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Essay / Gender and Media Criticism Essay - 1290
Family Guy is a television show that is about the Griffin family and their daily lives. The main characters are Peter Griffin, Lois Griffin, Meg Griffin, Chris Griffin, Stewie Griffin and their dog Brian Griffin. My medium is the Family Guy TV show episode, I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar. The episode begins with the Griffin family watching a beer commercial with two women getting down and dirty, insinuating that Pawtucket beer will make you girls hot. This message itself reflects women in a negative way, as the show's advertising reflects them as objects. It also shows through this ad how the media views women as objects to be sexualized. This media is aimed at women in general who are victims of sexual harassment in the workplace. In the episode, women are sexually harassed by Peter because of the joke he told: "Why do women have two breasts?" So you have something to look at when they’re talking to you.” The women in this episode are portrayed as idiots and are against sexual harassment. It is implied that men are all ignorant and don't understand when women are victims of sexual harassment. It also implies that some women are simply shocked that sexual harassment still occurs in the workforce. The cultural expectations of this episode are manifested when Peter's boss shows Mrs. Iron Box the staff training video on how to treat women in the workplace in the 1950s. Another cultural expectation that exists in this episode is that men need to be more sensitive towards women and show them more respect. The video shows that women are expected to work in an office and can't really do a male job like being a boss in charge of the company...... middle of paper ......r intellect. It is implied in the series that blondes are stupid and this series reinforces this stereotype because throughout the series Penny doesn't feel that smart when she tries to talk to Leonard or Sheldon. Through these five media outlets, I found a multitude of issues that are a part of this culture we live in. Firstly, the media itself has an image of control over women and we don't even know it because everywhere we look they are bombarded with new information about what we should think every day. Things like beauty, sexualization, and overly emotional women all played a role in these mediums that I explained earlier. Gender roles are what is expected of us and how we behave in gendered ways. Gender roles are a common thing in all types of media and Penny's example from the Big Bang Theory and how she is seen as a stereotypical person.