stay at home?

According to “Introduction: The Symbolic Annihilation of Women by the Mass Media” by Tuchman, women have been misrepresented throughout media history. In television and movies, there are few female characters and limited roles in which they are portrayed. Women tend to be represented as housewives and mothers who are content to remain in the home. Other representations include being secondary to male characters, such as being the romantic interest or needing to be rescued. In newspapers and magazines, Tuchman believes that such stereotypes are maintained for the sake of reaching the widest audience to benefit advertisers and sales. If women continue to be encouraged to stay in the home, they may not strive to find employment.

Laverne and Shirley created a new representation of women when the series came out in 1976. The main characters of the show weren’t men- they were women. The two women weren’t married and they didn’t have children- they were single women sharing an apartment and working at a beer brewery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRmKzxhMzwo

Maybe for the first time, independent young women were represented on television. Laverne and Shirley earned their own money, they were each opinionated and had distinctive personalities, and there were probably a number of young women who could relate to these characters. I enjoy Laverne and Shirley episodes because they are funny and I can relate to the interactions between the roommates and their friends (probably because I am twenty and single- a little younger than them but still able to relate). The only thing that this series did not defeat is the stereotype that women are ultimately defined by men. Various plotlines include Laverne or Shirley dating men and hoping that something will finally work out with one of them. Of course, this is typical of young women, but then the show almost falls under the stereotype of “woman works/supports herself only until she gets married and has children.”