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Married with Children: My Favorite Show
One of my favorite shows of all time is “Married with Children.” I love this show because of how creative the writing is for the show. I am not too sure if anyone can really truly relate to this show in real life, but it is chock full of very funny scenarios, and obviously several stereotypes.
One stereotype featured in the show are blonde women being stupid. You see this in the character of Kelly Bundy. According to an article found on realclearscience.com, it’s really unclear how this stereotype started. The article went on to state that it was obviously started because of how blondes are portrayed in our popular culture. Most movies and shows have blondes considered highly attractive however not very intelligent. We also see dumb blonde jokes all the time, so we get this idea they are unintelligent.
Another stereotype featured in the show is that all men are pigs. Al Bundy and his friends have this stereotype. I couldn’t find any information about the history of this stereotype, but it seems to be a stereotype we see in a lot of shows and movies as well. We see men portrayed in media as people who just want to go to strip clubs or bars and drink beer after work. They are also portrayed as cheaters who want sex all the time and most of the time, not with their wives. What exactly led to this stereotype? I believe it has to do with our history. Throughout history, men worked while women stayed home. When men came home they just wanted to relax. We also see cases in history where men would have a child with a woman and then end up leaving her, and also see cases where men grew disinterested in their women over time and left them for somebody else. Over time, we eventually get this idea that all men are pigs.
We also see women portrayed as being nothing more but housewives who stay home and shop all the time. Peggy Bundy resembles this stereotype. But where did the idea come from? According to an article I found posted on Colorado.edu, women’s roles in the 1950s were society driven. They had to be perfect mothers, behaving wives, and smart and creative homemakers. While men were at work, women stayed home and took care of the children and cleaned house and cooked. Even though Peggy Bundy isn’t the best example of this stereotype, perhaps that is what helps make the show so popular. It somehow takes a typical stereotype and turned it around. We normally seen housewives portrayed on shows as those who cooked and cleaned, instead we see Peggy as just a lazy housewife. She would just watch Oprah, eat Bon-Bons and spend her husband’s money.
Another stereotype portrayed in “Married with Children” is feminism, which we see with the character of Marcy Darcy. Marcy Darcy is a character who obviously can’t stand most men, especially ones who are like Al Bundy. She is also a strong woman in the corporate world and is viewed as unattractive. She’s also viewed as a women’s rights activist. Many of the stereotypes about feminism are featured in an article on experienceproject.com. All the stereotypes we see used in this show are obviously negative ones, but perhaps that’s what makes it work.
Stereotypes are used all over in the media, unfortunately. Men are stereotyped to like muscle cars, beautiful women, and meat. Hardees a couple years ago had commercials with an attractive woman in a bathing suit standing by a muscle car eating a Hardees thickburger. Who were they trying to honestly sell the thickburger too? We also see attractive women in bathing suits on covers of car magazines. I do feel this stereotype isn’t right, though. It just further encourages the thought that “all men are pigs.” According to a business article on chron.com, there are many unfortunate stereotypes used in advertising, including ads making newly-wed men seem incompetent and the woman is always in control if they buy a certain product. Some advertisements also still depict women as being domesticated who do nothing but take care of household chores, to name a few.
Unfortunately, we focus too much on stereotypes in people. Instead of trying to judge people by the content of their character, we judge them by these stereotypes. We see people with glasses, and we don’t want to be around them because we believe they are nerdy. We see people dress a certain way and we think they are troublemakers when chances are they probably aren’t. We see people act or talk a certain way, and we automatically think they are stupid or dumb. I am not a fan of using stereotypes, but unfortunately in society we do. We judge others when we shouldn’t. This is why I try to tell people if you don’t want to be judged by those who don’t know you, then take a look at how you present yourself to others and change some things about it so you won’t get judged or stereotyped.
References
(n.a.). (n.d.). I Am Against Feminism. Retrieved from http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Am-Against-Feminism/2657716
Dickinson, K. (2012, July 14). Why Are Blondes Considered Dumb? Real Clear Science. Retrieved from http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2012/07/why-blondes%20are%20dumb.html
Joseph, C. (n.d.). Types of Stereotyping in Advertising. Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/types-stereotyping-advertising-11937.html
RoobixCoob (2005, November 17). A Woman’s Role in the 1950s. Retrieved from http://www.colorado.edu/AmStudies/lewis/1025/women1950s.pdf
I enjoyed reading this very much! That show is a perfect example of stereotypes and they did a great job making fun of them!
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