The second theme that arose throughout my research was the portrayal of female characters as either stereotypical housewives, or as independent women who can provide for themselves. For this theme, I counted the number of times female characters were shown performing stereotypical housewife/caregiver tasks, the number of times female characters were portrayed as defying the stereotypical housewife role, and the number of times male or female characters made comments about a female character’s profession.
70s/80s:
The results of my analyses for this theme illustrated that in the 1970s and 80s, female characters were portrayed more often as stereotypical housewives (eg. caregivers who were cooking, cleaning, raising the kids, etc.). An interaction between Slater and Jessie in Saved By The Bell is a perfect example to start off with: Slater states, “You cook and I’ll eat.” Jessie: “Slater, haven’t you heard of the Women’s Movement?” Slater: “Sure…”Put on something cute and MOVE it into the kitchen.” Additionally, Jessie states, “Why aren’t women on the front line?” to which Slater responds, “Because we need cooks” ( cite ). I recorded 7 instances of female characters portrayed as housewives/stereotypical comments about women’s roles in the home. Another example of this is found in the show The Wonder Years, when one character states, “I mean a lot of women find it demeaning spending their time serving their husbands and children.” An additional example is this interaction between Mrs. Arnold and her daughter’s boyfriend. [Daughter’s boyfriend] “So Mrs. Arnold, what do you do for a living? [Mrs. Arnold] Oh nothing – I mean I’m a housewife. [Daughter’s boyfriend] Oh that’s certainly not nothing. [Mrs. Arnold] No you’re right about that – God knows it’s demanding at times. [Daughter’s boyfriend] You find it fulfilling?” ……
90s-2020:
The results for this theme illustrated that in the 1990s-2020, female characters were portrayed less as typical housewives/caregivers and more as independent, working women. For example, Scott’s mother is a single parent who is depicted as working at the local hospital (Genier, 2011). I recorded 6 instances of female characters portrayed as stereotypical women, and 6 instances of female characters defying the stereotypical housewife role. One instance I recorded was when Peyton tells Jake that she will babysit his daughter during basketball practice. An example I found of female characters defying the stereotypical housewife trait was in the show Pretty Little Liars. When she walks in on her daughter cooking, Hanna’s mother states, “Fried eggs, burned butter – the kitchen hasn’t smelled like this in a long time” (Cochran-Neilan, 2011). Additionally, Aria’s father is the one who is making breakfast in the morning and clearing dinner plates at night, showing how men have evolved into taking on some of the roles women used to be in charge of (Cochran-Neilan, 2011).