Intro to show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8Lq9wKfgr4
American Decades: http://www.enotes.com/1950-lifestyles-social-trends-american-decades/womens-roles
Leave it to Beaver was a very popular
television series which ran from 1957-1963. It depicted the daily lives of the
Cleaver family, which included mother June, father Ward, and children Wallace
“Wally” and Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver. This TV family represented the ideal values
and behavior of the decade, showcasing especially the expected role of wife and
mother.
In
this particular still from an episode of Leave
it to Beaver, June Cleaver is seen serving her family at the dining room
table. This picture embodies the ideal woman of the decade: one who serves
without thinking of herself. A woman’s ideal gender role was “housekeeping and
raising a family” during the 1950s (American Decades). The body language of the
men seated at the table successfully translates this ideology as well. They are
looking down, not paying attention to the woman, and are not assisting her whatsoever
in preparing the meal. This behavior perpetuates the stereotypical role as wife
and mother during this time period.
The
video clip is from the opening of the show. It portrays June Cleaver offering
beverages to her husband and sons. This is yet another example of the ways in
which women were expected to behave in domestic settings. The ideal woman of
this time period would serve her man and her family over herself.
_________
_________
movie trailer for Some Like It Hot
This
is a movie trailer for the movie Some
Like It Hot starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, which was
released in 1959. In the movie, after witnessing a murder, Joe and Jerry
(Curtis and Lemmon) dress in drag in order to join a women’s orchestra and hide
out from Chicago gangsters. Sugar (Marilyn Monroe) is a singer in the women’s orchestra,
and her main goal is to find a rich millionaire to marry. In the end, Sugar
discovers Joe and Jerry’s secret and she falls in love with Joe, though he is
not a wealthy millionaire.
Monroe’s
character as a blonde bombshell demonstrates the decade’s view on women: that
they are only pretty faces who cannot support themselves, who need a rich
husband to take care of them. Monroe exhibits the expected gender role for
women during the 1950s as helpless and vulnerable without the support of a man.
Her determined pursuit of a wealthy husband is also a trademark of the decade,
with this being the main goal of many women of the time. Also, Monroe’s role as
a sex symbol in not only this movie but in her everyday life signifies that women
were not valued for their intellect. The importance of appearance during this
time period is perfectly exemplified through Monroe, with beauty taking president
over every other aspect of a woman. This is an example of how gender roles
formed in the media and television can shape the views of the public,
highlighting the differences between the binary of cultural versus natural.
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