Romance & Melodrama #4

            Constantly as a young girl I was told that eventually I would always get my happily ever after through some hope provided by the late-night teen dramas I was probably sneaking away from my parents. It just eventually became a natural thought and fate that one day I would find my prince charming. But I think that is what these shows both want to get away from. Take a look at these two main characters Jane and Rebecca both patiently waiting for the right one, little do they know that is not exactly what is coming around the corner. Being scared of losing your purity to needing to move across the country to be with the one leads the female leads to believe in the ever holy of idea of eternity with another person as it plays on their inner insecurities. All they want is that true love, but the stories are much more complicated than that because well you know its women’s television. Until we reach an older age of maturity and reality, it will probably be evident that love does not come easy. Society has told us all our lives that love will eventually come, but it can never be that simple. And people need to stop beating themselves up over it. Society identifies way too much with our sex life, when it really has no indications of one’s character – this is not something we as humans should be judged on, but we do not understand that due to this overarching fantasy idea of the all the romance and love that will be found once you exit puberty. These ladies soon realize life is not all that it may seem, but they have to navigate their lives around this newly chaotic lifestyle they both take on as their life quickly changes into a different direction (literally for Rebecca). We depend on  security of using our sex life as a way of meeting fulfillment in our romantic lives. That mean’s when the sex is believed to be good and happening frequently in a relationship, we may believe this is the epitome of what a romance and intimacy is supposed to be like. Or if there one partakes is some casual sex, they have been conditioned to believe there are considered a slut. Sex is not an indicator of romance. Love is not always a happily ever after. Both television shows, I believe use the insecurities in their main female characters to portray a deconstruction of the need for the fairy tale ending. Life is not all sunshine and rainbows and that is most definitely the case when it comes to trying to understand your romantic and sexual life. Television helped us believe in romance, but now I think they want to take it away from us. It is time for the new stories that are messy and real. The stories where the women pass the Bechdel test every time they are in conversation with one another. No more setting up little girls to think they have to follow a certain formula to achieve true love. Romance is a social construct, love is individual. We need to not let TV dictate how we view our own love life.

Beauty & Bodies #3

            Family channel is where it started. I would wish to look like Lizzie McGuire or then it transferred to Hannah Montana. I would continuously beg my mom to colour my dark brunette hair to platinum blonde to try and be like the girls I looked up to on my television screen. That’s when my mom would pause those shows and put on That’s So Raven. Viewing Raven Symone may have been my saving grace in this life, but personally I still feel victimized by women’s television.
            If all I am ever viewing as someone going through adolescence and young adulthood is thin girls with long legs and beautiful luscious blonde hair, it’ll probably impact the audience immensely without them ever knowing. This is where the subconscious comes in. We are forever taking in information that may not seem relevant, but in some way has shaped the way we look at the world. This is why we need to be aware of the television being produced.
            Television is always going to influence the viewers watching, but what if what they are watching is full of rightful representation and diversity? Well then maybe this television thing could be alright.
            First time, I ever saw Mindy Kaling on TV, it was the second episode of the first season of The Office. I saw her name in the credits as producer and writer – and it may sound cliché, but it gave me a little bit of hope for myself in the future.
            Fast forward to the Mindy Project, and I see this as a large step into the right direction. Not only is Mindy Kaling someone to look up too, but her character Mindy also makes a girl feel like we can do it. Of course, it can be a little silly at times, but this show took a story line that I believe would have been given to a white actress 5-10 years prior (peep Ellen Pompeo first starred as Meredith Grey in Grey’s Anatomy in 2005…. SEE!) and gave it to someone who would be able to represent multiple demographics of women.  Kaling doesn’t just star in The Mindy Project, she owns her character like no other. They start off the series with Mindy running away from ruining her ex boyfriend’s wedding – so you may think she’s just a crazy girl, but really she’s a hardworking professional who has to keep up with her everyday life even though it may be consuming. This seems like many other story lines in television shows, but the lead actress is an Indian women who does not have the conventional body as many other leading ladies have in the past. It’s as if Mindy’s representation gives the green light for other girls who may not meet society’s beauty expectations that they are able to go out and live their life like any other person. She rids that feeling of shame and gives girls the capability to own their image, their body, and their identity. When all one sees on the television is the tall blonde, people start to believe that she is the beauty standard, and if you do not look like that, then well you’re not pretty! This thought probably enters the minds of many people daily and part of the problem is women’s television. We need people like Mindy Kaling running through the streets with an abundance of confidence to make sure women know that true beauty comes from being different and being yourself. We have been told for so long not to accept your body, your skin colour, or yourself if you do not meet expectations, but now is the time for women of all walks of life to live your life any which way you want while loving yourself.

Post-Feminism: Post Network Era #2

Hey MIT 3208, Gossip Girl here, and BOY do I have the juice you’ve been waiting for all week - one of my many sources - MITstudent174 sent in - SPOTTED: Serena Mendizabal trash talking Gossip Gi…. Wait me? Who does this girl think she is? Post-feminist discourse, what is this shit Serena is talking about? 

OKAY, do not get me wrong, I totally was a victim of the Gossip Girl obsession in early high school - longing for my name to not be the only thing I share with Serena VanDerWoodsen. And to be  honest, it continued into my first year of university where I dreamt of being as organized, uppity, and put together as yours truly, Ms. Blair Waldorf. How did these girls do it? Where can I sign up? All I ever wanted as a young girl was to be beautiful and successful. Was it because that is all television wanted me to think I needed in life? It was a dream world and it still is. I was a pretty big fan of the show, but I think that may help me be able to critically look at Gossip Girl and think “What the fuck?” 

I am all here for living your truth - own your wealth, strut that look, do what you want!!! It really does not matter to me, but when it comes to television, I feel like it may be a different story. These females, Serena and Blair, are outrageously beautiful and are consumed by the riches that revolve around their high class lifestyle. They seem to have it all with the looks, money, men (have you seen Nate Archibald?), EVERYTHING! Well except for the constant unrealistic drama that comes in, but oh do not worry, it will be resolved most likely by the next episode. Living in the Upper East Side with the endless limos and mimosas - did these young women beat the game of life already? 

Probably going to have to take a hard no on that one because it is truthfully all made up fiction that showcases the lavish life of what white privilege can buy you. Networks have conditioned society to believe that we want our programming to be about the highs and lows of the rich and beautiful. They put a couple cat-fighting female bets friend leads, that is a pass on the Bechdel test? Right? It runs a lap, but it does not finish the race. We have gotten so far, but not far enough. 

People like to think feminism is dead. We have Serena and Blair thriving, what more work is there really to be done? Television continues to create delusions in people’s heads believing that what we view on TV is the real world. It is not. Sadly. Or in this case happily because I think society is starting to get over rooting for the wealthy and elite. We want more Fiona Gallagher’s in this joint. These programs may be fulfilling your wildest fantasies, but when looking at women’s television critically, we have to remember that this is just a fantasy. Gossip Girl really is only on TV due to the work feminism has done and now it just seems like it doesn’t even need the help anymore as it has driven away from the direction feminism is taking now.

The time is now. Gossip Girl is women’s television, but for what women? The show needed to go further. Feminism is a process, we aren’t giving up until WE SEE what we want on television. We want women from all walks of life on our screens. If you’re looking for brain junk food, Gossip Girl is right for you. If you’re trying to find television for women that’s title doesn’t already front women against each other, then well we may have to do some browsing on Netflix. 

XOXO Serena Mendizabal

Not Gossip Girl

She sucks 

History: Network Era #1

As I was beginning to view the first episode of UnReal, just like any other person in the world before approaching a new program, I had a preconceived notion that it was going to be shit. We were talking about the network era and all the societal injustice of excluding woman that had been filling our television screens. The only saving grace for the program was that I know Professor Sukhan has a good taste in television and film, with an even better thought behind it. Can you blame me though for feeling this way about television?  I am a young woman, growing up in this consumer society that has conditioned audiences to prepare themselves for television without substance, just another script that would go through one ear and out the other. 

This changed though as the show continued. 5 minutes later into the screening, and I still am the young woman I was when I started watching it, but I felt represented. There was women, and all different archetypes of woman. Not just your “bitchy boss lady” or “shy girl next door.” Women with real problems and real aspirations. UnReal showed what it wanted to do from the beginning of the episode and I believe this show is the step in the right direction.

Lifetime is based off the foundation of women. They have used this as an identity for their television network, but it has not always been the most supportive for the female demographic. The intentions of the network were positive, but the gruelling mindset of needing to produce riches and clout, it sold out to commercialization. As a young woman now, I view Lifetime network in a different perspective than I believe it would want. It has a stereotype of being cheesy, weak writing quality, and just all-around lame television shows. 

So, this is why I believe UnReal may be the sign of a shift in television, especially for the network itself. UnReal displayed women of colour, women in authority, women addressing their mental health concerns, women on probation, and of course many, many single women. Sure, television gets graced with one of these types of women sometimes, but for all of them to be included in one program? I’m shocked! Women were talking about sex or were swearing every other word. Minority representation in television is a major issue, sometimes I do not think people understand how seeing a female leader in that afterschool special can really change your life and the view in which we view ourselves. 

UnReal made me feel important. There are so many other women in this world facing similar issues and this is where television is able to bring us together. Our society is becoming aware of this need for understanding each other and as the people start to pick up on this, so do the networks. I believe that most people have to realize that change in this world is inevitable and just because one thing is in place, that does not mean it should stay that way or become tradition. As our social landscape is changing through discourse, pop culture, current events - the content we are feeding on from the media needs to display some realistic representation. UnReal may be the start of Lifetime providing people with that programming that will encourage and inspire women to go out into this doggy dog world and say “Fuck it, I am going to embrace being a woman today.”