The Portrayal of American Women on Television Analytical Essay by Nicky
The Portrayal of American Women on Television
An analysis of the how television portrays the role and behavior of women in American society.
# 149517
| 809 words
| 2 sources
| MLA
| 2011
| 
Published
on Dec 21, 2011
in
Communication
(Television)
, Women Studies
(Feminism)
, Sociology
(Media and Society)
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Description:
The paper discusses how today's American women are torn between being either a common ordinary housewife who cooks for her family like Betty Crocker, or a radical feminist like Betty Friedan, one of the major founders of the Women's Movement of the late 1960's and early 1970's. The paper describes the conflicting characters of Betty Crocker and Betty Friedan and discusses how TV networks, specifically the "Desperate Housewives" program, manipulate the images of American women and make them torn between what society expects of them and what they expect of themselves.
From the Paper:
"First of all, who was Betty Crocker? Originally, Mrs. Crocker was an invention of the Washburn Crosby Company of Minneapolis as a form of personal response to thousands of letters received from homemakers in the 1920's regarding baking questions. This pseudo-homemaker was then given a face in 1936 by an artist working for the company who blended the features of all the women in the Home Service Department, thus creating the image of Mrs. Crocker which in fact still appears on the products of the Betty Crocker franchise. Mrs. Crocker's face changed with the times, becoming more youthful, professional-looking and multicultural as compared to her original image which showed a middle-aged white women attired in a very conservative dress. Not surprisingly, most American women believed that Betty Crocker was a real person; thus, many of them imitated her and considered her to be the prime example of the American homemaker well into the 1970's ("Who Was Betty Crocker?" Internet)."Of course, the traditional image of Betty Crocker is now seen as sexist, bigoted and downright insulting because most American women as a result of the feminist movement are not simple homemakers who slave over a hot stove baking cakes and pies and cookies for their children and full-time working husbands."
Sample of Sources Used:
- Franklin, Nancy. "Women Gone Wild." The New Yorker. Internet. Accessed July 23, 2009from http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/01/17/050117crte_television.
- "Who Was Betty Crocker?" Internet. 2009. Accessed July 23, 2009 from http://chnm.gmu.edu/features/sidelights/crocker.html.
Cite this Analytical Essay:
APA Format
The Portrayal of American Women on Television (2011, December 21)
Retrieved June 05, 2023, from https://www.academon.com/analytical-essay/the-portrayal-of-american-women-on-television-149517/
MLA Format
"The Portrayal of American Women on Television" 21 December 2011.
Web. 05 June. 2023. <https://www.academon.com/analytical-essay/the-portrayal-of-american-women-on-television-149517/>