I Love 1980s televison

The discussion of gender found in television, the debate of whether media is propaganda, or what the public wants, and lastly some of the historical views of men and women in television is fascinating in terms of television from the 1980s.
Our text book speaks in terms of us turning a corner in the 1990s in terms of portrayal of females in television. I think that we started this turn in the 1980s. Clearly, when we examine 80s television on the whole we can see a predominantly masculine culture however; we can see an emergence of a female perspective. Shows like “Kate and Allie” which ran from 1984-1989 (imdb.com) clearly show a strong female presence, and arguably a lack of a male figure. The show portrays women in a new light, and as able to operate without men.
Additionally in 1980s television we have the show “Designing Women” which ran from 1986-1993 (imdb.com) showed women in a new light as business owners and independent strong ladies. The book seems to pay little attention to the media of the 1980s which paved the way for the media in the 1990s. Although the book also refers to gay and lesbian issues and speaks to them in terms of the 1990s, and even refers to homosexuality in the 1980s; it doesn’t refer to my favorite examples of homosexuality in the 1980s.
One example of dealing with homosexuality in the 1980s was “The Facts of Life” which ran from 1979 until 1988. The episode deals with a masculine girl, and how Blair treats her because of this. In this text we see the negative portrayal of being a lesbian. Through this text we also see second wave feminism through the comradely that the girls develop. The clip also does a good job at illustrating the struggle the feminist movement was going through at that period of time. There was a strong question of whether the girls should compete, or join forces. Clearly we can see them take the approach of women as equals in this clip.
Another clip of interest from this time period is from “Kate and Allie”. In this clip we see Kate and Allie trying to decide what they should do to keep their single family apartment. In this clip we see a surprisingly liberal take on lesbianism given the time. This clip takes a more accepting view of being a lesbian than “The Facts of Life” from just a few years prior.
Through these texts I also think we can go back to the debate of whether the media is propaganda or what the public wants. I think that we can see an argument for a more moderate stance leaning towards media being what the public wants. The episodes of “The Facts of Life” and “Kate and Allie” that I referenced would not have been welcomed by publics in the 1960s, or even arguably through the mid 70s because it wasn’t as acceptable at that time. Clearly, the media had to wait until lesbianism was something in the public sphere before they would produce an episode of a television show with such a theme. I think these texts prove that although the programming was undeniably revolutionary for its time, it was disseminated at a time when it was accepted.
In terms of timing I think the 1980s are of particular usefulness when we look at what we spoke about in class. I think that during the 1980s we saw the role of the stereotypical male protagonist wane. “Kate and Allie” and “The Facts of Life” lacked a male protagonist. We also had shows like “Moonlighting” which I think had a female protagonist with a male counterpart. When we look at the unique dynamic of “Moonlighting” we see that Bruce Willis’s character really can’t do too much without Cybill Shepherd’s character. Interstingly, Shepherd’s character was the owner of the agency that the duo worked for. Although she owned the agency, she got the money from modeling which, to me undercuts her strength as a breadwinner in a female role. However, Shepherd was a very strong character in “Moonlighting” and I feel paved the way for other such strong female characters.
I think that gender roles as portrayed by the media are very fascinating. I find it especially fascinating when we look at texts from the 1980s. I think this decade tested boundaries that hadn’t been approached. I believe that through the texts and examples I provided we can really see 1980s television as a good argument for media as something that the public desires, and some very interesting portrayals of and shifts in gender roles.