay.
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Khadijah acknowledges Regine's feelings, "Damn girl, you are sprung!" and encourages
her to "dig deep into that di va bag of tricks ... and go get that man." Regine does not
want to trick Dexter, but she manages to put together the event on a very small budget by
placing high quality champagne labels on cheap bottles, hiring her friends to work the
event, and requiring the servers to move quickly through the crowds so that the food last
longer. When Dexter is about to kiss her, Regine confesses. Dexter already knows and
he is still impressed with her. Regine leaves the series three episodes shy of the finale
after Dexter proposes. In the final episodes, Regine is off happily living with Dexter.
Regine's growth is more than just about finding love; it is about being true to who you
are, where you come from, and accepting that, and being accepted by others. The little
diva, Regine, learns this important lesson.
Sex and the City
One of the most progressive aspects of Sex and the City involves the explicit
discussions of sex throughout the series. While sex is an inherent part of this series, the
sex object archetype intensifies this discourse with wild stories of her sexual exploits.
Like Blanche in Golden Girls, Samantha has a series of one-liners and one-night stands
that solidify her as the sex object archetype. She epitomizes the sultry sex goddess.
Samantha, like her sex object archetype cohort, considers herself the most beautiful
creature walking the earth. In season 1, episode 2, the four women are sitting around
discussing Miranda's latest date, the modelizer. As Charlotte begins to critique her
appearances, she says, "I hate my thighs." Miranda commiserates, "Well, I'll take your
thighs and raise you a chin." Carrie contributes, "I'll take your chin a raise you a hmm,"
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taking a bite of Chinese food and pointing to her nose. The three women look at
Samantha, who is violating girl culture by not commiserating about disliking a
fragmented body parts (Coward, 1985). They press Samantha for her body confession
and she says, "What! I happen to love the way I look." Miranda retorts, "You should.
You paid enough for it." Samantha counters, "Hey. I resent that. I don't believe in
plastic surgery. Well, not yet." Later in the same episode, Carrie meets Samantha at a
fashion show. In a voice over, Carrie states, Samantha "never missed a fashion show.
She was one of the only people I knew who thought proximity to beauty made her feel
more attractive. In season 4, episode 2, Samantha decides to have nude pictures of
herself taken. She announces, "This is not about a man's approval. This photo is just for
me, so when I'm old, and my tits are in my shoes, I can look at it and say, 'damn I was
hot.'" When the other women chide her about the photos, Samantha declares, "Look, I
like my body. I'm getting these pictures taken. What's the problem?" Carrie admires
Samantha's confidence in her body and applauds, "No problem. You're my hero. I can't
even say yes to being in some charity fashion show."
Samantha's confidence extends beyond her appearance to her sexual adventures.
Samantha sleeps with more than 40 partners throughout the six-year series, including a
woman, and of course herself. Not only are these sexual escapades numerous; they are
also audacious. Samantha confirms, "There isn't enough wall space in New York City to
hang all of my exes. Let me tell you, a lot of them were hung." In season 1, episode 2,
Samantha dates Barclay, a man who videotapes the models he has sex with. When
Samantha beds Barclay, she requests that he give her the same consideration as the
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models, as she thinks she is just as beautiful. This conquest proved to Samantha that she
is just as camera ready as any model. Samantha sleeps with 20-somethings as well as 70-
somethings and every age in between. She has sex with her realtor, Charlotte's doorman,
a college student, a firefighter, a trainer, a dildo model, a farmer, the delivery guy, her
assistant (right after she fired him), and a wrestling coach. In season 4, episode 8, while
dating this coach, who Samantha imagines will be flexible enough to try many positions,
she loses her ability to have an orgasm. This has never happened to Samantha before as
she explains, "I'll admit I have had to polish myself off once or twice, but yes, when I
RSVP to a party, I make it my business to come" (pun intended here).
Early in season 6, Samantha meets Smith Jerrod (formerly Jerry Smith an actor
who Samantha renames for his career). Smith becomes one of Samantha's great loves.
He is young, patient, and kind. He respects Samantha and supports her through her breast
cancer, despite her desire to run away from him. The combination of Smith and her
breast cancer allows Samantha to open herself up to more than just physical intimacy. In
season 6, episode 11, Smith and Samantha are walking down the street, when Smith tries
to hold Samantha's hand. Samantha is so uncomfortable with this intimate act that as
she tries to avoid it, she falls into a grate in the sidewalk, hurting her foot. When Carrie
inquires about what happened to her foot, Samantha explains, "It's Smith's fault. He did
something to me that was so perverse ... he tried to hold my hand." When Smith tells
Samantha how much he missed her while he was on location, he tries again to hold her
hand. Samantha says she's "not that kind of girl." Smith rebukes her and as he declares
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his feelings for her, he holds out his hand. Samantha accepts his hand this time, "but only
until my foot heals" she reasons.
Although Samantha does find love with Smith at the end of the series, her
character's desire for sex has not diminished (except in the few breast cancer episodes).
Samantha's sexual drive is sometimes compared to that of a gay male in drag. In season
2, episode 9, Samantha runs into a former boyfriend, now a drag queen who emulates her.
This comparison points to how when people live out sexualities and/or sexual desires that
are beyond the mainstream boundaries, their identities often get reduced to only their
sexuality. This is true for Samantha throughout much of the series, as it is for many gay
men and lesbians in their daily lives.
The Child Archetype
The characters, Rose Nyland, Synclaire James, and Charlotte York, portray the
child archetype in Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City, respectively. The
child archetype is portrayed as the wide-eyed, na'ive, simpleton, who is often ridiculed by
the other characters' jokes. At times, the child archetype points out the profound
absurdity of life just as a youngster might. With regard to sexuality, the child archetype
is seen as a prude.
Golden Girls
Rose Nyland, the Minnesota native, represents the child archetype in Golden
Girls. Rose tries to see the bright side of everything and looks for the good in people.
She likes to be helpful, even though the other characters find her exasperating with her
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long-winded, usually pointless, stories of St. Olaf, the small, droll Minnesota town where
Rose grew-up, married, and raised her children before moving to Miami.
In season 1, episode 20, Blanche takes a psychology course to finish her degree.
After failing the midterm exam, she seeks help from her professor. Instead of assistance,
Blanche's professor offers to give her a passing grade for sexual favors. This quid pro
quo is an unmistakable example of sexual harassment even though most cases are much
more nuanced. After Blanche tells Dorothy and Rose what happened at school, the others
share their stories of sexual harassment. Dorothy clearly explains. "What he did is sexual
harassment. He can NOT get away with that." As the iron maiden archetype, Dorothy
puts a name to the professor's behavior and insists that Blanche report this violation.
Dorothy retells how when she first started teaching, her principal harassed her and she
reported him immediately. Dorothy states, "I spoke out and because I did a lot of other
women didn't have to go through the same thing." This discussion and Dorothy's
contribution are examples of the consciousness raising that Dow (1996) contends
occurred in Designing Women. Similarly, the iron maiden character here moves the
discussion beyond personal experiences to more political social issues as did Julia
Sugarbaker, the iron maiden character of Designing Women. Rose, the child archetype,
recounts a much less politically charged sexual harassment story.
Rose narrates, "Nils Felander attempted to harass me repeatedly." Blanche asks,
"What do you mean attempted?" Rose continues,
He worked at Lars Erickson, a drugstore and tackle shop [in St. Olaf]. He was a
soda jerk. Now that I think about it he was the town jerk. Every Saturday
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afternoon, I'd go in and have a sundae. Well ... Nils would arrange the ice cream
scoops in an obscene way.
Blanche and Dorothy roll their eyes at Rose and her story, but Rose resumes, "I could
never prove it because by the time I would take it home to show my father ... the
evidence had melted. To this day every time I pass an ice cream parlor or a tackle shop, I
blush." This exchange demonstrates the ridiculousness of Rose, her story, and her
hometown as well as the disenchantment others have in Rose's stories and her
storytelling ability. The other characters often tell Rose to "shut up." This abrasive
verbal silencing reduces much of Rose's discourse. In season 2, episode 8, Rose,
Dorothy, and Blanche become stranded on an island during their vacation. When they
realize they are going to be rescued, Rose merrily acknowledges how special it is that
they were all together. Blanche and Dorothy, tired of Rose's "Pollyanna" ways, exclaim
in unison, "Shut up Rose!" To this, Rose replies, "I'm glad everything is back to
normal."
Rose does not develop much throughout the series, her ridicule and St. Olaf
stories become a significant, expected, and exaggerated part of the show through finale.
Rose's childlike stupidity pervades the series. In season 3, episode 5, Rose volunteers
with the Sunshine Cadets, a girls' organization similar to Girl Scouts. As Rose enters the
home in her yellow Sunshine Cadet uniform, she informs Blanche and Dorothy that she is
"concerned about nuclear war." Dorothy mocks, "And just yesterday her biggest concern
was, 'is Bubbles, the chimp, traveling with Michael Jackson against his will.'" Rose's
concern with nuclear war stems from letters several of her young cadets wrote about the
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fear they have of the devastation it could cause. Dorothy acknowledges, "This is not so
uncommon. Kids hear about nuclear war on T.V. They read it in the papers. It's part of
their lives. They can't help but think about it." Rose decides to write a letter to
Gorbachev and Reagan because she "always believed you can fix a problem no matter
how big it is, if you just put your mind to it."
Later in the episode, the Russian ambassador visits to tell Rose, "Premier
Gorbachev read Rose's letter and would like to meet with her. He was quite moved by
her letter. He wished to extend an invitation to her and her family to visit Moscow and
discuss nuclear disarmament and world peace." Immediately before the press conference
Rose is supposed to attend, Dorothy and Blanche discover that Gorbachev believes that
Rose is a child "based on her letter, we figure nine or ten." To save themselves the
embarrassment, they decide to let one of the Sunshine cadets read the letter, but Rose
decides she cannot let that happen because "a Sunshine cadet never lies." Upset by these
events, Rose states, "This is the worst day of my life, .. I made a total fool of myself in
front of the press. I'm the laughing stock of the entire country. What am I going to tell
my mother?" Dorothy responds, "Your mother is from St. Olaf, she'll understand." Rose
continues to berate herself, "I'm just stupid. I'm a dimwitted, dumb, simple-minded,
Grade A, Minnesota chucklehead," While Blanche and Dorothy try to console Rose, they
do not disagree. The episode ends with Dorothy saying, "It's a shame more people don't
think like nine-year-olds." If this episode focused on Dorothy and nuclear disarmament,
it most likely would have been developed into a more political stance. However, because
the episode involves Rose, the real issue is reduced to ajoke about Rose's na'ivete.
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Rose is sexually active in the series, yet her sexuality is seen as prudish. In
season 1, episode 2, Rose reveals that she has not had sex in the 15 years since her
husband died. This episode, aptly titled "Rose the Prude," focuses on Rose's decision to
have sex with her new boyfriend. The episode resolves with Rose coyly admitting she
decided to have sex. While sex for the child archetype has rigid boundaries, in a marital
relationship, the sexual experiences of the child archetype are frequent, adventurous, and
extraordinary. In season 2, episode 23, Dorothy's son-in-Iaw's infidelity drives the
narrative of the show. Rose recounts how one night when Charlie, her late husband, did
not want to have sex, she thought he was cheating on her. Dorothy and Blanche,
confused as to how Rose would jump to such conclusions, question Rose's assumption.
Rose discloses that she and Charlie had had sex every night for the first 18 years of their
marriage. Blanche, the sex object archetype is astounded by this revelation states, "No
offense, but I find that story a little hard to believe ... you don't even like talking about
sex." Rose responds, "It's been my experience that those who talk about sex, don't do it
very often ... Charlie said that's why we didn't have headaches and we both had really
shiny hair." Blanche, shocked that Rose has had more sex than her and offended by
Rose's comments, storms out of the room. Later in the episode, Rose reveals that she and
Charlie had sex every night from "seven until midnight," every morning from "five to
seven," and "until noon" on Sundays. To this admission, Blanche, defeatedly responds,
"Good lord, no wonder you still mourn that man."
This notion of the sexually inexperienced good girl becoming the sexual vixen in
sanctioned (i.e. marital) relationships pervades the idea of the virgin/whore dichotomy
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that plagues women and girls' understandings of their own sexuality. Sexuality is
socially constructed. Heterosexuality is compulsory and women's sexuality is seen as
something for the male's pleasure. Women and girls are taught to be provocative, but
inexperienced; seducers, but fend men off. At very young ages, girls are getting these
mixed messages. They are taught sex in sinful, dirty, and immoral and then told to save it
for someone they love. It is difficult for women to learn to enjoy their sexuality for
themselves after receiving these harmful messages. Girls need to be taught that sex is a
natural part of our human condition and should learn to respect their bodies and desire
pleasure for themselves, not just their partners.
Living Single
Synclaire James of Living Single also embodies this child archetype. Synclaire is
inexperienced, ludicrous, and acquiescent. She tries to keep peace and please everyone.
Her signature "woo woo woo, woo woo woo" signifies how she provides comfort to
those around her. Similar to Rose Nyland of the Golden Girls, Synclaire tries to see the
positive side of things. Also curious, both Synclaire and Rose are from Minnesota.
Minnesota connotes a midwestern innocence and simplicity that is somehow lost in the
bigger, more dangerous cities of Brooklyn and Miami. Synclaire and Rose seem
inherently connected to this connotation.
Synclaire is a struggling actor who works for her older and wiser cousin,
Khadijah. Throughout the series, Synclaire tries on many accents and personas in
preparation for her floundering acting career. Synclaire is incompetent with her job at
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her cousin's magazine and unsuccessful with her acting aspirations, and the other
characters find her not only silly and naive, but also stupid.
In season 1, episode 2, as Max and Regine argue about dating the same man.
Synclaire, thinking she is pointing out something illuminating, states, "Hey, both you
guys are dating guys named Charles." Khadijah expectedly responds, "You just
determined to be a step behind, aren't yah?" In season 2, episode 16, when the other
characters invest their money with Kyle, Synclaire decides she want to put her money
someplace safe like a pyramid scheme or keno." While this might be a critique regarding
the risks of the stock market, coming out of the child archetype, it is simply foolishness.
At Flavor, Synclaire shreds important documents, files things "emotionally," and
consults with the many trolls on her desk. In season 2, episode 16, coinciding with the
1994 Major League Baseball salary cap strike and Bobby Bonilla's guest appearance,
Synclaire rallies her co-workers to strike against Khadijah, who rarely has enough money
to keep the magazine running. Eventually Khadijah gives in to their two percent increase
in salary demands. Later Synclaire apologizes, "Sorry I had to go against you. I had to
stand up for myself. I learned that from you, you know?" Khadijah accepts this, "You're
family, but if you would have held out, I'd had to throw you out." In season 3, episode 6,
Synclaire spends the money Khadijah needs for a copier on Harvey Kitel acting lessons.
Later that same season, episode 12, Synclaire loses a part on a commercial for Afro-sheen
because she was "not ethnic enough." The part went to a "white girl with a curly perm."
The notion of a reduced number of Black roles in show business, as well as actors
settling for stereotypical parts, or being told, as is the case here with Synclaire, that they
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are not "Black enough" is an important critique of the industry. Filmmakers such as
Robert Townsend and Keenan Ivory Wayans, and Spike Lee parodied the blaxploitation
of Hollywood with poignant, biting, and at times humorous criticisms of the industry.
The use of the child archetype to carry this critique does not provide the weight and
seriousness needed.
The futility and foolishness of Synclaire can also be seen in how other characters
respond to her. Like Rose, Synclaire is told to "shut up" throughout the series. This
silencing demonstrates the other characters dismissal of the child archetype and her sunny
outlook as well as the insignificance of the child archetype's contributions to the social
discourse of the series. In season 1, episode 1, Regine's date stands her up. Three hours
later, while Regine eats a box of chocolates to console herself, Synclaire comments, "You
know, Regine, I don't think he's coming." To this, Regine barks, "Shut up!" In season
1, episode 2, Regine complains to Khadijah about Max going out with her ex-boyfriend
while they eat breakfast in the kitchen. Happily, Synclaire bounces in, "Mornin!' I just
had the best night's sleep. No coffee for me, thanks. Don't need it." Again Regine
responds sneeringly to Synclaire, "Shut up!" Regine is not only dismissive of Synclaire,
but she also wants everyone to focus on her.
Regine is not the only character to admonish Synclaire. In season 3, episode 1,
Regine has moved out of the apartment after a fight with Khadijah. Synclaire says she is
having "separation anxiety" because Regine has left. Regine invites everyone except
Khadijah to a party at her new apartment. Synclaire inappropriately comments on how
Khadijah has nothing to do that evening because she was not invited. Overton,
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Synclaire's boyfriend throughout the series says, "Sometimes I really love your wide-
eyed innocence." Synclaire finishes his statement, "and sometimes you wish I'd shut
up." Overton confirms, "Yeah, that's right."
Similar to Rose of Golden Girls, Synclaire is optimistic with regards to her love
life and prudish sexuality. The other women try to teach Synclaire about dating. In
season 1, episode 3, Max and Regine offer Synclaire romantic advice while trying to set
Synclaire up on a date. Regine tells her to listen, laugh, and point out her chest, while
Max tells her to dominate the conversation. Khadijah tells her not to let anyone tell her
what to do, while demanding Synclaire zip up her jacket so she shows less cleavage.
Max and Regine decide to spy on Synclaire's date, and Khadijah joins them. When
Synclaire confronts them she says, it is like she has "three mothers" and tells them to
leave. When Synclaire returns from her date, Khadijah says, "You know 1 don't
appreciate you going off on me, but I'm glad you stood up for yourself ... don't push it
alright, you know you ain't too big yet." This demonstrates the mother/child dynamic
between Khadijah and Synclaire. This mother daughter dynamic is seen throughout the
series and will be discussed more fully below.
Synclaire is wildly optimistic about love. She says, "Love is a magical thing" in
response to Khadijah sleeping with her long-time best friend Scooter and "1 believe in
love" in reference to Kyle and Max's affair. Khadijah questions, "Why do we even put
ourselves through all this nonsense for people we don't even care about anymore?"
Synclaire brightly responds, "cuz deep down there's a little love left," while Regine
cunningly says, "It's all about playing the game" and Max declares, "We don't feel better
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until they feel worse." Synclaire has one love throughout the series, Overton. Overton is
as wide-eyed and simple as Synclaire. They make a good match. In season 1, episode 3,
Overton meets Synclaire for dinner after he calls the pager service of Synclaire's original
date. Synclaire gives Overton a kiss goodnight on the cheek and Overton says he is
romantically six months ahead of schedule. Synclaire and Overton officially start dating
in season 1, episode 18. In this episode, Synclaire questions, "What's more important
than friendship?" as she struggles to make sense of her relationship with Overton.
Regine and Max, archetypally respond, "money" and "power," respectively. When Kyle
convinces Overton to date another woman, Synclaire realizes she is in love with Overton
and finally tells him.
In season 2, episode 9, Max and Regine discover that Synclaire and Overton have
not consummated their relationship and they are mystified by this revelation. While Max
and Regine pressure Synclaire to have sex with Overton, Khadijah tells her to do what
she is comfortable with; ultimately, after a series of comical, sexual mishaps between
Synclaire and Overton, they decides to wait. In season 2, episode 18, Synclaire and
Overton sleep together on their year anniversary. After this, the comments made about
Synclaire and Overton's sex life reflect the high frequency of their encounters. This
parallels the idea of sex for the child archetype in the sanctioned relationship, in this case
a long-term commitment, is ardent, adventurous, and permissive. Although Synclaire at
times learns to stand up for herself and her circumstances change (i.e. she gets married),
her character scarcely develops beyond the child archetype.
Sex and the City
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Charlotte York portrays the child archetype. Of the three child archetypes,
Charlotte grows the most throughout the series. In season one, she appears as the
sexually rigid, romantic optimist. Charlotte imagines her life to resolve like a fairy tale -
happily-ever-after. The philosophy behind her plan involves the idea that "most men are
threatened by successful women, if you want to get these guys, you have to keep your
mouth shut and 'play by the rules'" (Sl, E1). While many have their own personal
rules/boundaries with regards to dating and sex, Charlotte's rules seem to be not only not
based in the reality of her life, but also imposed by outside, antiquated social norms about
feminine expectations. In season 1, episode 10, Charlotte and company attend a baby
shower. While there, Charlotte discovers that the pregnant friend has stolen the name
Charlotte wanted for her own daughter, Shayla. This disruption in Charlotte's perfect
plan upsets her. In a voice over about Charlotte, Carrie reflects, "That night Charlotte got
out her wish box, where she kept reminders of all the things she hoped for in life: a gift
for Shayla [a pink pillow with her name on it], a townhouse in the city, a beach house in
East Hampton, her dream man" [a photo of JFK Jr.]. As Charlotte rips the pictures the
voice over states, "It is very strange when the life you've never had flashes before you."
This voice over illuminates Charlotte's na'ive expectations about the world.
In season 2, episode 8, Charlotte states, "people do live happily ever after," after
retelling a story about a friend's friend whose romantic life turned magical. Miranda
angrily denounces the story's veracity as an "urban relationship myth ... unbelievable
fairy tales concocted by women to make their love lives seem less hopeless." In season
2, episode 10, Charlotte weighs in on Miranda's new dating dilemma - Miranda makes
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more money than Steve. In response to the other women saying it should not be an issue,
Charlotte states, "Yeah, but it's normal for the guy to make more money." This
antiquated belief stuns the rest of them. Charlotte continues, "You're talking about
differences more than a difference of income. You're talking about a difference in
background, education. This guy is working class." Uncomfortable with the idea of
calling someone working class, Carrie states to Charlotte, "Honey, it's the millennium,
we don't say working class." As they sit in their pedicure chairs while others wait on
them, Charlotte, pointing out the obvious, replies, "but you're trying to pretend we live in
a classless society ... and we don't," motioning toward the pedicurist with her head.
Charlotte, unlike the other two child archetypes, is not seen as dim-witted,
therefore, her discourse carries more weight. In the series' Kiss and Tell book, Sohn
(2004) reflects on Charlotte's character: "When it comes to Charlotte, people tend to have
strong opinions. Because she so often espouses a traditional view of men, marriage, and
commitment, those who agree with her cheer her on - while those who disagree with her
want to throw things at the television." The discourse that Charlotte brings forth in this
series reflects patriarchal gendered expectations and it is rife with contradictions about
femininity, independence, and feminism. In season 3, episode 1, Charlotte proclaims,
"Allow me to get right to the point, guys. After careful consideration, I have decided that
I am getting married this year," despite the fact that she is not seeing anyone. While
Charlotte is hell bent on finding a husband, she throws a "used date party" only to have
the man she was attracted to go home with the one who had throw him away (S3, E 2),
dates a man who licks her face (S3, E5), has sex with a man who yells out "you fucking
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bitch, you fucking whore" as he orgasms (S3, E6), and reads Marriage Incorporated:
How to Apply Successful Business Strategies to Finding a Husband, deciding to enlist the
help of married friends to help her meet men, only to be propositioned by one of the
husbands. In an interview with Kristin Davis who plays Charlotte, Sohn (2004) reported
that Davis was uncomfortable with the idea that a woman should use this type of book.
Davis stated,
It was difficult for me to do the lines where Charlotte talks about the book that's
supposed to teach women how to find husbands. I don't believe in that Rules kind
of thing, and I think it's a toxic message to be putting out there in the world. But
once the writers said, 'We're going to build it up that you are looking at marriage
like a business, and then it's going to blow up in your face,' I was all right with it.
When a person gets fixated on one goal, it never works.
While the above idea sends a positive message, the episode does not come with a warning
label on it and Charlotte's (not Kristin's) message gets through unexamined. Shortly
after Charlotte employs her new business techniques to the dating world, she meets Trey,
who seems like the prince she has been waiting for all of her life. After the
disillusionment, Charlotte's character grows.
While Charlotte, who is still playing by the Rules, dates Trey, she decides not to
sleep with him until they are married. In season 3, episode 8, Charlotte states, "I read
that if you don't have sex for a year, you can actually become 'revirginized. '" The others
are not only horrified by this statement, but also wonder why anyone would want to do
such a thing. In season 3, episode 9, Charlotte, in her desperate attempt to marry, asks
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Trey to marry her and then regrets it, "There was no kneeling, there was no ring, no
nothing. This is an awful engagement story. What am I supposed to tell my kids - 'Well
mommy really wanted to get married, so daddy said, 'Alrighty.'" And this is the start of
Charlotte's fairy tale unraveling. After Charlotte and Trey marry, they struggle with
sexual dysfunction, infertility, and Bunny, the mother in-law.
Charlotte represents opposite aspects of each of the other characters in this series.
She is the child archetype to Carrie's mother archetype. Charlotte reflects the virtues of
femininity in opposition to Miranda's masculinity, especially with regard to work.
Finally, Charlotte's rigid sexual rules stand in stark contrast to Samantha's liberal sexual
freedom. In season 3, episode 16, Charlotte and Samantha clash over their differing
sexual morals. Samantha cannot stop recounting her sexual adventures, while Charlotte
and her new husband still have not had sex. While at brunch, Charlotte and Samantha
quarrel and decide to take a break from the group for a while. Charlotte decides to meet
her college sorority sisters for lunch, who view her as inappropriate for discussing her
sexual needs, while Samantha is appalled at her new friend's outrageous sexual behavior.
In an effort to work on their sexual relationship, Charlotte provocatively dressed,
strips away her sexual pretenses and says to Trey, "Look at me. This is me. I'm not a
Madonna, and I'm not a whore. I'm your wife and I'm sexual, and I love you." After
Trey and Charlotte have sex for the first time, Charlotte calls Samantha to give her the
good news. While this episode demonstrates the pitfalls for women and the virgin/whore
expectations placed upon them, future episodes reflect how Charlotte is most similar to
her child archetype cohort with regard to sexual freedom in the sanctioned relationship,
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once Trey and Charlotte resolve their sexual problems. For example, in season 4, episode
6, Miranda dates a man who licks her butt. While the women discuss how butt licking
got on the sexual menu, Charlotte coyly chimes in about how she enjoys this experience.
The other women stare in shock, and Charlotte says, "What? We're married now."
Anything goes sexually in the marital relationship for the once prudish singleton. Again,
the virgin/whore dichotomous expectations are portrayed and privileged.
While Charlotte personifies many traditional gender norms, she also symbolizes
the views of feminism's third wave. This third wave feminism for Charlotte, most
prominent in opposition to Miranda's more second wave liberal feminist approach,
involves issues of choice, work, and family. In season 4, episode 7, Charlotte announces,
"I'm thinking about quitting my job." Genuinely surprised, Samantha inquires, "Did you
get an offer from a better gallery?" Charlotte elaborates, "No, I mean stopping working
all together," nodding her head in affirmation. Carrie bewilderedly questions, "Really?"
Charlotte confirms, "Yeah I've been driving myself crazy trying to get everything done
and Trey suggested." Miranda interrupts, "Trey suggested?" Charlotte qualifies her
response, "Well he mentioned that maybe I might quit. I mean really I have just been
driving myself crazy and for what - the gallery? What has the gallery ever done for me?"
Charlotte had always been happy with her career. The gallery offered her stable and
fulfilling work for many years. Carrie reminds Charlotte, "But you love your job?"
Charlotte hedges, "I know but there is so much more I can do with my life?" Miranda
queries, "Like what?" and remains quiet throughout the rest of this exchange at brunch.
Charlotte lists the many things that would occupy her time,
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Well, soon I will be pregnant and that will be huge, plus I'm redecorating the
apartment and I always wanted to take one of those Indian cooking classes and
sometimes I'll walk by one of those "Color Me Mine" pottery places and I see a
woman having just a lovely afternoon glazing a bowl; that would be a nice
change.
Realizing the ridiculousness of her last statement, Charlotte adds, "And I would like to
volunteer at Trey's hospital and help raise money for the new pediatric AIDS wing."
Carrie critiques these plans, "Well the cooking and the AIDS stuff is great ... but,"
Carrie's facial expression is a cross between yikes and pathetic "the Color Me Mine ...
sweetie if! was walking by and saw you in there, I'd just keep on walking." Charlotte
maintains, "Well that's what I'm thinking." Carrie, still unable to wrap her mind around
this announcement, persists with her questioning, "Are you sure you're not just having a
bad work week?" Charlotte assures, "No, that's not it. I'm quitting. That's what I want
to do. Yep, I'm quitting." While Charlotte says this as a direct affront to Miranda, it
elicits no response. Rather, Samantha warns, "Well, be damn sure before you get off the
Ferris wheel because the women waiting to get on are 22, perky, and ruthless." This ends
the conversation at the coffee shop, but Charlotte was not pleased with the response she
received. This anger is mostly directed at Miranda, who barely said a word in the
exchange.
The next morning, Charlotte calls Miranda. Angrily, Charlotte accuses Miranda,
"You were so judgmental at the coffee shop yesterday." Miranda, taken off guard and
unsure where this venom is coming from asks for clarification, "Excuse me?" Charlotte
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continues, "You think I'm one of those women." Still confused about the accusations
being leveled against her, Miranda questions, "What? One of what women?" Charlotte
snidely responds, "One of those women we hate who just works until she gets married."
Unsure how to respond, Miranda states, "It's 8: 15." Charlotte demands, "That's not a
response!" Miranda counters, "It's an 8: 15 in the morning response." Charlotte spouts,
"The women's movement is supposed to be about choice and if I choose to quit my job
that is my choice." Incredulously, Miranda grumbles, "The women's movement? Jesus
Christ I haven't even had coffee yet." Like a child stomping her foot, Charlotte insists,
"It's my life and my choice." Trying to find the rationality of this exchange, Miranda
states almost condescendingly, "Charlotte, this isn't about me. This is your stuff."
Charlotte demands, "Admit it you were being very judgmental." Miranda refuses, "I'm
dripping all over my bathroom and you're calling me judgmental and if you have a
problem with quitting your job maybe you should take it up with your husband."
Charlotte points out Miranda's tone, "See there it is - your husband. There's nothing
wrong with having a husband." Frustrated with this ridiculous exchange, Miranda
threatens, "I'm hanging up." Charlotte, more incensed, warns, "Don't you dare hang up
and stop saying Charlotte like that. I am quitting my job to make my life better and do
something worth while like have a baby and cure AIDS."
Dumbfounded by this hostile exchange, Miranda challenges, "Oh, you're gonna
cure AIDS. Good for you, Charlotte. Just don't be too disappointed if all you wind up
with is a pretty ceramic mug with Trey's name on it." "Take that back," Charlotte
demands. Miranda exasperated states, "I'm hanging up." Charlotte begs, "Don't you
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dare hang up. I'm interviewing girls to replace me and 1 really need you to get behind
my choice." Miranda emphasizes, "You get behind your choice." Charlotte, trying
desperately to believe herself, declares, "I am behind my choice. 1 choose my choice."
Miranda finishes this exchange, chiding, "Charlotte, 1don't have time for this. 1 have to
go to work. Some of us still have to go to work." Charlotte, unconvincingly, proclaims,
"I choose my choice. 1 choose my choice." This powerful and important exchange
reflects some of the tensions between the second and third wave of the women's
movement.
Miranda's contributions echo second wave liberal feminist beliefs that women
should have equal opportunity and access in the workplace. Without this access to
sustainable work, women are precariously dependent on men for their financial support.
While Charlotte's comments about the women's movement espouse narrowly defined
feminist views about choice. The idea of choice here is problematic given that these
"choices" are only afforded to a certain privileged class of women. This same critique is
true of access to the public working sphere of liberal feminism in the second wave, yet it
is exacerbated by the idea of individualism and choice that pervades third wave thinking.
Karlyn (2003) describes this tension,
Feminism has wrought massive changes in Western society, and its effects,
especially on family and domestic life, have been complex. Whereas for previous
generations of middle-class women, work represented a longer-for freedom to
participate in public life, and family meant forced confinement within the private
sphere, these categories for many young women today have come to mean the
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opposite: work is a necessity, and family life (or their fantasies about motherhood
and domesticity) and option or 'Luxury' that may appear frustrating out of reach
(16).
What is most unfair about these conflicting beliefs is that all of the social pressures to
meet feminine and feminist expectations fall only to women. These feminist critiques
need to move beyond the ideology of personal access and choice. Instead of blaming the
repercussions of previously hard fought victories, these feminist critiques need to
challenge broader patriarchal structures, then there might be real agency for many.
Gilligan (1997) suggested that this relational struggle among the women in feminist
movement is not inherently problematic, but becomes so when these intra-movement
critiques become a way to blame previous successes and/or prevent further or reverse
radical social change. Steinem (1995) also reflected this notion when she states, "It will
take awhile before feminists succeed enough so that feminism is not perceived as a
gigantic mother who is held responsible for almost everything, while patriarchy receives
terminal gratitude for the small favors it bestows" (p. xix). Charlotte in many ways
blames Miranda who represents this gigantic feminist mother for disavowing her choice.
I argue that Charlotte's perspective is privileged in this episode for the following
four reasons. First, immediately after this exchange, Miranda snaps something in her
neck and requires medical attention. Second, while Charlotte interviews candidates for
the job at the gallery, the one chosen as her replacement consoled, "My mom worked all
the time. It would have been nice to have her around more." Third, as Charlotte leaves
the gallery on her last day of work, she walks powerfully as she enters this new phase in
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her life. Finally, in the last scene, Miranda calls in sick to work and enjoys the day off
doing nothing. This privileging of Charlotte's position as representative of third wave
feminism positions staying home with children instead of working outside the home as
the favored choice. While this choice might be admirable (for those who are financially
able to make it), women's long-term financial stability potentially becomes precariously
dependent upon men.
The Mother Archetype
Sophia Petrillo of Golden Girls, Khadijah James of Living Single, and Carrie
Bradshaw of Sex and the City represent the mother archetype. These characters are less
literal representations of the mother archetype than are the other characters and their
corresponding archetypes. This is true in part because two of the characters are not
biological mothers and in part reflective of the intersections of age and race. The single
most defining mother archetypal characteristic is their storytelling ability.
Golden Girls
As mentioned previously above, Sophia embodies the ethnic mother stereotype.
A woman from the old country, with old school ways, Sophia is rarely without stories
from the old country that begin with, "Picture this ... Sicily 1912 ... " For example,
Sophia describes the advent of pesto. She states,
In Sicily, we never went to the doctor. We went to the Widow Caravelli.
Whatever you had, she had a cure. She was most famous for her green salve to
cure ear infections. One day, she gave some to Salvadore, the village idiot. He
misunderstood the directions and put it on his linguine instead of in his ear.
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As Dorothy listens, she encourages, "Well, I guess if you're an idiot with a hearing
problem, you do things like that." Sophia embellishes,
Actually, it turned out ok. The stuff tasted great, so Salvadore decided to market
it. At first, things didn't go so well. 'Linguine with Ear Salve' wasn't very
appetizing, but once he changed the name to pesto sauce, it sold like hot cakes!
Dorothy admonishes her mother, "Ma, you're making this up!" Sophia excuses, "So
what? I'm old, I'm supposed to be colorfuL"
Also reflective of her old world charm is Sophia's ability to cook. Whenever
Sophia cooks the other women swarm the kitchen to take in the aroma. As Sophia stirs a
batch of her famous marinara sauce, she says, " If this sauce were a person, I'd get naked
and make love to it." Rose enters acknowledging the fragrant scent comments, "Mmmm,
Sophia. The kitchen smells wonderful. Is it Chef Boyardee?" To this, Sophia responds
holding a knife, "Stick it in my heart, Rose, it'll hurt less.
Sophia is often used as comic relief in an already humorous series. Most of her
humor comes in the form of jokes about her age, including comments about bodily
functions and lack of sexual encounters. While trying to write a novel, Blanche tells
Sophia, "I have writer's block. It's the worst feeling in the world." Sophia retorts, "Try
ten days without a bowel movement sometime." In another episode, Rose asks, "Sophia,
why are you in such a bad mood?" Sophia snaps back, "Excuse me Rose, but I haven't
had sex in fifteen years and it's starting to get on my nerves." Sophia complains, "All
you ever do is talk about your sexual problems! Well, what about my sexual problem?"
Dorothy questions, "Ma what is your sexual problem?" Sophia responds, "I'm not
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getting any." These types of retorts about the aging body occur in every episode. When
age intersects with the mother archetype in this case, Sophia's portrayal is indicative of a
broader social dismissal of seniors and particularly, older women. As an older woman,
Sophia no longer has to conform to narrowly constructed roles for women. On the one
hand, Sophia is freer to do as she chooses, and on the other, as displayed in her
comparatively reduced role in this series, her value decreases. This freedom is not
necessarily privileged as much as it is mocked and marked as old, or even senile.
Sophia also pokes fun at the other women in the series, most specifically Dorothy
for her dull romantic life. Sophia teases, "What do you three have, a pressing
engagement with a cheesecake?" Sophia often has one-liners either explicitly calling
Blanche a slut or at least implying it. In addition, she ridicules Rose's lack of common
sense.
Living Single
Khadijah James is the mother archetype in Living Single. Although not a
biological mother, she is the central character connecting all the women in the series and
serving as a more symbolic mother to her younger cousin, Synclaire. She provides
Synclaire with physical, emotional, and financial support. Synclaire lives with Khadijah
in her apartment in Brooklyn. Although not always solicited, Khadijah gives Synclaire
advice. Sometimes this advice is prefaced by "I'm not gonna tell you what to do ... " and
then Khadijah proceeds to tell Synclaire what she thinks her cousin should do.
A true mother/daughter moment between Khadijah and Synclaire occurrs in
season 4, episode 24, when Synclaire marries Overton. Synclaire is dressed in her
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wedding gown and Khadijah admires her in the mirror, smiling and crying like a proud
mother. As Khadijah helps Synclaire with her veil, she says "Oh, you're getting married
... and you're leaving me with Regine." Synclaire tries to comfort Khadijah, "Woo, woo,
woo." Khadijah whimpers, "No matter how much we say things won't change, they will.
You'll call less and less and then the letters will stop." Synclaire curiously inquires, "But
I'll see you when I come down from my apartment, right?" Khadijah pulls Synclaire's
veil over her and says, "Good-bye Synclaire James." James is the name Khadijah and
Synclaire share. It is a touching moment, depicting this mother/child dynamic between
the two characters. Khadijah is also figuratively the mother of her magazine Flavor.
Khadijah runs her own magazine, which she refers to as "My magazine ... gives
voice to a community that might not otherwise be heard. Flavor magazine paints a
portrait of the young African-American against a changing urban landscape." This
magazine, Khadijah's independence, and her self-proclaimed "lack of social life" position
Khadijah as both mother and iron maiden archetypes. This portrayal is an outcome of
race intersecting with the mother archetype. As mentioned, this image consistent with
the strong Black mother, is prevalent in African American culture (hooks, 1993).
Sex and the City
Carrie Bradshaw represents the mother archetype as the narrator and central
character who connects the other women in the series. While Carrie nurtures the her
friends as well as her column readers, she also receives lots of encouragement and advice
from them, particularly Miranda, but also Samantha if the issue at hand regards sexual
mores. Carrie's advice can be practical, sometimes simply providing an ear or serving as
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a sounding board. Most important to her mother archetype status, Carrie is the narrator
of this series. "Once upon a time, ... across town, ... and I couldn't help but wonder"
serve as her tag phrases as she situates the story. As narrator, Carrie has a privileged
omnipresence. She maintains a more neutral position as the inquisitive reporter. Rather
than taking a stance on any particular issue, Carrie interrogates it through the experiences
of her friends. Khadijah, on the other hand pretends to be neutral and then tries to sway
the others. This might reflect of Khadijah's mother archetype intersecting with the iron
maiden influence.
Charlotte regularly goes to Carrie for advice. In season 1, episode 8, she seeks
Carrie's advice about the three-some with her new boyfriend. In season 3, episode 1, as
Charlotte drunkenly hangs over the edge of the Staten Island Ferry, shouting to the world
that she will marry that year, Carrie buttons up Charlotte's coat and holds on to her belt
so she will not fall in the water, as Miranda sits idly by. In season 4, episode 7, Carrie
cautions Charlotte about quitting her job. This child/mother dynamic between Charlotte
and Carrie is prevalent throughout the series.
In season 2, episode 9, Miranda seeks consol about Steve asking her to be
exclusive with him. In a very practical way Carrie offers her advice to her friend. She
suggests, "Uh-oh. Time for the 01' list." Miranda questions, "What list?" Carrie
enlightens Miranda, "Things you like about Steve. Things you don't like about Steve.
Then see which list is longer." Miranda worries, "That seems so judgmental." In good
will, Carries reminds, "Miranda, you are judgmental. Try putting it to good use."
Carrie's advice extends beyond her circle of friends to her avid column readers. Most
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episodes end with Carrie's summation of the show's narrative question. For example, in
season 3, episode 18, Carrie tells viewers,
Later that day I got to thinking about relationships. There are those that open you
up to something new and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that bring
up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring
you far from where you started, and those that bring you back. But the most
exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with
yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just
fabulous.
While not all stories end on such a positive note, Carrie shares what she learns throughout
each episode with the broader audience.
The following chapter moves beyond the archetypal characters and the particular
meanings created by and associated with these portrayals to a discussion of narrative
themes present in the series. These narratives include family and sisterhood, prostitution,
crime and violence, heteronormativity, and patriotism.
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CHAPTER V
NARRATIVE FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
Before embarking on the comparative narrative analysis, I would like to mention
how setting contributes meaning to each series. Following that brief discussion, I
examine reoccurring narrative themes among the series and provide analysis about the
signification conveyed within these texts. The narrative themes on television reflect not
only an understanding of women's lives, but also broader social issues. The themes I
discuss include: family, prostitution, crime, heteronormativity, and patriotism.
Setting
Golden Girls is the story of four older women living together in Miami. All the
characters except Dorothy are widowed. Dorothy, the iron maiden archetype, is
divorced, which fits the notion that, as a strong "masculine" figure, she cannot keep a
man. Most of the action on Golden Girls takes place in the kitchen of a sprawling
suburban home. The four women often share their episodic problems in the kitchen
while eating cheesecake. The cheesecake becomes a part of the narrative, in a way a
character itself, and many references mention the abundance of cheesecake in the
refrigerator.
The four women bond over cheesecake, while they solve the problems of the day.
In season 1, episode 25, the women flash back to their first shopping experience, shortly
after they first met and moved in together. At the grocery store, they argue over the
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others' strange and extravagant purchases. Upon their return, the three decide that if they
cannot agree on simple things such as the groceries, they must not have anything in
common and should not live together. As Rose begins to put a cheesecake in the
refrigerator, Blanche asks, "What's that?" Rose explains that she has a love for
cheesecake. Blanche interrupts, "What kind?" Rose responds, "Chocolate." And
Dorothy concludes that their love of cheesecake could keep them together, "I think this
could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship." These women consumed over 100
cheesecakes during the course of this series.
The narratives of Living Single occur mostly in the living room of the Brooklyn,
NY apartment shared by Khadijah, Synclaire, and Regine. Max lives on her own in an
apartment across the street, although she often overstays her welcome at the others'
home. Max's background as the child of professional, upper-middle-class, parents
provides her with more financial privilege than the other women. Unlike Golden Girls
and Sex and the City, Living Single has two additional male characters who are in and out
of the apartment and each other's lives regularly. The roles of the additional male
characters in this series reflect the long-standing contradictions of parity among Black
men and women with regard to race and the struggles against Black men and women with
regard to gender (Combahee River Collective, 1977).
The setting for Sex and the City is different. The women on Sex and the City live
separately. Their central meeting place is a diner-like coffee shop. In addition,
Manhattan is as the main setting, as the women frequent the most popular bars and
restaurants on the island. Instead of cheesecake the women of Sex and the City indulge in
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cocktails, most commonly the Cosmopolitan. These characters are out on the streets
taking up a very public space.
In a broad way, the differences among settings reflect the social changes in
women's roles. The four women in Golden Girls would have come of age in the 1950s
when stereotypical roles for White, middle-class women were in the home. In addition,
the Florida city of Miami is indicative of the nearly 40% increase in the senior population
during the 1980s, according to the Florida Demographic Summary. The setting for Sex
and the City challenges the usual concept of women's space, as well as the idea of setting
for a sitcom. The four women of Sex and the City consume the very masculine and
public spaces in New Yark City, and Manhattan is even considered the fifth character in
the series.
Class issues also manifest themselves through setting. In Golden Girls and Living
Single, the women share their homes and expenses. This is a necessary condition and
reflects the struggles of our aging population, in particular older women without spouses,
as well as young independent women newly out on their own, specifically those who are
one generation out of poverty. While the women of Living Single live in Greater
Metropolitan New York, like their Sex and the City counterparts, their Brooklyn address
suggests a more diverse and less affluent demographic. After decades of urban decay, in
the 1990s, Brooklyn experienced a revival in its neighborhoods from those fleeing the
high prices of Manhattan as well as a growth in diversity among its residents. In her
book, Bachelor Girl: A IOO-Year History of the Single Girl, Israel (2002) emphasized the
significance of New York City as a hub for single women to make their own way over
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the last century. The use of New York City in two of these series reinforces Israel's
findings, as the women in Living Single and Sex and the City reflect the importance of
NYC as a place of opportunity for female singletons.
Family and Sisterhood
Family and sisterhood is a dominant theme in these sitcoms. The four characters
in Golden Girls have each been married and raised a family of their own. Blanche, Rose,
and Sophia are widowed and Dorothy is divorced. Sophia and Dorothy are related as
mother and daughter respectively. Other than Dorothy and Sophia the women of Golden
Girls met later in life when Blanche posted an ad at the grocery store for roommates.
Throughout the series these four women live in the same suburban home in Miami,
Florida. None of the women of Living Single is married at the start of the series.
Khadijah and Synclaire are cousins. Khadijah and Regine grew up in the same
neighborhood, which is often referred to as "the projects" in the series, and their mothers
remain friends as well. Khadijah and Maxine are friends from college. Khadijah,
Synclaire, and Regine live in the same apartment and Maxine lives across the street, but
comes and goes as she pleases in the others' apartment. Max has her own key and often
mooches food from the others. Regine views Max as the unwelcome guest. In Sex and
the City, none of the four women is married at the beginning of the series. It seems the
four characters of Sex and the City met in their professional lives in New York City.
They do not seem to have any childhood or school connections. Miranda went to
Harvard Law School and Charlotte went to Smith. Samantha is around eight to ten years
older than Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte.
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While there are only a couple of blood ties among characters in these series, the
peer group provides the familial relationships, thus creating a new meaning of family in
each series. In addition, there are distinct differences among the notion of family within
the series. In Golden Girls the narrative ploys set the women against each other. While
this series is more issue oriented than the other two, the basic repetitive plot involves a
disruption in the friendships/familial relationships and is resolved with the preservation
of the relationship at the end of the episode. In Living Single, there are lots of intra-group
conflicts, but they are more a demonstration of group dynamics than plot momentum.
This conflict serves to provide humor as the characters are often "playing the dozens."
Playing the dozens is a term to describe an element of African American oral tradition. It
is an one-upmanship of insults exchanged light-heartedly (Smitherman, 1977). Labov
(1972) calls this "verbal dueling strategies." This dueling demonstrates solidarity among
the characters unlike the disruption that is created in Golden Girls. Playing the dozens
was initially a masculine verbal challenge game, in many ways reflective in the
masculine domain of Rap music. The way the women of this series incorporate this
masculine style of communication is also indicative of Queen Latifah's foray into the Hip
Hop industry. In Sex and the City, where there are no familial relationships, conflict
among the characters is far less prevalent than in Golden Girls or Living Single. Even
though the characters of Sex and the City might have a difference of opinion in answering
the driving question of the narrative, this is rarely used as a disruption/resolution of the
friendship narrative ploy as in Golden Girls.
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Golden Girls
An alternative to the nuclear family ideal among the four characters can be seen
from the very first episode of Golden Girls. In this episode, Blanche considers a
marriage proposal. Unbeknownst to Blanche, the man who proposed is a bigamist, and
the wedding is canceled because of his arrest. This episode examines issues of being
alone, finding love, and the meaning of family. Rose says that they are all alone, kids
leave and husbands die, while Blanche admits she can't be without a man. The
conclusion of the episode revolves around the four women re-defining the idea of family
and understanding that they are not alone, but in this together. The mutually supportive
and loving relationships among the women challenge traditional notions of family for
women later in life. Blanche says, " You're my family now and you make me happy to
be alive." In season 2, episode 11 "Twas the Nightmare Before Christmas," the four
women are making plans to spend Christmas with their respective families. On the way
to the airport, the four characters are held up in the Grief Counseling Center where Rose
works. When they finally manage to get themselves free of the hostage situation, they
find that all the planes have been grounded due to severe weather conditions - magically
a white Christmas in Miami. The four characters end up at a small diner on Christmas
Eve where they relieve the owner for a couple hours while he spends time with his
family. The owner cannot believe that the women are not related. He says, "the way you
were teasing and talking with each other I thought you were all family." The conclusion
of the episode, and consensus of the group, is that despite not being able to visit their
families, "we're all with family."
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Whether the foursome is fighting over a man (S1, E3; S2, E5; S2, E14; S3,E14;
S4, E1; S4, E15; S7, E19), other familial relationships (S2, E7; S3, E9; S4, E22), ajob
(S2, E9), or a bowling game (S1, E7), the resolution to the episode is consistently the
preservation of the foursome as a beneficial family unit. This idea of family is reinforced
in flashback episodes (S1, E25; S2, E17; S2, E25, S5, E25/26) as well. In season 3,
episode 25, President George H.W. Bush plans to discuss family values on his trip to
Miami and needs to meet with an exemplary family. Making sure the foursome does not
pose a threat to the President, the secret service inspect their residence and conclude the
foursome would serve as a fine example of family for the President to visit.
In season 7, episodes 23 and 24, Rose, Blanche, Sophia, and Dorothy attend a
high school reunion pretending to be people who actually graduated from that high
school. As Dorothy, masked as "Nancy," is crowned queen of the reunion, Rose falls to
the ground, clutching her arm. When the four arrive at the hospital, the staff will not
allow Blanche, Sophia, and Dorothy to see Rose because they "are not family." To ease
their worry about Rose, Blanche, Sophia, and Dorothy sing songs from a musical Rose
wrote. As they are singing inappropriate lyrics in the hospital waiting room, Rose's
daughter Kristen arrives. Kristen, distraught by her mother's illness and angered by the
jovial singing of Blanche, Sophia, and Dorothy, does not allow them to visit with Rose.
When Rose requests to see "my girls," Kristen discovers that these women have made
plans to take care of each other emotionally, physically, and financially. With this
knowledge, Kristen finally accepts Blanche, Sophia, and Dorothy as her mother's family.
This two-part episode resolves with the women promising to have their heads
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cryogenically preserved when they die so that they can all be together again. This
episode reinforces the idea that even though these characters are not blood relatives their
connection to, and care of each other reflects bonds that are at least as strong as
traditional families.
Living Single
While there is much conflict among the characters in Living Single, this conflict
does not usually drive the narrative of the show as it does in Golden Girls. The playful
exchange of insults does not disrupt the relationships among the characters of Living
Single, but actually serves to mark identity and demonstrate a level of closeness,
camaraderie, and respect among the characters. While there are episodes where the
narrative involves conflict among the main characters, most of the time, this conflict
simply serves playful banter. However, when the conflict is external, the characters
really come together to support and protect one another, like family would do. In Season
1, Episode 23, U.N.I.T.Y (based on Queen Latifah's 1994 Grammy award winning hit
song), the four women crash their neighbor's (Kyle and Overton) poker party where
Kyle's co-workers as well as his superior, Lawrence, are present. Kyle's boss Lawrence,
acting like a stereotypical sexist jerk, hits on Regine. While Regine finds Lawrence's
attention flattering, this concerns Kyle because he is worried about his chances for a
promotion. Kyle warns Regine not to do anything that would jeopardize his chances of
promotion. And Regine laughs off Kyle's warnings.
After Regine and Lawrence's first date, Regine pacifies Kyle's concerns by
telling him that the two of them had a wonderful time and that Lawrence was a "perfect
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gentleman." While at work, Kyle encounters Lawrence talking disrespectfully about his
conquest of Regine. Kyle decides not to challenge Lawrence because his concern about
his promotion outweighs Regine's reputation at first. During the next poker game, the
women interrupt the party again. Lawrence responds to this interruption, "I did not come
here to get whacked by these bitches." Kyle stands up for the women and says to
Lawrence" you got a jacked up attitude, man get up outta my house." This exchange
reveals that Lawrence had degraded Regine, and Kyle apologizes for not standing up for
her earlier. While Lawrence holds the power to promote Kyle, he will not allow this type
of disrespect toward his friends. Kyle is not concerned about his promotion because he is
"bringing in more accounts than anyone." Max offers to be his lawyer even though Max
and Kyle are often ribbing each other. Max says she can represent him and despise him
at the same time. The episode ends with Kyle saying, "when we're playing, its cool."
This episode parallels Queen Latifah's song U.N.I.T.Y. This song critiques the
disrespect of women, particularly in rap music's exploitation of women in lyrics and
video images. This episode demonstrates, how among the group, this type of playful
banter is "cool" because they know when it comes down to it, they have each other's
back, like family. However, when these derogatory remarks come from outside the
group, this behavior is unacceptable. The ideas about family in Living Single are
impacted by race. While Kyle's boss Lawrence is Black, there are still understandings of
familial relationships that are specific to African American communities, in particular the
idea of extended bonds and group preservation.
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Sex and the City
There is rarely a mention of blood relatives in Sex and the City. There is only one
episode (S2, E15) where a family member of any of the main characters has a speaking
part. Executive producer, Michael Patrick King stated,
The biggest mistake ever was bringing Charlotte's brother on. It was good for the
story because Charlotte got to say that line about Samantha's vagina being in the
New York City guidebooks, and they got to have the beginning of their crisis.
But I realized when I saw a family member on the show that I probably never
want to see another one because it can never Jive up to the audience's imagination
of who these people are. How much do you really know your friend's family if
you live in New York City? (Sohn, 2004, p. 55)
This quote demonstrates the laxity of the family unit for those urban professional
transplants living in New York City. The need to create one's own family in this
environment can be seen through the four characters of Sex and the City. In many cases,
ideas about what constitutes family in Sex and the City are limited to the romantic ideal
of a married partnership. Charlotte sees this romantic ideal and desires it uncritically.
For Miranda and Samantha this married partnership and those involved in it are seen as
the enemy. In season 3, episode 1, the four women go to Staten Island for the firefighter
talent show. Charlotte gets drunk and decides she will marry that year. The next day as
the four have brunch, the hung-over Charlotte asks, "Where is he?" Miranda responds
skeptically, "Who, the white knight?" Carrie suggests that maybe the four of them are
each other's white knights. While Charlotte at first thinks this comment is "depressing,"
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the episode resolves with the four women being happy with being able to depend on each
other. This idea of being each other's soul mates extends beyond this episode and by the
end of the series Charlotte is the one suggesting that the foursome serve as the knights in
shining armor for each other.
Family and the close sisterhood among the characters in Sex and the City continue
throughout the series. In season 4, episode 11, Miranda discovers she is pregnant with
her ex-boyfriend's baby and considers having an abortion, while Charlotte struggles with
fertility issues in her new and fragile marriage. This causes tension between the two as
they wrestle with their difficult and opposing life circumstances. In the last scene, the
viewer assumes Miranda had an abortion. Samantha brings Miranda some tea to comfort
her. Carrie has lemon strudel, and Charlotte unexpectedly brings flowers to offer her
support of Miranda's decision. When it is revealed that Miranda is keeping the baby,
Charlotte says, "Oh my god, we're having a baby!" This demonstrates how the women's
lives are intimately connected in familial ways.
Other ideas about family are explicitly expressed in several episodes. The idea of
family is firmly situated among the four women despite their relationship status. For
example in season 2, episode 15, Carrie dates a short story writer, but instead of falling in
love with him, she falls in love with his family. This dynamic, progressive, New York
City family of writers welcomes Carrie with open arms, invites her to lecture at
Columbia, as well as includes her in weekend brunches and shop talk. The episode
resolves as Carrie realizes she has to break up with the family she has come to adore. As
Carrie leaves the family home of her ex, she finds that she is not without family as she
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stumbles upon her three friends dining together. As Carrie joins them, her voice over
acknowledges her friends as a family unit and summarizes the episode,
The most important thing in life is your family. There are days when you love
them and others you don't, but in the end they are the people you always corne
horne to. Sometimes it's the family you're born into and sometimes it's the one
you make for yourself.
In all three series the idea of family shifts from the traditional nuclear family to a
female-centered group that provides much of the support, care, and nurturance needed.
While Golden Girls uses disruption in this family dynamic as a narrative tool, the
resolution is always preservation of the friendship, and this new family unit. The insult
humor in Golden Girls reflects the conflict among the women, whereas the insult humor
in Living Single demonstrates solidarity among the women, while marking their racial
identity as African American women. Out of the three series, I argue that Sex and the
City provides the most feminist notions of friendship and sisterhood, through this new
understanding of family, because it does not pit the women against each other. The idea
of setting women in opposite of, or in competition with for men, jobs, and resources, has
plagued the women's movement. Therefore by showing women as constant companions,
despite their differences, this series demonstrates a camaraderie and connectivity among
women that seems missing in the splintered and individualistic third wave of feminism.
While I do not think of Sex and the City as a particularly feminist series, its depictions of
a strong, female, familial unit is one of its most progressive portrayals. Golden Girls
shows viewers that women's lives are not without meaning after losing a husband in the
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"empty nest" stages of life, and offers new ideas about life for newly single mature
women with grown children. Golden Girls offers of view of what it means to grow older
that is vibrant, sexual, and satisfying. Living Single demonstrates the need of solidarity
not only among women, but also with men. While both Living Single and Sex and the
City offer alternatives to marriage for the young urban professional, Sex and the City is
more progressive not only because of the age of the women, but also because the series
shows women in supportive roles without all the conflict and competitiveness of Golden
Girls and Living Single.
Prostitution
While I thought the theme of family would be prevalent within all the series, I did
not expect to see a narrative about prostitution appearing in two of the three series.
Additionally, the storylines about prostitution were not solely connected with the sex
object archetypes within either series. In season 2, episode 2 of the Golden Girls, Rose,
Dorothy, and Blanche are mistaken for prostitutes while on their way to a dinner hosted
by Burt Reynolds. Excluding Sophia, the other three decide to treat themselves to a night
at a hotel. Blanche chose the hotel on Miami Beach because it was "in our price range,
near the beach, and it had the most men hanging out in the lobby." Unbeknownst to
Blanche the hotel is actually a brothel. As the women sit in the lobby, three men in town
for a clothing convention proposition them. As the women figure out what is going on,
the police raid the hotel and take all of the hotel guests into custody. Dorothy tries to
convince the police officer that they are innocent, that there has to be a mistake. Upon
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hearing Dorothy's pleads, all the prostitutes in the lobby agree that they are innocent as
well.
While in jail, Rose blames Blanche and her "overactive sex drive that got us into
this." Blanche uses her feminine coyness to try to get the officer to release "three
helpless females desperately in need of a big strapping man like yourself." Not only does
the officer turn out to be a woman, but also it seems ridiculous to try to get out of a
prostitution charge by propositioning a police officer. Dorothy convinces everyone in jail
to leave her and her friends alone because she was in Attica. Another inmate doubts
Dorothy's declaration, stating, "Attica is a male's prison," and Dorothy says, "I know I
was there a year before they found out." It is interesting to note how the three characters
stay within their archetypes even as they are all accused of being prostitutes.
In addition to these archetypal portrayals, age also plays a role. When Sophia
comes to bail Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy out of jail, she says, "I can't believe these
dumb cops would think anyone would pay money to sleep with you." This is suggestive
of the idea that older women are unappealing sexually. Then, Sophia questions who will
give up their Burt Reynolds ticket for her. When no one agrees, Sophia steals the tickets
and leaves the others in jail. The episode ends with Sophia talking about all the famous
people she met at the Burt Reynolds dinner. The other women are still angry and don't
want to hear about it. When Burt Reynolds shows up to ask Sophia to lunch, he asks if
the other women are the roommates she was talking about; and Sophia says yes and
introduces them. Then Burt Reynolds asks, "Which one is the slut?" Simultaneously,
Rose, Dorothy, and Blanche all respond earnestly "I am!" It is interesting to see how
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Rose, Dorothy, and Blanche are eager to describe themselves as "the slut" given they
were just released from prison because they were mistaken for prostitutes. This speaks to
the idea that heterosexual relationships are often fraught with tensions of power, property,
and payment.
There are two episodes in Sex and the City where Carrie is mistaken for a
prostitute. In season 4, episode 11, Carrie is propositioned as she waits for Mr. Big in a
hotel lobby, where they planned to meet to continue their affair. In this episode, the
mistaken identity is a scene in passing to make Carrie storm out of the hotel; and as Mr.
Big follows her, they run into Charlotte who is planning her wedding and austerely
disapproves of their affair. The second episode is discussed below.
While the prostitution example from Golden Girls serves as a narrative ploy and
reinforcement of archetypal character patterns, in season 1, episode 5 of Sex and the City,
Carrie actually interrogates the connection between sexually active single women and
prostitutes by asking in her column, "Where's the line between professional girlfriend
and just plain professional?" This question is asked about Carrie's acquaintance Almalita
Amalfi (Carole Davis) who has a "dazzling sexual power that she exploited to her
advantage." Almalita did not work, but always had the most fabulous clothing, jewelry,
and adventures that were provided by her many international boyfriends. This episode
revolves around the idea of feminine power and is titled "The Power of the Female Sex."
In this episode Charlotte, the child archetype, courts a reclusive painter, Neville
Morgan (Charles Keating), to show at her gallery. The showing of this painter would be
a real professional triumph for Charlotte; however she is concerned that Morgan is
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"giving her a professional advantage because he finds her charming." One evening, the
four women sit around and discuss what this "professional advantage" might mean in
relationship to sexual exploitation. True to archetypal form Samantha, the sex object,
says, "women have the right to use every means at their disposal to achieve power."
Miranda retorts, "short of sleeping their way to the top." Samantha disagrees
expounding, "not if that's (sleeping their way to the top) what it takes to compete."
Charlotte fears that this "professional advantage" is exploitation and worries about her
meeting with Morgan at his country studio. Miranda, true to the liberal feminism of the
iron maiden archetype, tells Charlotte that if Morgan "even suggests what you're
thinking, give me a call and we'll sue the hell out of him. That's the only proper way to
exchange sex for power."
Charlotte arrives at Morgan's country estate, where he shows her his latest work.
This work involves paintings of women's vaginas. Charlotte, uncomfortable and
surprised, can barely bring herself to say the word vagina, let alone cunt, which is the
term both Morgan and his wife use. Charlotte develops the euphemistic phrase "C-U-
Next-Tuesday" so the word does not have to cross her lips. Morgan describes his work,
"the cunt -- the most beautiful force in the universe, the source of all life and pleasure and
beauty." Charlotte, calmed by Morgan's description responds, "You're right" as if this
was the most simple and obvious statement she had ever heard. Morgan asks if Charlotte
will pose for him. Only slightly reluctantly and definitely uncharacteristically, Charlotte
agrees.
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In the other story line of this same episode, Almalita contacts Carrie to meet her at
Balzac, an exclusive new restaurant where Samantha and Carrie were unable to get into
earlier that week. At Balzac, Almalita introduces Carrie to Gilles, French architect who
is in town for a couple of days on business. As Carrie and Gilles walk home, he asks her
if she will show him the town tomorrow. Carrie and Gilles spend a spectacular day
together; Carrie believes they made a real connection. Despite Carrie's sexual rule of
conduct ("I don't sleep with men I've only known a day"), she decides to spend the night
with Gilles. Carrie wakes to Gilles kissing her goodbye "stay in bed, order room service,
enjoy yourself ... I'll call you." As Carrie awakens she realizes they did not exchange
any type of contact information. With this acknowledgement, Carrie sees an envelope
Gilles left for her. She opens the envelope awaiting a charming note, only to find "thanks
for a beautiful day" and $1000 cash. When Samantha and Miranda join Carrie for a room
service breakfast, she questions, "what exactly about me screams whore?" Miranda
quips, "You mean besides the $1000 on the end table?" Samantha asks, "What are you
getting so uptight about, money is power, sex is power, therefore getting money for sex is
simply an exchange of power." Miranda snips "don't listen to the dime store Camille
Paglia." Then, Samantha says, "Men give. Women receive, it's biological destiny." To
this Miranda angrily responds, "Hello! do you really want to be saying that? I mean
that's actually the kind of argument men have been using since the dawn of time to
exploit women." Carrie calms the argument by saying she is just "going to write it off as
a bad date with a cash bonus." While Miranda brings up a very important argument
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about biological determinism versus the social construction of gender inequities, Carrie
quells this discussion and its political import.
Later in the episode as Samantha and Carrie try unsuccessfully to get into Balzac
again, Almalita waves Carrie over to her table, where she is introduced to a new man,
Mario, who has a "gorgeous placcio on the Grand Canal in Venice," according to
Almalita. Mario invites Carrie to spend time in Venice with the international jet setters
as he puts his arm around her. Carrie thinks to herself,
I couldn't say I wasn't tempted. I realized that I could leverage myself like the
human equivalent of a sexy junk bond. I'd parlay that $1000 into a trip to Venice,
a nice piece of jewelry, a rich husband, followed by a richer divorce.
Mario moves his hand down, across Carrie's derriere, and she sharply pulls his hand
away, declines the invitation and walks away thinking, "just because Venice was sinking
didn't mean my morals had to go down with it ... As far as Gilles and the $1000, for
better or worse, I had just established my rate for a one-night stand."
The idea that the vagina is a dynamic life creating and powerful force is certainly
a positive conviction encouraging women to own their sexuality, especially the child
archetype, Charlotte, who in owning her sexuality displays the painting of her vagina in
the gallery exhibition. Sexuality for the child archetype reflects virtue and purity. The
child archetype's sexual experiences are generally the prerogative of her partner's
pleasure. Therefore, her willingness to pose and display her vagina as painted by Morgan
is a positive acceptance for Charlotte, acknowledging the power of her sexuality. As this
episode reveres the vagina as strong and beautiful, it also reduces women's power to their
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sexuality. While there is some critique by Miranda, the iron maiden, of biological
determinism and the historical exploitation of women's sexuality, the privileged ending
basically concludes that there is still a very blurred line between "professional girlfriend
and just plain professional."
Crime and Violence
Each of the three series contains an episode where some sort of robbery occurs
and the characters must deal with the consequences of this event. This might not have
been apparent had it not been for the similarities among the responses. For example,
Blanche and Regine, both the sex object archetypes, hide their jewelry in the freezer,
believing that thieves would not look there. While Blanche's jewelry is a family
heirloom and missing, Regine can't believe the burglar did not take her fake diamonds
and states, "If they ain't fooling a robber in the dark, they ain't fooling anyone."
Disappointed she continues, "I wear these everywhere." While the sex object archetypes
in Golden Girls and Living Single focus on the jewelry, the variance in the episodes
speaks to the differences in social class between Blanche and Regine as well as Regine's
desire to be superficially seen as beyond her humble beginnings. In season 1, episode 8
of Golden Girls, an intruder burglarizes the home of Blanche, Dorothy, Rose, and Sophia,
and each have different, yet archetypal responses. The plot of Living Single season 1,
episode 4 involves Regine losing her driver's license and keys to a mugger on the street,
followed by a late-night break-in of Khadijah, Synclaire, and Regine's apartment. In
season 3, episode 17 of Sex and the City, Carrie wanders down an isolated street and has
her purse, her jewelry, and her Manolo Blahlnik shoes stolen.
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While the plots and solutions are different, it is interesting to note, although not
surprising, that each series includes an episode on the vulnerability of women to intruders
or attacks. According to Estes (1992), the predatory, "dark man") is a figure prevalent
not only in fairy tales, but also common in dreams. Estes stated that this shadowy
intruder is, "So common that it is remarkable if a woman has reached aged twenty-five
without having such a dream" (p. 66). Israel (2002) discussed cautionary tales and
singleton lore that were used to incite fear in women about their vulnerability, especially
those who were seen as "flaunting it" (p. 123). Hollander (2001) described how our
understanding about vulnerability is central to the ways in which gender is socially
constructed. Sheffield (1987) argued that social control of women is manifested and
maintained by a system of fear tactics she calls "sexual terrorism." Each series is not
without its own reminder of the vulnerability of women.
Golden Girls
The intruder episode in Golden Girls, titled "The Break-In," serves as a character
reinforcement as much as an intruder narrative. The episode begins when the four
women arrive home from a Madonna concert to find that their home has been
burglarized. Dorothy, the iron maiden archetype, reacts as the voice of reason and
authority, as she begins to search the house and orders everyone else around and they
immediately obey. Unaware if the intruders are still in the home, Dorothy says,
1 "Dark man" denotes a shadowy stranger. Estes (1992) was not inferring race nor am 1.
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This is a .375 magnum, one of the most poweIful guns in the world. It could blow
your head off. The only problem is I don't know if I shot four rounds or five. So
you have to ask, do you feel lucky, well do ya, PUNK?
Sophia concludes, "Go ahead make her day." When it is decided the intruders are no
longer in the house, Dorothy, Blanche, and Sophia go about the business of checking the
rooms for what was stolen as Rose stands frozen, still frightened about the night's events.
Rose tells Sophia not to go to her room because "it could be dangerous." Sophia
responds, "please I'm 80, bathtubs are dangerous." As the women discover what is
missing, Blanche is only consumed with her mother's jewels being gone and threatens the
harshest revenge against the robbers. Rose suggests that the intruders were looking for
drugs. Dorothy snaps, "We have Maalox and estrogen - how many junkies have gas and
hot flashes."
Rose finds no comfort in the other women's banter about what is missing or not.
She states,
You know why this happened? It's because we're without men. I don't know
what happens, or why. All I know is when I had a husband I didn't worry.
Maybe nothing happened to me because I had a husband, maybe not. All I know
is [when I had a husband] when the lights went out I wasn't afraid.
Rose, the child archetype, responds feaIfully about being comfortable as an independent
mature woman.
Blanche, the sex object, only concerned with her precious gems, believes that
"crime is caused by karma." She accuses the other women of bad energy because, with
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all her southern glory, Blanche proclaims she doesn't "have that kind of energy."
Dorothy reproves Rose and Blanche's notions about crime and says, "It has nothing to do
with karma. It has nothing to do with being single. It is about lousy locks on sliding
glass doors and massive unemployment," bringing in broader social implications for
crime occurring in their neighborhood as well as rebuking common notions of women's
vulnerability. Later a security sales representative comes to the house to discuss anti-
theft systems the women can install in the home. The sales representative uses fear
tactics to scare the women into buying the most expensive system. To this Dorothy
responds,
I'd rather be murdered - we are getting the basic system, not from you, but from
your competitor because what you were trying to do is terrify us into spending
more money than we have. Now get out of here before the victim of a violent
crime is you.
Again this episode characterizes Dorothy as the iron maiden archetype, with her
harsh words and strong tone, resisting,being taken advantage of by the salesman. To
reassure the other women Dorothy says, "It could be worse. We could each be alone, but
we have each other." Rose still fearful says "It's better with men," reinforcing the idea
that women are weak, vUlnerable, and in need of male protection. Dorothy admonishes
Rose telling her that being with a man is just "false security - life isn't worth living with
this kind of fear."
Later Blanche accidentally sprays mace in her face, mistaking it for hairspray.
Dorothy puts her foot down. "This is it," she says to Rose. "We've had it. No mace, no
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tear gas, no grenades," then Dorothy discovers Rose bought a gun for protection.
Dorothy suggests Rose see a psychologist to help her with her fear. Upon returning from
the psychologist Rose is still fearful. Sophia is irritated stating, "I hate psychologists.
They blame everything on the mother - you heard him we're afraid because our mothers
taught us to be afraid." While this statement begins to address gender socialization, it
really just marks Sophia as the mother archetype. In Sophia's limited role in this episode,
her quips mark her not only as the mother archetype, but also as old. After Rose
accidentally shoots Blanche's antique vase, thinking it was an intruder, Sophia comments
that she has lived "80,81 years, survived pneumonia, two operations, and a stroke - one
night I'll belch and stable Mabel (Rose) here will blow my head off." This small role
might also reflect the reduced need older mothers have in their adult children's lives.
The episode resolves with the police returning the stolen items and Rose being
chased in an empty parking garage. Rose recounts,
There I was alone. I heard footsteps. It was my nightmare come true. I ran. He
ran faster. He grabbed my arm and I turned around and dropped him. Kneed him
right in the safe deposit box and dropped him like a sack of potatoes. I stood over
him, looking at this pitiful creature and I thought I'm not helpless. I'm going to
be ok.
Instead of being a cautionary tale about women's vulnerability, the episode ends with
Rose learning how to take care of herself, although it was only the parking attendant she
assaulted. In addition, Rose's silly overreaction to her fear, resulting in harming the
innocent parking attendant, might also discount the significance of women's vulnerability
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and/or need for self-defense awareness. While "The Break-In" episode of Golden Girls
gives a passing nod to the idea that the women have each other to depend on, the episode
really focuses on the individual and archetypal character roles and responses.
Living Single
The intruder episode of Living Single (S 1, E14 - "Burglar in the House") centers
on the need to build not only relationships among the main characters, but also in the
broader community. The refrain of having to "protect ourselves" resounds throughout
the episode in connection to purchasing a security system, the neighborhood watch, and
police protection.
The episode begins with Regine entering their apartment distressed over having
her purse stolen while coming out of the subway. When Kyle reminds Regine to cancel
her credit cards, she tells them there is no need, as "the thug" will be arrested
immediately because her cards are "maxed out and overdue." Overton changes the locks
for Regine, Synclaire, and Khadijah while they look over security brochures. Khadijah
says, "At these prices, it's cheaper to get robbed." While this statement is similar to
Dorothy's above, the difference reflects the class issues in each series as does Regine's
credit card predicament. Dorothy's statement is powerful and serves to put the salesman
in his place. Khadijah' s response is about lack of financial resources to afford a security
system.
Regine says she likes "having men around to protect us." Max responds, "Why
do you always look toward men to protect you. Criminals have guns ok. The only thing
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that men have that we don't isn't going to stop a bullet." This statement marks Max as
the iron maiden archetype who will not accept the inferior position of gender differences.
Khadijah remembering that they attended a neighborhood watch meeting earlier
that year, questions what happened. Max states, "Nobody in the neighborhood watched a
damn thing. That's what happened." Later that night Regine and Synclaire end up
sleeping with Khadijah because they are scared. The three are in bed together when they
hear noises, and then glass breaking in the kitchen downstairs. They sneak up on the
intruder shouting, "Who is it? Who's there?" and the intruder runs away. Three phone
calls later, the police finally arrive stating that they had "a pesky little homicide that
required our attention first." The police finish writing their reports, but the women feel
no safer. The four women, and their neighbors Kyle and Overton, stay at the apartment
watching re-runs on an old black and white television set that was not stolen, while
exchanging other stories about crime in their neighborhood.
Max, and Kyle and Overton, return to their own apartments. When Khadijah and
Synclaire awake on the couch they hear noises in the kitchen. Assuming it is another
break-in, they try to get out of the apartment, but Synclaire trips the alarm in panic before
Khadijah can remember the code. As the alarms screeches, Regine runs out of the
kitchen, Kyle and Overton come downstairs and Max calls to see if everything is ok.
Khadijah responds to this false alarm, "this is crazy. I mean all these locks, all these bars,
this arming and disarming, you all hidin' underneath my covers. I can't live like this!"
Regine asks "how else we going to be safe?" Synclaire suggests they move to
Minnesota. Khadijah resolutely states, "We ain't moving anywhere. We ain't going
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anywhere. We're gonna stay right here and stop living scared." Kyle suggests, "You
know what we all should do? We ought to get that neighborhood watch going for real."
Regine agrees. "Yah I'm with you. Sign me up." Khadijah gets up and says, "I'm going
to bed ... alone." As the three walk upstairs, they hear sirens. Max calls to say she is
coming back over. Regine, Khadijah, and Synclaire sit on the couch listening to the
sirens. As the scene fades out, their faces are distraught and the music ominous and
melancholy.
Unlike the Golden Girls, this episode does not end with a positive resolution.
Instead of having stolen property returned or feeling safe because you defended yourself,
this episode ends with sirens howling in the background. The differences point to
differences not only of geographical location urban versus suburban, but also class and
race issues. In both episodes, the idea of living with such fear is crippling for the women.
This is important to note because women, consciously or subconsciously, carry this fear
with them all the time. This kind of fear constrains women's ability to move about
freely.
Sex and the City
The burglary episode (S3, E 17) in Sex and the City is strikingly different from
Living Single and Golden Girls. First of all, the mugging takes place on the street not in
the home of any of the characters. Secondly, the theft only involves one character,
Carrie. Finally, the episode revolves around the idea of karma more than violence against
women or community violence. In the very first scene, the four women are eating Sushi
when Natasha walks in the restaurant and snubs Carrie. Natasha married Carrie's ex, Mr.
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Big; and Carrie and Mr. Big had been having an affair for several months. Carrie
responds by going shopping.
After lunch I was so devastated by Natasha's withering look that I decided that
my only recourse was to go shopping, but I took a wrong turn, looking for the
right shoes and somewhere south of Halston Street I quite literally lost my
direction.
As she approaches a guy coming toward her on the street to ask for directions, he points a
gun at her and shouts, "Gimme your bag." Untroubled, at first, Carrie corrects him, "It's
a baggette." "Lemme have it." Carrie thinks, "Fifteen years in New York and just when
the city was getting safe, I was getting mugged." "Is this for real?" she inquires. "Your
watch and your ring. Quick. And your Manolo Blahlniks." Reluctantly, she gives the
mugger her shoes explaining, "Please sir, they're my favorite pair. I got them half price
at a sample sale." And the thief hurries off down the street. Carrie, distraught mostly
over losing her "strappy sandals" enters a nail salon and shouts, "I've been robbed!" No
one pays any attention to her, going about his or her business as if this were an everyday
occurrence. The "George Clooney" looking detective, who is on the case, interviews
Carrie regarding the mugging and flirts with Miranda when she arrives to comfort her
friend, bringing shoes for Carrie to wear home. This flirtation leads to an exchange of
cards and future date plans. Carrie says, "I get mugged and you get him. I guess that's
my karma." Carrie attributes this whole incident to her affair with a married man.
Later in the episode, after being pushed down a flight of stairs by two college
guys and unable to get a cab, Carrie is certain this is an "open and shut case of karmic
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retribution." To change her karma, Carrie tries contacting Natasha to apologize, while
Natasha successfully avoids her calls. Carrie finally arranges a surprise meeting with
Natasha and apologizes. Natasha does not let her off the hook that easily and says to
Carrie,
Are you finished? I'm sorry too. Yes, I'm sorry about it all. I'm sorry that he
moved to Paris and fell in love with me. I'm sorry that we ever got married. I'm
sorry he cheated on me with you, and I'm sorry that I pretended to ignore it for as
long as I did. I'm sorry I found you in my apartment, fell down the stairs, and
broke my tooth. I'm very sorry that after much painful dental surgery, this tooth
is still a different color than this tooth. Finally I'm very sorry that you felt the
need to come down here. Now not only have you ruined my marriage, you've
ruined my lunch.
The resolution to this aptly named episode ("What Goes Around Comes Around") is that
Carrie has set into motion a series of events that put the beautiful Natasha back on the
dating market, "like single women in New York didn't have it hard enough."
The idea of karma does connect back to Blanche's idea about why their house was
broken into, but it also reveals the superficiality of Blanche, as the sex object archetype,
and Sex and the City as a whole. While the episode dealt with Carrie being mugged, it
did not address women's vulnerability to crime in a big city like Manhattan. This series
does an excellent job of keeping those types of issues to the periphery and focuses on
interrogating questions of relationships, in this case "Is there such a thing as relationship
karma?"
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Heteronormativity
Heteronormativity is the idea that heterosexuality is so ingrained in our culture
that we see it as the only "normal" option in a dichotomy of straight or gay. Rich (1980)
suggested that this heteronormativity is so pervasive in our culture that it creates what she
calls compulsory heterosexuality, leaving women with no options except to chose
heterosexuality based on social, economic, and gender pressures. Compulsory
heterosexuality ignores the existence of lesbianism even though there are various
examples of intimate female relationships everywhere, including in these series. Rich
(1980) argued that a more fluid understanding of sexuality would provide women with a
range of options in which to pursue their sexual desires, and that these challenges to
compulsory heterosexuality are necessary (Rich, 1980). The three series embody the idea
of compulsory heterosexuality, despite some of the challenges suggested in Sex and the
City as well as the fluid sexualities of real life stars Queen Latifah (Khadijah - Living
Single) (Zook, 2003a) and Cynthia Nixon (Miranda - Sex and the City).
Sex and the City
Sex and the City would have to be the most sexually progressive of the three
senes. Despite this sexual progressiveness, Sex and the City still seems to promote a
strictly heteronormative lifestyle, with homosexually being its deviant opposite. Sex and
the City embraces homosexuality, specifically with its inclusion of Stanford Blatch,
Carrie's gay best friend. Stanford and his many relationships assume center stage at
times. Stanford's relationship are seen as both strange and "too gay" as with his doll
collecting boyfriend (S3, E5). Toward the end of the series, Stanford becomes more
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serious and monogamous in his relationship with Marcus. There is even an episode (S3,
EI8) with three transgender, male-to-female, prostitutes who eventually befriend
Samantha. While different sexualities are discussed and accepted, they are still seen as
the aberrant or deviant form of sexuality, and in opposition to heterosexuality.
In season 4, episode 4, Carrie dates a younger man, Sean (Eddie Cahill), whose
generation "has a totally different letter than ours." When Carrie asks about his former
relationships, Sean nonchalantly replies there was "Kaylynn and Leslie, and before Leslie
there was Mark." Stunned with Sean's bisexual confession, Carrie tries to cover her
judgmental astonishment. To which Sean acknowledges, "Is that a problem?" And
Carrie lies "of course it's not a problem." As Carrie recounts this story to her friends she
asks, "When did the sexes get all confused?" Samantha, the sex object archetype thinks
it's great. Miranda says, "it's greedy, it's double dipping." While Charlotte says she is
"very into to labels: gay/straight, pick a side and stay there." Charlotte wants everything
to fall into rigid boundaries so she can make sense of her world. Carrie asserts, "I'm not
even sure bisexuality exists. I think it's just a layover on the way to gay town." Except
for Samantha, the other three characters seem uneasy with a more fluid sexual
continuum. Carrie attributes her sexual rigidity in this case to her age. "I'm an old fart,"
she says about herself. Throughout the episode, Carrie tries to force Sean to admit that he
is more attracted to men or women. Sean simply explains that he has "been in three
major relationships and one just happened to be with a guy." Finally Carrie attends a
party with Sean and his gender-bending friends, who all seem to have had various sexual
relationships among each other: two were married in a heterosexual relationship and now
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divorced and both dating same sex partners. The male couple shares a child. One
member of the male couple and one of the females both dated Sean.
Later in the episode, a partygoer decides it is time to play spin the bottle and
Carrie reluctantly joins the circle with Sean. The first two kisses are between a man and
a woman. A female player spins the bottle and it lands on Carrie. Carrie simply
responds, "whoops it's a girl spin again," relying on the heterosexual rules of the game
she learned 20 years earlier. The female spinner leans in and kisses Carrie.
Uncomfortable with this kiss, Carrie excuses herself from the party, stating that she needs
more cigarettes. It turns out, Carrie is simply not comfortable with fluid gender roles or
the sexualities of Sean or the other party guests. This resolution privileges
heteronormativity and denies bisexuality.
In season 4, episode 4 and 5, Samantha experiments with lesbianism, announcing
that she is dating someone new, Maria, someone she really likes, and "yes ladies, I'm a
lesbian." The other three characters act in disbelief. Samantha's sexual exploits have
always been shocking, but this foray into lesbianism is unfathomable for Charlotte,
Carrie, and Miranda. As the three walk home, Carrie questions Samantha's sexuality,
"how does that work, you go to bed one night and wake up and puff you're a lesbian!"
To the presumed absurdity of this announcement Miranda says, "Oh I forgot to tell you
I'm a fire hydrant."2 It is interesting to see how a show about sex does not tolerate much
beyond strictly heterosexual relationships. Samantha says lesbian is "just a label like
2Miranda's response is particularly interesting here, given that shortly after the series
ended Cynthia Davis left her long-time boyfriend and father of her to children for a
woman.
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Versace." Although Samantha is trying to tell Carrie not to label her, Samantha really is
just trying lesbianism on like a fashion accessory, while learning fun facts about the
women's sexual pleasures. The other women call Samantha the "lesbian du jour" and
prudish Charlotte suggests that Samantha is just experimenting with lesbianism "to bug
us," demonstrating that Samantha's lesbianism is disturbing to the rest of the group.
In episode 5, Maria grows jealous of Samantha's many men, who they continue to
run into while out on the town. Samantha responds to Maria's inquiries about who these
men are with a wave of the hand and a simple statement, "a guy I used to fuck." Toward
the end of the episode, Samantha has grown tired of the intimacy that Maria insists on in
their relationship. Samantha feels she can no longer just have sex; but must now talk
about her feelings, which she does not enjoy. "I don't know how you people do it,"
Samantha complains to Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte at brunch. Samantha ends her
relationship with Maria not because she is a woman, but because she does not want that
kind of intimacy. Through this episode lesbianism is seen as an overly intimate
relationship with two women, and this is not likely true of all lesbian relationships. In
any case, Samantha's lesbianism is seen as a joke and never truly accepted by Carrie,
Miranda, and Charlotte, reinforcing the otherness of lesbianism to the norm of
heterosexuality.
Within Golden Girls and Living Single heteronormativity is even more strictly
enforced. This might have something to do with the fact that the women live together on
these two series, and NBC in the 80s and FOX in the 90s simply were not ready for any
homosexual undertones in these shows. Rather, they were explicitly concerned that
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lesbian undertones be absent, and both Golden Girls and Living Single deal with issues of
homosexuality through guest star characters.
Golden Girls
There are three gay-themed episodes in Golden Girls. Season 2, episode 5
involves an old friend of Dorothy's, Jean, who recently lost her partner. The other two
episodes (S4, E9 and S6, E14) involve the coming out and later marriage of Blanche's
brother, Clayton, respectively and Blanche's acceptance of Clayton's sexuality. In
season 4, episode 9, Blanche comments on her brother's lifestyle, "I don't really mind
Clayton being homosexual, I just don't like him dating men." Dorothy responds, "You
really haven't grasped the concept of this' gay thing' yet, have you, Blanche?" Blanche
in her heterosexist denial says, "Well there must be homosexuals who date women."
And Sophia chimes in, "Yeah. They're called lesbians."
In season 2, episode 5, Dorothy's friend Jean plans to visit, and Dorothy feels
uncertain whether or not to tell Blanche and Rose that Jean is a lesbian. Jean's sexuality
does not seem to have been an issue in her life as she had been openly living with her
partner. There is no discussion of any kind of discrimination. Jean simply states, "I am
not embarrassed or ashamed" when asked bluntly by Sophia, "so the lesbian thing, you
keep it under your hat or what?" Throughout the episode, the idea of lesbianism seems to
be a mystery, shrouded in secrecy, not necessarily for public discourse unlike Sex and the
City. The episode uses lesbianism as its situational misunderstanding to provide humor.
All the women demonstrate compassion and acceptance of Jean's sexuality. Sophia
knows Jean is gay because a "mother knows." When Dorothy questions Sophia about
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how she would react if one of her children were gay, Sophia responds, "I wouldn't love
him one bit less and I would wish him all the happiness in the world."
Before Blanche discovers Jean is a lesbian, she encourages Jean to start dating
men. When Jean declines Blanche says, "Maybe you're not ready for men yet." Sophia
responds, "You don't know the half of it." When it is revealed to Blanche that Jean is
gay, Blanche says "I'll never understand what Jean doesn't see in the opposite sex, but
hey if that's what makes her happy, it's fine by me." This demonstrates a superficial
level of acceptance of homosexuality. Blanche's response also reflects the oddity of a
sexuality unlike her own hyper-heterosexual one. The thing Blanche is really shocked
about is Jean's attraction to Rose. Blanche responds in horror, "Well I'm shocked, to
think Jean would prefer Rose to me. That's ridiculous." Blanche continues her disbelief
and demands of Dorothy, "If you had to pick between Rose and me, who would you
choose? She's [Rose] not as worldly and sophisticated as I am." Always consumed with
her perceived desirability, Blanche is not uncomfortable with homosexuality, only the
idea that someone would prefer Rose to her.
Jean falls for Rose after they spend the day together. They have a lot in common,
as they both grew up on dairy farms. Jean says she has not met anyone as kind and warm
as Rose since her partner died. Rose and Jean stay up late talking and playing cards.
Jean even enjoys Rose's stories. To not disturb the others, it is agreed that Jean will sleep
in Rose's room. Rose still does not know Jean is a lesbian or that Jean has feelings for
her. Rose begins to fall asleep when Jean confesses her feelings. Rose slumberly repeats
Jean's declarations until Jean says, "I'm quite fond of you." Then the wide-eyed Rose
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pretends to sleep and begins to snore to avoid the awkward moment. The next morning
Rose confides in Dorothy that she thinks Jean is gay; and Dorothy confirms her belief.
When Rose confronts Jean about her feelings she says, "I have to admit I don't
understand these kind of feelings." And then Rose hems and haws over if she were gay
she would "be proud and flattered." Rose hopes "their friendship is enough," and the
episode concludes with Rose and Jean hugging to acknowledge that Jean is fine with the
two of them being just friends. It is interesting that the Golden Girls, an issues-oriented
show that generally incorporates critiques of social issues, would even include a gay-
themed episode, given the lack of political import this episode has with regard to gay
rights. It seems as though the episode is used to ensure audiences that the main
characters are in deed not lesbians, although they are [somewhat] comfortable with
homosexuality.
Living Single
Season 3, episode 22 of Living Single is the only episode that contains a gay
theme. In this episode, titled "Woman to Woman," Max's former college roommate,
Shayla, visits with her fiance Chris. Max has planned a bridal shower for the two of
them. When Chris arrives at the door before Shayla has time to tell Max that her fiance is
a woman, everyone is stunned. Synclaire awkwardly says "lesbians, neat!" to break the
tension. Max's reaction is angry and flippant. When Chris says she has heard all about
Max, Max responds, "I had you pictured a little differently. I thought you'd be a man."
Shayla explains she just did not know how to tell Max. And Max replies, '''I'm gay' is a
real toll saver." Shayla asks Max,"Are we cool?" and Max says, "Yeah we cool, I just
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hope I can get the deposit back on the male stripper." Max gives the couple "His and
Her" underwear for a present, getting one last shot in about not knowing the truth.
Although Max's reaction to finding out her college roommate is gay is not necessarily
supportive, it seems as though Max is more upset that she was the last one to know than
uncomfortable with her former roommate's sexuality.
Synclaire's response is particularly na'ive as the child archetype would be. When
she begins to hang a sign that reads, "Welcome Lesbians" Khadijah warns her to take it
down. Synclaire apologizes, stating that she's "not up on lesbian etiquette, it's not like
I've know any before." Khadijah informs, "Aunt Gladys is gay." Synclaire doubts,
"Aunt Gladys is not gay. She just never found the right man ... like her roommate Aunt
Hazel." This exchange demonstrates the naivete of the child archetype.
At the bridal shower, Regine awkwardly welcomes guests dressed in oversized
sweat suit and a baseball cap, hiding behind the door, stating in a monotone voice
(Regine even perceives her voice as sexy), "Welcome to the shower, drinks are on the
table." When Khadijah inquires, "What the hell is this?" pointing to Regine's clothes.
Regine explains, "I'm thinking of our guests. You know I'm cute and you know how
enticing I usually look. Why put out the banquet if they can't eat." Regine' s response is
superficial and self-absorbed, proclaiming her irresistible beauty, and believing everyone
will fall in love with her. While similar to Blanche's sex object response, neither sex
object archetype is as progressive and accepting of homosexuality as Samantha in Sex
and the City. Khadijah seems untroubled by Shayla's announcement throughout the
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episode (Zook, 2003a). Khadijah has known since junior year, and Max is even more
hurt that Shayla felt comfortable telling Khadijah before her.
Shayla explains to Max that she never told her because she had been in love with
her. Max stumbles, uncomfortable with this confession and inquires, "but you knew I
was straight, right?" Shayla says, "Well, I wondered every time you'd rant about how
men were like snorting wart hogs without the charm." The episode resolves with Max
coming to terms with Shayla's sexuality. Max says she does not know how she would
have responded back in college, but she "wish[es] you would have given me a chance,
think of all the time we wasted, think of all those times we could have dissed about your
dates, I can't imagine some of the heffers you must have gone out with." And their
friendship is restored. It is interesting to note that as the iron maiden archetype Max's
sexuality is questioned. As stated earlier, the iron maiden archetype is masculine; and
this masculinity can be confused with homosexuality. This could be another reason why
the creators hyper-sexualized Max's iron maiden archetypal character throughout the
senes.
Patriotism
Golden Girls
Another interesting theme that stands out among the series is the notion of
patriotism. In Golden Girls, for example, there are no fewer than three episodes devoted
to the idea of "American-ness." In season 2, episode 21, "Dorothy's Prize Winning
Pupil," Mario Lopez guest stars as a young student who writes a paper about what living
in America means to him. Dorothy is so moved by his writing and high regard for his
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country that she submits his paper to a writing contest. Unbeknownst to her, Mario is in
the United States illegally. Due to the publicity of winning the writing contest, Mario's
immigration status is revealed. In the end, Mario is deported, but Dorothy vows to bring
him back legally because he is "what this country is all about." Since the show is set in
Miami, the immigration discussion seems important to address. This episode
accomplishes a few things, it: 1) demonstrates the strength of America as it was built on
immigrants from many lands, 2) praises America for its openness and freedom, and 3)
promotes the idea that immigrants should come in to this country legally.
In season 5, episode 21, Dorothy's ex-husband's Czechoslovakian cousin, Magda,
visits shortly after the non-violent overthrow of the communist party in Czechoslovakia.
Magda stereotypically represents the ill-tempered communist who is disgusted by the
excess she sees in the American way of life. She complains about America while
shopping and drinking Slurpees that she describes as delicious and "so fruit like" in a
deep, monotone, Eastern European accented voice. In this episode, Dorothy argues with
Magda about the advantages of a democracy, the importance of freedom, and many other
American values. Magda complains about everything especially the consumerist society
she sees. While in a bookstore, Magda states that there are too many competing ideas in
all of these books and that it cannot be good for people to be exposed to too many ideas.
Again Dorothy espouses the beauty of American ideals, specifically freedom of
expression. The episode resolves as Magda returns to Czechoslovakia having learned not
to be afraid of the changes occurring in her country and that the newfound freedoms will
serve her country well.
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During season 5, episodes 25 and 26, then President of the United States, George
H. W. Bush, plans to visit Miami. The secret service arrange for a visit with Dorothy,
Blanche, Rose, and Sophia. These episodes are set up as a clip show with flashbacks
from previous episodes as the secret service conduct a background check of the four
women. In episode 26, Dorothy plans to interrogate the President on issues such as
education and the environment. Rose urges Dorothy not to attack the President as she
sees it as un-American. Dorothy explains that it is important to question authority.
However, when the President arrives, Dorothy is so awe-struck with his position that she
is unable to speak. This is an interesting turn of events to not question the President, as
Dorothy complained about his administration tirelessly amongst the flashbacks. Dorothy,
the most vocal and feminist character of the series, literally loses her voice in the face of
conservative American politics. This is significant because it reinforces the idea that
while the woman's movement has made progress, questioning authority and status quo
power structures remains a difficult and challenging task. This pro-American support of
the powers that be in the Golden Girls is also significant because it points to the idea of
age and generation. The Golden Girls characters represent the demographic group Tom
Brokaw (1998) called the greatest generation. This generation came of age during the
Great Depression and World War II and upon their return from the war built a modern
America. Brokaw (1998) asserted that this generation was united by American values of
honor, economy, service, love of family, and nationalism. It is interesting to see this
blatant pro-American stance in Golden Girls as it seems absent from the other two series.
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Living Single
There appears to be less of a pro-American stance in both Living Single and Sex
and the City. While this could simply be attributed to the age and generation of the
characters, I think race and feminism playa bigger role. Although all the main characters
on Living Single are Black, issues of race are seldom an explicit part of the narrative in
this series. Race, however, is brought up in many places from the magazine that
Khadijah runs to African dress, art to hairstyles, and T-shirts to guest stars. These
characters seem to have overcome the obstacles of racism and in some cases (Khadijah
and Regine) poverty to achieve varying degrees of success in their twenties. While this
might seem to be the American dream personified, the characters do not attribute their
success to American values. Notions of American-ness are often tied to, and thus
ridiculed, by describing them bourgeois. The character most closely connected with the
idea of the bourgeois is Regine, who affects a white-middle class idea of beauty
(including her light complexion) and success through her superficial snobbery,
materialism, and social climbing desires. In season 1, episode 7, Regine takes her
boyfriend's daughter out shopping. The pair comes home dressed in Jackie 0 sunglasses
and scarves and Khadijah says, "Who knew bouesgie came in such small sizes." As
Jackie 0 represents American royalty, the idea of bourgeois is implicitly connected to
American-ness here.
Another example of equating American-ness to bourgeois politics involves
Regine's participation in an uppity group known as the ELBOWs (Enterprising Ladies
Benefiting Our World) to which Max comments, "that bouesgie group that thinks
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wearing Versace is the best way to beautify the environment." In season 3, episode 27,
Max, power hungrily, agrees to run for city alderwoman and accepts the ELBOW's
support. When Max asks Regine for help with her speech, Regine replies, "democracy in
action or dirt?" Regine, true to her sex object archetypal form, goes for the superficial
gossip about Khadijah's lawsuit over a discussion of politics.
In this same episode, Khadijah is being sued for libel because of the comments
Russell, Flavor's music editor, made about a band. Here Russell tries to bribe the court,
but is met with hostility. Russell, confused by the unwillingness of the court to accept his
bribe, responds, "I thought this was America." This comment demonstrates the
perception of the America legal system as greedy and corrupt. In contrast, as a lawyer,
Max upholds a particular allegiance to the law as demonstrated in season 4, episode 5
where she makes Regine tell the court that she has not keep the proceedings confidential
because she slipped and told everyone that she was a juror on a particularly salacious
trial.
There is no intrinsic respect for the police or the military in Living Single. While
the characters of Golden Girls demonstrate an inherent respect for authority as
demonstrated with the former president, the characters of Living Single feel they cannot
rely on the police for help. As mentioned, in season 1, episode 14, the women's
apartment is burglarized. The police show up three hours later and simply take a report.
The characters do not feel comforted by, or confident in, the police officers' ability to
protect and serve their community. The lack of confidence in, as well as distrust of, the
police is a common protest among Black communities. These communities are often
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neglected and/or criminalized. The people within these communities ultimately have to
rely on themselves to protect their own interests.
With regard to military service, in season 1, episode 22, Russell, the Jamaican
music editor, quits Flavor and says he will join the military because they "take virtually
anybody." While this quote criticizes the military, African Americans and other
marginalized groups have historically been lured into military service with the hope of
improved status, conferred dignity, and honor. Military service was one way many
marginalized groups believed they would be accepted into mainstream America.
According to Takaki (1993), many Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and African
Americans fought in World War II "for a 'double victory' against fascism abroad and
racism at home" (p. 395). In many cases, these efforts fell short of their ideal when
servicemen returned home and opportunities for integration failed in the workplace as
well as in community development. Mass movement toward suburbia in developing
residential communities only available to Whites left inner cities abandoned, under-
valued, and eventually impoverished. This mass exodus impacted Brooklyn, and this city
did not begin to recover until the 1990s where we find the women of Living Single
residing. While the critiques of the police and the military in Living Single are superficial,
the comments do not valorize these institutions that have historically oppressed African-
Americans.
In many ways, the critique of American-ness, and its historical and
institutionalized racism, comes through in what is not said in this series. In many
episodes, the characters wear African apparel. Kyle is the character who is most closely
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associated with his African heritage. He often wears African clothing, dates an African
princess, and celebrates Kwanza. Other characters wear historically Black college
sweatshirts and Negro league baseball paraphernalia. Overton often wears an "Eracism"
baseball cap. These subtle aesthetic choices reflect a much different American narrative
than the Golden Girls and allude to the history of slavery and racism in this country, as
well as pride in an African and African-American heritage.
Sex and the City
The idea of American-ness in Sex and the City is more cynical than critical.
American-ness involves freedom of choice with regards to consumerism and sex in this
series. The only discussion of politics throughout the series occurs in season 2, episodes
1 and 2, when Carrie dates a man, Bill Kelly, who is running for the comptroller's office
in New York City. In their first meeting at a firefighter calendar competition on Staten
Island, Bill asks Carrie, "Which district do you vote in?" Carrie's rather apathetic
response is "Whichever one is near Barney's." This episode aired five months before the
2000 Presidential election where Gore won the popular vote, but George W. Bush was
appointed President when the Supreme Court stopped the recount in Florida. Carrie's
lack of voter registration did not seem to alarm any of her friends. At a time when
political apathy was running high, yet political participation seemed most important,
Carrie states,
I had been dating Bill Kelly for three weeks and since most of that time
was spent on the campaign trail, I decided to dress the part. I found some
vintage Halston and did a spin on Jacqueline Kennedy, the early years. I
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figured we made a good match. 1 was adept at fashion and he was adept at
politics. Really what's the difference? They're both about recycling ideas
and making them seem fresh and exciting. (Season 3, episode 2)
This quote reflects the superficiality that many see in today's politics. Another reference
to Jackie Kennedy Onassis, representing American politics for women, appears in this
quote as well.
Later, in a discussion at lunch about the political behaviors of the four characters
in Sex and the City, Charlotte, always looking for the perfect prince, says getting
involved in politics is a good way to meet eligible men. Charlotte's idea of eligible
meant someone from a prominent traditional family who was looking for the supportive
and dutiful wife. Samantha, the sex object archetype, concludes that she would only vote
for the candidate who was good looking and reminds the women that things were bad
when Nixon was in office because "no one would fuck him." Samantha also states, "I
don't believe in the Republican party. 1don't believe in the Democratic party." Now
this is not a critique of the two-party system, but a joke as she finishes and says, "I just
believe in parties!" The cynicism, not criticism, at work here demonstrates an apathy
among the four characters that suggests these women, because of their already privileged
status, do not need to be concerned about politics. Miranda, the iron maiden archetype,
who generally is the most feminist, states to her three apathetic friends, "I'm glad you
weren't around during the original 13 colonies. 1don't think our founding fathers were
very fuckable." A final observation on the political cynicism in Sex and the City occurs
as Carrie tries to set-up her friend Stanford with one of Bill Kelly's advisors. When
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Carrie resorts to lying to save her friend from feeling rejected, she states that this
newfound ability to lie meant that she "was getting good at politics." All of this speaks to
the idea that politics are superficial and corrupt. In addition to the characters apathy,
their political awareness lacks any intelligent or sophisticated understanding of the world.
Thus, there is no need to be politically active, as women neither have a clue about, or
voice in, this process. And as privileged White women, reaping the benefits of
previously fought feminist and political battles, the women of Sex and the City selfishly
do not seem to have, or need, an activist agenda.
After the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the series did not
become more pro-America. It did, however, become slightly more subdued in its final
two and a half seasons. The series never criticizes or valorizes President Bush. While
there is an occasional reference to Mayor Giuliani, these off-handed comments are
limited to his ban on smoking, prostitution, and art as byproducts of his tough-on-crime
stance. The series overtly pays tribute to its favorite city in two episodes, one aptly titled
"I Heart NY" and the other "Anchors Away," which takes place during Fleet Week.
Fleet Week involves active duty U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard servicemen
and women docking ships in major cities for a week "rest and relaxation." In this
episode, Carrie dates a Navy man from Louisiana, but breaks up with him because he
says New York is only a great place to visit. Carrie will not have anyone talk trash about
her one and only true love - Manhattan. And rightly so, as New York has historically
been a place where women come to achieve the American dream independently (Israel,
2003).
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The next chapter synthesizes the above analysis and findings, particularly
answering the research questions addressed in this dissertation. It connects the findings
with broader social implications. Finally, the chapter acknowledges limitations and
provides suggestions for future research.
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CHAPfERVI
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
This chapter summarizes the findings and concludes the dissertation. This
discussion specifically focuses on providing answers to the four research questions
addressed in this study. While much analysis was provided in chapters four and five, this
current chapter synthesizes the more salient meanings among the findings. It also
emphasizes the broader social implications and connections. The chapter acknowledges
limitations and makes suggestions for future research.
Research Question One
Research question one asked if the four main characters of each series reflect four
archetypes: the iron maiden, the sex object, the child, and the mother. Using a content
analysis, I discovered that the four archetypes do exist in each of the series' characters.
Dorothy Zbomak, Maxine Shaw, and Miranda Hobbes, from Golden Girls, Living Single,
and Sex and the City respectively, embody the iron maiden archetype. The characters
Blanche Devereaux, Regine Hunter, and Samantha Jones, from Golden Girls, Living
Single, and Sex and the City respectively, embody the sex object archetype. The
characters Rose Nyland, Synclaire James, and Charlotte York pOltray the child archetype
in Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City, respectively. Sophia Petrillo of
Golden Girls, Khadijah James of Living Single, and Carrie Bradshaw of Sex and the City
represent the mother archetype.
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These series reflect the recombinant nature of television programming (Gitlin,
1983). Critics lauded, and networks promoted, these series for their innovativeness,
nevertheless the main characters are simply updated versions of ancient archetypes that
have been used and reused in television programming. One can almost hear the
recombinant talk that took place in the pitching of these shows. Living Single might have
been proposed as 'Golden Girls meets Hip Hop culture with Queen Latifah as the star
vehicle.' Sex in the City might have been pitched as Golden Girls with cosmopolitans
instead of cheesecakes, and all of Manhattan will be showcased.
Recently, I heard connections made among these series. For example, in a
promotion for Golden Girls re-runs on Lifetime Network, the announcer states, "Before
there was Sex and the City. There were cheesecakes in Miami." Gitlin (1983) described
how recombinants facilitate much of the production, not only with regard to pitching the
series, but also with casting, script writing, and audience affiliation. While casting for the
role of Dorothy in Golden Girls, the description for the character was "a Bea Arthur-
esque role" (IMDB). Most likely, this characterization reflected Arthur's role as the
independent, iron maiden archetypal woman in Maude}. The idea of recombinant
characters can be embodied in the star text of an actor (Dryer, 2004), as is the case with
Bea Arthur/Dorothy Zbornak. In contrast, and counter to a developing star text, Rue
McClanahan who was supposed to play Rose, and Betty White who was supposed to play
Blanche, chose to switch their roles so that they would not be typecast from earlier roles
1 Maude (1972) was a spin-off of All in the Family.
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as the shy Vivian in Maude and the aggressive Sue Ellen Nivens in Mary Tyler Moore
respectively.
It is no surprise that audiences found themselves connected to these series
quickly. In addition to the archetypal representations, remnants of former characters and
connections among other programs facilitate our familiarity. Unfortunately, the prevalent
use of recombinants reflects a narrowed worldview, particularly of characters on
television. The fact that the most prevalent modern female characters on television over
the past two decades embody ancient archetypes might signify a lack of progress and
diversity.
These archetypes live in media today, not only in the syndicated versions of these
shows, but also in new series created each season. Programs such as Cashmere Mafia
(2007) and Lipstick Jungle (2008) have connections to Sex and the City beyond their
similar characters and narratives. In addition, a series promoted as the male version of
Sex and the City, Big Shots (2007) made the airwaves this past fall. Darren Starr is the
executive producer of both Cashmere Mafia and Sex and the City; and Lipstick Jungle
and Sex and the City were both written by Candance Bushnell. In an online interview
with Lucy Liu, star of Cashmere Mafia, she complained about being asked about the
rivalry between the two programs:
It's such a strange question. People ask, 'What do you think of these shows
coming up, and is it your competition?' No. Why does it have to be your
competition? Why can't there always be shows about women? No one asks a man
if it's difficult to have another show about men.
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While I agree with Liu's sentiment, the answer to her question is that these programs not
only incorporate the same archetypal characters, but also the setting and narratives are
similar. There is not enough differentiation.
The discovery of the four archetypes among Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex
and the City provided the groundwork for conducting a comparative textual analysis to
explore the meanings the four archetypes create within the series. These meanings are
part of our collective media conscious. These characters and texts carry ideological
meanings.
Research Question Two
Research question two asked what the similarities and differences are among the
archetypes in each series and how do these archetypes function within each series.
Research question two also queried if there was a privileging of any of the archetypes'
perspectives, and if so, what meanings are produced because of that privileging.
The archetypes function in an ideological way within the series and produce
different discourses. While I expected there to be similarities in the overall archetypal
representations, I was surprised at the extent to which the similarities were portrayed
among the archetypes.
The Iron Maiden Archetype
The iron maiden archetypes include Dorothy, Max, and Miranda from Golden
Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City. These characters are masculine, perceived as
unattractive, and have careers, often in a male-dominated field. At best, the ideological
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function of the iron maiden archetype is to carry the feminist perspective. At worst, this
character is simply perceived as bitchy.
Max and Miranda are lawyers, and Dorothy is a teacher. Both Max and Miranda
are corporate lawyers; therefore their vocation upholds patriarchal systems, instead of
challenging them. As the feminist archetypes, their performances are progressive only in
the sense that they depict women as highly paid, successful professionals who can
compete with men in the public domain. Dorothy's career as a high school teacher might
seem like feminized work, and thus marginalized. However, it provided her with stable
work, benefits, retirement, and a satisfaction in that she supports and encourages others.
As a divorced woman, Dorothy knows, first hand, the importance of being independent
and the struggles women experience when a marriage dissolves. She plays a character in
a culture in which after a divorce, men's standard of living rises, whereas women's drops
significantly (Peterson, 1996). Also, men tend to remarry within a year after a divorce,
and generally to younger women (Kirk & Okazawa-Rey, 2007). Dorothy's
circumstances reflect these inequities, as she shares rent and cares for her mother, while
her ex-husband re-marries inappropriately younger women. Not only are these disparities
reflected in her circumstances, but also Dorothy makes these inequitable experiences
known in the series. While Max and Miranda point out some of gender inequities, they
do not necessarily, or only temporarily experience the consequences of these inequities,
whereas Dorothy lives them.
All three of the iron maiden archetypal characters marry or become engaged by
the series finale. Their partnerships seem to be good matches. This provides a more
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feminist depiction of marriage since it is a marriage of equals. In her article, "Radical
Heterosexuality," Wolf (1992) argued that heterosexuals need "a version of marriage
untainted by centuries of inequality; a ritual that invites the community to rejoice in the
making of a new freely chosen family" (added emphasis p. 178). This "radical
heterosexuality" involves real partnerships where gender norms are not strictly followed,
and where each partner recognizes their own complicity in patriarchal norms and seeks to
challenge them. Wolf stated that women need to be financially independent, and this is
true of the iron maiden archetype in the three series.
Of the iron maiden archetypes in Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the
City, Dorothy's perspective is the most privileged, Max's stance is most ridiculed, and
Miranda develops and changes the most throughout the series. While sometimes
portrayed as masculine and unattractive, Dorothy is always depicted as the smart one.
Her perspective is privileged because she is the voice of reason among the group. In
addition, Dorothy serves as the connecting character in the show; this role generally goes
to the mother archetype. While her appearance may be ridiculed, her progressive ideas
rarely are, thus privileging a feminist perspective in the series. Of the three series, I
argue that Golden Girls is the most feminist, in part because of Dorothy and her
privileging, and in part, because the series tackles many social issues and specifically
addresses the impact on older women. I would also assert that because of the age of the
women in this series, adhering to gender norms is less compulsory.
I argue that Max is the most ridiculed, and therefore, least feminist character of
the three iron maiden archetypes, although more feminist than the child and sex object
---------,. ,.._----------------
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archetypes within Living Single. While Max has a poweIful career, dominates the men in
her life, and spouts comments about the women's movement, her buffoon-like and hyper-
sexualized peIformances discount her feminist import. Her histrionics are humorous, but
her supeIficial feminist stance lacks Dorothy's privilege. Khadijah, the mother
archetype, assumes this more feminist perspective in Living Single.
Miranda's viewpoint is less privileged and ridiculed in the series, and unlike her
iron maiden cohort, her character develops over the course of the series. Miranda's
masculine fa~ade and unattractiveness soften. As the series progresses, she wears fewer
business suits and more dresses, her hair color lightens from a sharp red to a soft
strawberry blonde, and she has a son at the end of season 4, learning to negotiate his
needs with her own. While Miranda's harshness was seen as her strength, by the end of
the series her compassion makes her strong. This type of development is rare in half-
hour comedies, but I contend that because Sex and the City is more serial than episodic,
this growth is able to occur. Even with this development (and possibly because of it), I
claim that Miranda maintains her iron maiden archetype status throughout the series.
I assert that without this iron maiden archetype a feminist agenda cannot be
maintained within the series. Hubert (1999) argued that, after Ellen DeGeneres came out
as a gay woman on her television sitcom, the series was unable to maintain a political
agenda and/or gay rights perspective. While Hubert attributed this apathy to the network
as well as to DeGeneres' own aversion to this kind of platform, I argue that Ellen did not
have the iron maiden archetype character to carry this progressive agenda. This series
consisted of Ellen Morgan (Ellen DeGeneres), who played a care-giving connecting
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character, reflective of the mother archetype, Paige Clark (Joley Fisher), who resembled
the sex object archetype, and Audrey Penney (Clea Lewis), who after appearing as a
pessimist in one episode in the first season, was re-written and became the chipper,
optimist, a child archetype with a squeaky, child-like voice. Without the iron maiden
archetype, the series simply did not have the character to impart these more political
messages.
The Sex Object Archetype
The characters of Blanche Devereaux, Regine Hunter, and Samantha Jones, from
Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City respectively, embody the sex object
archetype. While these archetypal characters are generally reduced solely to their sexual
exploits, they can still be seen as powerful characters in that they unabashedly own their
sexuality, desire sex for their own pleasure, and genuinely love and appreciate their
bodies. Lorde (1984) described the erotic as powerful. She viewed the erotic as "our
most profoundly creative source ... when I speak of the erotic, I speak of it as an
assertion of the life force of women: of that creative energy empowered, the knowledge
and use of which we are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our dancing, our
loving, our work, our lives" (p. 173). Since women's sexuality has historically been a
source of constraint and vulnerability (Kirk & Okazawa-Rey, 2007), seeing these sex
object archetypes celebrate their sexualities sends a powerful message. However,
because they are so often ridiculed, the celebration of self is displaced with a self-
absorbed meaning.
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Blanche Devereaux's most progressive aspect is that she revels in her own beauty
and makes it known how much and how often she enjoys sex. While this same statement
can be made about the other women, it is more significant for Blanche because of her
age. Older women are commonly portrayed in the media as sexless (Kilbourne, 1999);
Blanche shatters these narrow views with her many "sexcapades." While Blanche is
progressive in some ways, this character pits herself against the other women often
putting down the others' appearance to praise her own. This aspect of Blanche constructs
her as a less feminist character.
While Blanche's sexual drive might have been considered outrageous in the
eighties, Samantha Jones, of Sex and City, raised the sex object archetype to a new art
form. She unapologetically has "sex like a man," that is, without feelings, according to
season 1, episode 1. Samantha's sexual encounters are always about pleasure and rarely
about long-term commitment. As with Blanche, her sexuality is often so over the top,
one might miss the significance of this character and reduce her to debauchery. Although
Samantha grows somewhat toward the end of the series when she commits to a partner,
she, like Blanche, develops very little during their respective series, and often these
characters are reduced to a sexual joke. It is interesting that a series touted for its sexual
progressiveness depicts a stagnant and repressive sex object archetype. This reductive
focus on one aspect of a person's character - sexuality, reflects experiences gay men and
lesbian women encounter as their identities are oftentimes reduced solely to their
sexuality.
193
Unlike her sex object cohort, Regine uses sex as a tool to get what she wants. She
finds pleasure in sex, but seeks to "get a man" to support her in the manner in which she
has fashioned for herself. While this character is not at all powerful, Regine is most
interesting not only because she has the most growth in the final season, but also because
she creates and maintains a pretentious style and personality. Regine's performance of
gender, race, and class in many ways parallels Helen Gurly Brown's "Cosmo Girl," an
identity that is malleable to achieve a beautiful and moneyed aura to capture a man from
a higher class. Regine epitomizes this "beautiful phony" (Ouellette, 1999, p. 120). Thus,
Regine's performance as the sex object archetype is disempowering for women. It is
about getting a man dishonestly, however, as she grows in the final season, Regine nearly
grows out of the sex object archetype. This development can be seen in her relationship
with Dexter. As Regine develops beyond the sex object archetype, her role in the series
diminishes as she leaves before the series finale. The series is not without a sex object
archetype as Max's hyper-sexualized performance fulfills this role.
The Child Archetype
The characters Rose Nyland, Synclaire James, and Charlotte York portray the
child archetype in Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex and the City, respectively. In
many ways this child archetype carries traditional values, harking back to a simpler time.
The child archetype portrays a naivete that seems ridiculous in an adult woman, and thus,
she is dismissed and disparaged even when her discourse is important. This is typical of
Rose Nyland of Golden Girls and Synclaire of Living Single. Charlotte, while still na"ive,
is not portrayed as dim-witted and therefore her discourse has import. Each child
194
archetype is optimistic about life and love. Rose and Synclaire do not develop
throughout the series, even though their circumstances change. They are as simple and
optimistic in the first season as they are in the last. Charlotte's character, on the other
hand, develops throughout the series, and this provides some privileging of the discourse
surrounding her. This privileging reflects tenets of third wave feminism's desire of the
feminine as well as some modern feminist backlash. Charlotte's character is fairly
complex and contradictory. She lives by antiquated rules in a modern urbane setting.
While her character is not one-dimensional, her focus on marriage is somewhat
problematic. Charlotte challenges the virgin/whore dichotomy while trying to maintain a
"good girl" image. Media messages that portray girls as the virgin/whore dichotomy are
ubiquitous. Girls are told to be virtuous yet alluring and sexual (Kilbourne, 1999). This
is not only a dangerous image for girls, it is near impossible without consequence. The
three child archetypes embody this virgin/whore dichotomy masterfully. They are seen
as sexual prudes, but once in a sanctioned relationship (i.e. marriage or long-term
commitment) they exhibit a sexual prowess without the inhibitions they had cultivated
previously.
The Mother Archetype
Sophia Petrillo of Golden Girls, Khadijah James of Living Single, and Carrie
Bradshaw of Sex and the City represent the mother archetype. These archetypes contain
the most variance, although there are some similarities. The single most defining mother
archetypal characteristic is their storytelling ability.
195
Sophia is a biological mother to Dorothy. Blanche and Rose view Sophia as a
mother figure as well. Sophia, as a mother archetype, typifies the ethnic mother
stereotype. She tells stories about the "old country." Most of these stories have a point
or a lesson embedded within them, although some do not. This stereotypical embodiment
of the mother archetype and her age contribute to her static role. While there are some
beautiful mother/daughter moments in this series, Sophia is basically reduced to an
eccentric old woman. Compared to the other women in the series, she has a smaller role.
For such a small role, it is packed with punchlines. Sophia does not serve as the
connecting character to the others in the series, as do Khadijah and Carrie, the other
mother archetypes. This small role might be reflective of our societal devaluation of
seniors, and particularly mature women or the reduced role mothers play in their adult
daughters lives. It might also be reflective of the role reversal that sometimes occurs
when adult children care for their aging parents. In this case, Sophia had a stroke. This
stroke is also used as the reason Sophia just rattles off insults at the others. While Sophia
provides some nurturing moments, she basically serves as a voice with no tact to point
out all the flaws in the other characters. Age gives Sophia permission to act in such
ways, as she feels less bonded by feminine social norms.
Khadijah and Carrie each serve as the star vehicle and connecting character in
their series. This capacity privileges their discourse. Each plays a motherly role the
others seek out for advice on many matters. Another interesting connection involves
their careers. Both are journalists. Khadijah owns her own magazine and Carrie writes
her own column. As producers of media content, they serve a broader advice-giving role.
196
Khadijah, as the owner of a Black urban magazine, also serves as the conveyor of culture
for her community. Khadijah's role is much more feminist than the other two mother
archetypes and more feminist than the iron maiden archetype in Living Single, who
generally carries a feminist discourse. Khadijah is the voice of reason. She provides
physical and monetary support to her younger cousin Synclaire, the child archetype.
Khadijah is feminist in her independence in the workplace and in relationships. This
portrayal of the strong, independent Black 'mother' is typical in Black communities
(hooks, 1993).
Carrie, as the narrator, has a privileged omnipresence in the series. Her role is
much less feminist than Khadijah as she tries to remain the neutral observer. Carrie's
most empowering impact on social norms involves her interrogation of sexual dating
mores, although she often quells the feminist discussion in the series through her
neutrality. She is wrought with insecurities. As much as these insecurities drive the
inquisitive narratives of the series, they also reduce Carrie's feminist import. These
archetypes reflect ideological fractures within the women's movement that have existed
since the first wave. The most prominent ideological fracture involves the differences
between cultural and liberal feminists. The child archetype personifies the cultural
feminist, whereas the iron maiden represents more liberal feminist ideals. These
archetypal representations are most prominent in Sex and the City between Charlotte, the
child archetype, and Miranda the iron maiden.
197
Research Question Three
Research question three asks about similar narratives among the series and the
meanings produced through these stories. As demonstrated with recombinant characters,
television narratives are not immune to the pressures of the industry; common narratives
involving women include finding love, marriage, and motherhood, and are found
throughout these series. While there were plenty of references to these narratives, this
dissertation focuses on the following: family and sisterhood, prostitution, crime and
violence, heteronormativity, and patriotism.
Famity and Sisterhood
Narratives about family and sisterhood are as prevalent as love, marriage, and
motherhood, and are not mutually exclusive. The notions of family in Golden Girls,
Living Single and Sex and the City are not necessarily about biological relations, but the
supportive associations one creates for herself. In each series, the four characters have
created an intimate and nurturing family unit among themselves, although there are some
differences among the series. In Golden Girls, the disruptions to, and ultimate restoration
of the family unit serve as a narrative ploy throughout the series. Misconstrued
proposals, misunderstandings, arguments, and illness provide the cause for these
disruptions. Of the three series, Golden Girls is the most formulaic with the use of this
disruption/restoration narrative. While the preservation of the chosen feminine family
unit is powerful, the conflict among the characters (although humorous) depicts women
as adversarial rather than truly supportive. Antagonistic relationships among women
have often been used to thwart feminist movement. Therefore, these representations
198
might reinforce the idea that the fragmented sectors within feminist movement cannot
work together for broader social causes.
The notion of family in Living Single extends beyond the four women to include
the two main male characters in the series as well. Similar to Golden Girls, Living Single
includes conflict, mostly in the form of verbal sparring. Unlike Golden Girls, the banter
is playful and marks identity in an African American culture. At times "playing the
dozens" (Smithermann, 1977) might seem harsh within the series, however when
performed among the in-group, it marks camaraderie and parity. This parity is a
powerful and feminist expression of the group dynamics in Living Single.
The family unit in Sex and the City is its most powerful feminist contribution. It
depicts women as allies not adversaries. Although there is conflict among the main
characters, the disruption of their friendships is only invoked in a couple of episodes
discussed above and it is rarely seen as a narrative ploy as it is in Golden Girls.
Prostitution
Both Golden Girls and Sex and the City had narrative episodes about prostitution.
The Golden Girls episode used a prostitution police bust for humor, whereas, Sex and the
City interrogated the connection between sexually active single women and prostitutes
when Carrie asks in her column, "Where's the line between professional girlfriend and
just plain professional?" This episode problematizes the idea of sex and power in
heterosexual relationships. Unfortunately, the resolution of this episode does not provide
much more beyond noting that the line between "professional girlfriend and just plain
professional" is blurred. Superficially there was a nod to historical sexual oppression of
199
women, inequities in the social construction of gender, and an esteem of a powerful
vagina, but ultimately women's power was reduced to their sexuality in this particular
narrative.
Crime and Violence
Each of the three series contains an episode where some sort of burglary occurs
and the characters must deal with the consequences of this event. In Golden Girls, the
intruder episode serves as a character reinforcement as much as a "dark man" (Estes,
1992, p. 43) narrative. Dorothy stands up to the security salesman. Blanche worries only
about her precious jewelry, and Rose is stricken with fear until she beats up the parking
attendant who meant no harm. The resolution of this episode involves the stolen items
being returned and faith in the community, and their own ability to be safe restored. On
the contrary, the intruder narrative in Living Single does not resolve so neatly. Rather, it
centers on the need to build not only relationships among the main characters, but also in
the broader community. Unlike the Golden Girls, this episode does not end with a
positive resolution. Instead of having stolen property returned or feeling safe because
you defended yourself, this episode ends with sirens howling in the background. The
differences point to differences not only of geographical location urban versus suburban,
but also class and race issues. In both episodes, the idea of living with such fear is
crippling for the women. This is important to note because women, consciously or
subconsciously, carry this kind of anxiety with them all the time (Steinem, 1997). This
fear constrains women's ability to move about freely. Unlike the other series, Sex and
the City's burglary episode does not address women's vulnerability. Carrie believes that
200
her mugging is due to karmic retribution for having an affair with a married man. The
idea of White privilege (McIntosh, 1988) is particularly relevant within this intruder
narrative in the outcomes of the Golden Girls and Sex and the City episodes.
Heteronormativity
The three series depict a narrow understanding of sexuality. While
Sex and the City is a highly sexualized program, it still seems to promote a strictly
heteronormative lifestyle, with homosexually being its deviant opposite. Characters who
deviate from prescribed notions of heterosexuality, including the sex object archetypes,
are synonymous with sexuality. Their identities, like that of many gay men and lesbian
women, are reduced solely to their sexuality as the character rarely develops beyond that
one-dimensional portrayal. The three series embody the idea of compulsory
heterosexuality, despite some of the challenges suggested in Sex and the City as well as
the fluid sexualities of real life stars Queen Latifah (Khadijah - Living Single) and
Cynthia Nixon (Miranda - Sex and the City).
Patriotism
Patriotism might seem like an odd inclusion in this dissertation; however, the pro-
American stance was so prominent in Golden Girls and seemingly absent in the other
series, it needs further exploration. I attribute these differences to age, race, and class.
The Golden Girls characters represent the demographic group Tom Brokaw (1998) called
"the greatest generation." This generation came of age during the Great Depression and
World War II, and upon their return from the war built a modern American. Brokaw
(1998) asserted that this generation was united by American values and nationalism.
201
This pride can be seen in the respect these characters give authority, whether it is the
police, immigration officers, or the President.
In contrast, the characters of Living Single rarely make verbal acknowledgements
of their allegiance. They wear African apparel, historically Black college sweatshirts,
and Negro league baseball paraphernalia. Overton often wears an "Eracism" baseball
cap. These subtle aesthetic choices reflect a much different American narrative than the
Golden Girls and allude to the history of slavery and racism in this country, as well as
pride in an African and African-American heritage. As for Sex and the City, cynicism,
not criticism, is at work here, demonstrating an apathy among the four characters that
suggests these women, because of their already privileged status, do not need to be
concerned about politics.
Research Question Four
Research question four asks how talk functions within each series and what
meanings are conveyed through this talk. This dissertation explores the communicative
patterns among the characters within the series. I argue that the talk in Golden Girls
resembles that of Dow's (1986) interpretation of Designing Women. Dow asserted that
the women in Designing Women express their values based on their characters'
personalities, bringing her personal experiences to the discourse. These experiences are
framed by their character's archetypal personality. Generally, the iron maiden archetype
brings the discourse to a broader political level (Dow, 1996). I expand on Dow's study,
asserting that these character types are archetypal. In addition, I argue that each
archetype serves a particular function within the series in general. For example, the child
202
archetype carries a traditional discourse, while the mother provides nurturance and the
sex object, sensual freedom.
One particular difference in communication in Living Single that is not reflected
in the other series involves "playing the dozens" (Smithermann, 1977) or "verbal dueling
strategies" (Labov, 1972), which are elements of African American oral tradition and
involve one-upmanship of insults exchanged light-heartedly. The meanings conveyed
through these exchanges mark racial, group identity, and parity with male co-stars.
Finally, the communicative exchanges within Sex and the City represent freedom
for women to speak frankly about sex, a once taboo subject, something that was done
mostly by the sex object archetype in Golden Girls and Living Single. This is a positive
step as much about sex, sexuality, and reproductive health are shrouded in shame. This
type of dialogue contributes to promoting greater sexual health for women.
Limitations and Future Research
This dissertation explored three television series' representations of archetypal
characters. A content analysis was conducted to provide a starting point for further
analysis. This content analysis's limitations include sample size and coder conformity.
The sample taken for this project was quite small, only 16 episodes, and the sample
included only the first season. Additional textual analyses were conducted to explore
archetypal representations beyond the first season. An interesting future study might
conduct content analysis comparing the first season to the entire series to systematically
explore if the characters develop beyond their archetypes.
203
Another limitation with the content analysis involves coders' fluency with the
series, characters, and codes. It might be constructive to employ additional coders who
are less familiar with the programs to determine if the results are reliable. The three
series were chosen specifically because they had four main female characters and the
archetypal patterns were placed upon them to determine if the characters reflected the
archetypes. It might be useful to conduct a content analysis of the characters by
employing coders to watch the series and describe the characters, instead of starting with
archetypal categories already in place.
Additional studies comparing more recent recombinant characters would also
provide more depth and comparison. Including programs such as Girlfriends, Desperate
Housewives, and/or Cashmere Mafia might illuminate other differences among race, age,
and career choices. Another comparison could be made between female and male series
to explore gendered differences. Future studies might incorporate a political economic
analysis. Exploring how audiences respond to and connect with these characters might
also prove fruitful.
204
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