I Love Lucy

In my Pop Culture class two weeks ago, we watched and episode of the show, I Love Lucy. I heard about the show, but never really watched an episode. After watching an episode, I can see why the show was so popular. The show depicts the stereotypical married life during the 1950's with lots of laughs. However, while I was watching the show, I could not help but notice how the gender roles were portrayed.

The episode that we watched in class was "Lucy Does a Television Commercial." In this episode, Lucy wants to air in a TV commercial that her husband would not let her star in. But because of him constantly saying no, Lucy decides to find away to star in the commercial.

Obviously Lucy wants to do the commercial after being turned down by her husband. It was shocking to me how dominant the role of the husband is in the show. Desi, who played Lucy's husband off screen, yells at Lucy and talks down to her like she was a child. "Andrea Press studied women's responses to I Love Lucy, finding working-class women tended to find Lucille Ball as Lucy Ricardo funny, but thought the character was silly, unrealistic, and manipulative."

Lucy played what was probably known as the stereotypical housewife who stayed home all day and cooked and cleaned, being reliant on her husband to make the money in the family. I feel like Lucy's character wanted to break out of the norm of the time and try to leave the house however, she always landed in predicaments. There are times in every episode where Lucy gets herself in situations that are always portrayed as hilarious! This is another stereotype because the role of the women was seen as being "forgetful" and easily making mistakes. Donna Reed of the The Donna Reed Show questions the connotations of the media's use of "housewife" in I Love Lucy and said that Lucille Ball was probably the most "ambitious and dissatisfied woman in all of television history."

Lucy and her friend, Ethel, finally are tired of how the roles are set and decide to make a bet with their husbands to see if they can successfully switch roles:

Though the episode is hilarious, there are gender issues present in the shows. But not only the show, there are gender issues in the commercials starring the married couple as well that display dominance in the male role over the female.

I am happy that the times have changed and that women are allowed to do what the please and do not have to be the stereotypical housewife like Lucy.