Haralovitch, Mary Beth. “Sitcoms and Suburbs: Positioning the 1950s Homemaker.”

Thesis:

In the 1950-60s certain television sitcoms were made after the war to represent a modern middle-class white family. There were specific gender roles that took part in the televised family, and realistic scenes to create that warm, comfortable and stable family environment. More so, the social formation of the suburban family emphasizes its ability to naturalize men’s and women’s place in the home. However, this articles attempts to show that women are established homemakers, and that this is the life that they are to follow. Thus, through the description of two sitcoms Haralovich is concerned with the institutions important to social and economic policies definition of a woman as a homemaker.

Government’s intervention to promote the image of the home
Certain institutions wanted to show society that the suburban middle-income family was the primary locus of this social formation. The way the home was established, with it specified gender roles, with a warm and comfortable environment, was a new was to look at the postwar American economy. More so, government’s policies supported the suburban development in a variety of ways. One was the development of the Federal-Aid highway Act of 1956 contributed to the gender-specific space for the suburban family. The FHA was empowered with defining “neighborhood character”. For example, they tried to establish neighborhood stability, and attractiveness, and did not choose to support housing for minorities. Thus, “these government policies were to create a homogeneous and social stable communities with racial, ethnic and class barriers to entry.”

The American economy did anything in its power to promote this type of home as the image of the new postwar era. After the war the government also took initiative in prioritizing the new postwar period. This included removing woman from their jobs and giving it to men, and building more homes. The development of new homes pushed woman towards being homemakers since there was no other way they could work.

Situation Sitcom
Is a genre that presented “the daily trails and tribulations of American families and workplaces from a humorous perspective.” Also, these shows also feature breadwinner fathers, homemaker mother, and their various children. The suburban family sitcom is dependent upon this displacement of economic determinations onto imaginary social relations which naturalize middle-class life. Usually the people within these sitcoms are white Americans. This was a social and economic arrangement which was valued as the cornerstone of the American social economy of the 50s. The two that were presented within this article were Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver.

Consumer product industry has an impact on the positioning of woman as homemakers. That is, creating certain appliances that will allow woman to do housework that is not too confining or exclusively time-consuming.

These sitcoms provided a way to advertise certain consumer products. These may have include, television sets, furniture, certain appliances, etc. People that watched these homemakers battle with proper room arraignments and usage of different products caught their attention. Seeing these homemakers use these appliances that allow for leisure time, got other homemakers want them. This then provided many
companies with great sales on furniture.

Father knows best/ Leave it to Beaver

FKB Is a family life of Jim and Margret Anderson and their children Betty, Bud, and Kathy. Father knows best concentrated on drawing humor from parents raising children to adulthood.  Leave it to beaver was the life of Ward and June Cleaver whom raise two sons Wally and Theodore( the beaver) in a single family suburban home.

The two of these films establish middle-class home life. At times the sitcoms will provide rare examples of the demarcation of good and bad neighborhoods.

Similar home designs

Father knows best is less repressive in its association with familial roles. The woman in the sitcoms exemplifies the housewife as being a sexual being through the way they dressed.  As Father knows best, Leave it to Beaver was constructed around an appeal to the entire family. Margret and June are two representations of the definition of the homemaker in that they are contained and liberated by domestic space. They fit the roles in which society perceives a homemaker as. The signifying systems of these sitcoms invested in the social subjectivity of homemakers put forth by suburban development and the consumer product industry. Though both mothers are homemakers, there characters are very different. The three woman in Father knows best were intelligent, proud and resourceful. In contrast to this easy going family traits, Leave it to Beaver tells another story about gender relations.

June does not share Margret’s intelligence. June is structured on the periphery of the socialization of her children, in the passive space of the home.

Examples for the different Characters

Margret: In one episode, Jim overhears Betty and her friend, Armand, rehearsing a play, and assumes they are going to elope. Margaret has more faith in their daughter and good-naturedly tries to dissuade Jim from his anxiety: "Jim, when are you going to stop acting like a comic strip father?" In the same episode, Jim and Margaret play Scrabble, an activity which the episode suggests they do together often. "Dad's getting beat at Scrabble again," observes Bud. Kathy notices, "He's stuck with the 'Z' again." Margaret looks up Jim's Z-word in the dictionary, doubting its existence. Margaret is able to continually best Jim at this word game and Jim is willing to play despite certain defeat.

June: In a discussion of their sons' academic performances, June remarks: "We can't all be A' students, maybe the boys are like me." Ward responds: "No, they are not like you" and then catches himself up short. Nor does June share Margaret's witty and confident relationship with her husband.

She typically defers to Ward's greater sense about raising their two sons. Wondering how to approach instances of boyish behavior, June positions herself firmly at a loss. She frequently asks, mystified, "Ward, did boys do this when you were their age?" And Ward always reassures June that whatever their sons are doing (brothers fighting, for example) is a normal stage of development of boys, imparting to her his superior social and familial knowledge. Like her sons, June acknowledges the need for Ward's guidance. Unlike Margaret, June is structured on the periphery of the socialization of her children, in the passive space of the home

Conclusion

The contribution of the television homemaker to harmonious family life was underscored by the ease with which she negotiated her place in the domestic arena. Homemakers were developed in terms of the social and economic policies of society. Through television programs, and government interventions, woman had no choice but to be seen as a homemaker. More so, the consumer product industry and market research, woman were “defined in terms of her homemaking function for the family and for the economy, her life could only be made easier by appliances. To ensure the display of her family's social status, experts assuaged any uncertainties she may have had about interior decor by designing with these problems in mind. By linking her identity as a shopper and homemaker to class attributes, the base of the consumer economy was broadened, her deepest emotions and insecurities tapped and transferred to consumer product design.” Haralovich showed the multiple ways woman were defined, and given gender specific roles that are still encountered with today.

Writing Workshop

As I mentioned in last week's class, a fellow TA is hosting someone from the writing centre during one of her tutorials to provide some essay writing tips and answer questions.  This is going to happen at 4:30pm on Tuesday November 23rd in ACE 010.  If you plan on attending please email me so we can have a idea on the numbers.

Chapter 7: Hollywood goes to War

WWII officially started on September 1, 1939
US maintained a position of strict neutrality and “isolationism”
Only entered after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 against Japan and Germany

Thesis:
The Big Problem: the average American had no interest in going to war before Pearl Harbor was bombed. Isolationist sentiment was still strong so the government decided to set up a ministry of information (propaganda) to supplement the work of the private media.

Office of War Information (OWI)
President Roosevelt created the OWI
Its job was to assist the media in spreading the message about supporting the war. It had numerous branches, including the Bureau of Motion Pictures (BMP), which was designed to influence Hollywood to make films to support the war effort and to make films that portrayed the US in a positive light
Hollywood worked closely with the government to support its war-aims information campaign. They created features with patriotic, morale-boosting themes and messages about the American way of life, the nature of the enemies and the allies, civilian responsibilities on the home front, and the fighting forces themselves.
The OWI or BMP couldn’t stop the production of films but they had some moral suasion to keep film makers from doing anything that was not patriotic

The Manual
The OWI issued a manual to act as a guide to film makers
The 7 questions asked in the manual are basically making sure that films don’t portray the wrong influence of America and its partaking into the war.
Some successful films made under the guidelines of the maual:
    -Casablanca (1943)
    -Sahara (1943)
    -Since you went away (1944)

Casa Blanca
It is the kind of film that the OWI had in mind when they wrote the guidelines
The film draws heavily on narrative conventions of previous films, especially the Western – the dichotomy between Eastern and Western US to one between Europe and America
The film was made in 1942; a few months after US entered WWII

Combat Films of WWI
Prior to 1942 there were not a lot of films made about war and it was not the most popular genre in American cinema.
WWII changed all that – became very popular
    -movies on the Korean War, Vietnam War, Iraq War etc. etc.
Formula for these types of movies:

1. Isolated males in a life or death task
2. The group – distinct types – teamwork and individual exploits
3. Professionalism and stoicism in the face of danger and death
4. Outsiders enter the group and become threats to it
5. Outsiders must win admission to the group

Sahara
Interesting example of how the OWI influenced film making during the war
Set in North Africa where the US joins British forces to defeat Germany
The crew that makes a stand against the Germanys at the well of the oasis was a microcosm of the allies (the American, the British doctor, the French Resistance Fighter, a Sudanese officer and his Italian prisoner)

-the Sudanese officer addresses the ongoing problem of racism in the real American military

    -blacks were not allowed to fight along side whites during the war

Since You Went Away
Made about the duties of those who remained at home during the war
A lady named Anne Hilton shows the type of model representation of home life that the OWI wanted to demonstrate

Hollywood Film Directors Go to War
A number of prominent film directors offered their services to various branches of the Armed Forces
They were assigned to make training films and documentaries explaining war-related issues

-not all Hollywood films during this time related to war effort, the government wanted to continue to make entertainment films to escape American worries

Film Noir (1941-1958)
Encompasses different genres but more prominently gangster and detective films
The term was devised by the French after WWII
Four fundamental components:

1. War and Post War Dillusionment 
• -delayed reaction to the Great Depression, WWII and aftermath

• Post War Realism
• documentary films gave audiences an appreciation for more realistic representation of the world

1. The German Influence 
• visual stylistic and dark sensibilities of German Expressionism
• Quintessential example of German Expression: Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

1. The Hard-Boiled Tradition 
• literary tradition – cynical, world-weary, street-wise and tough male protagonis

Elements of Film Noir

1. Visual Style – low-keying lighting, anti-traditional frame compositions and the use of claustrophobic framing devices like doors and windows and stairways
2. Moral Ambiguity – characters are morally questionable
3. The World-weary Detective – hard-boiled detective stories of the thirties, the noir detective is an individual, non-affiliated professional, law superior – creates his own “law”

Women and Film Noir
In many Hollywood films, the nuclear family is the embodiment of stability and the locus of ideological conformity\many conventional films end with the creation of a couple at the end, usually in the form of a marriage
Women – the vehicle for satisfying male sexual needs and to raise children and take care of the home
Two types

1. Femme Fatale 

• the sexual predator who use men and their desires to get her own way, they are not to be trusted
• at a metaphorical level they embody the fears that men have about powerful women (threat to male power)

2. Good Woman 

• usually the wife, fiancé or girlfriend

Questions:
->In the movie Sahara, “the crew” is a microcosm example of the Allies. What makes up this “crew” and how does it exemplify the war? 
->Discuss the pros and cons of the OWI spreading the message through film to support the war?
-> Discuss and compare propaganda from the GNP, the creole commission, and the (BMP) Bureau of Motion Pictures

How To Find The Online Articles

Find the article in the reading list bibliography.

Navigate over to http://www.library.yorku.ca/
Search via "Periodical Title"

From the search results:

This will display every issue this database contains.  Find the volume and issue number you need.

This will bring you to a list with every article in this issue.  Click through the results, or use "Refine Search" to search for the author name or article title.

There!  You are now well-equipped to find every article from the course syllabus.

Updated Presention Schedule

Chin,  M - Lipsitz (online)    11/18/2010
Cremonese,    M  -  Haralovitch (online)    11/18/2010
Cugliari,    E  -  Corkin (online)    11/25/2010
Davidian,   A  -  Textbook Chapter 10    12/2/2010
Hay,    C  -  Textbook Chapter 11    1/6/2011
Balasubramaniam,    R  -  Textbook Chapter 12     1/13/2011
Kraljevic,    M  -  Ryan in Film Reader    1/20/2011
Lai,    C  -  Kellner in Film Reader    1/20/2011
Luong,    J  -  Anderson (online),     1/27/2011
Luu,    H  -  Kraidy (online)    1/27/2011
Ngo,    K  -  Aufderheide (online)    2/3/2011
Nguyen,    D  -  Boddy (online)    2/3/2011
Parameshvaran,    V  -   Gray (online)    2/17/2011
Sharifi,    M  -  Schatz in Film Reader     3/17/2011
Sinha,    M  -   Holt (online)    3/17/2011
Sivayogalingam,    S -   Prince in Film Reader     3/24/2011
Zarka,    S  -  Nochimson (online)    3/24/2011

The shifting role of public radio

I happened to be listening to NPR this morning, and the following debate on public radio funding was discussed.  Considering our recent discussion on the origins of radio and television broadcasting, the subjectivity, and influence of media still rages.  The debate in its entirety can be heard here:

Donate For Movemeber

This Movember, the month formerly known as November, I’ve decided to donate my face to raise awareness about prostate cancer.

I’m doing this because 4,400 men die of prostate cancer in Canada each year and one in six men will be diagnosed during his lifetime.
This is a cause that I feel passionately about and I’m asking you to support my efforts by making a donation to Prostate Cancer Canada.

To help, you can either:

*  Click this link http://ca.movember.com/mospace/995254/ and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account
* Write a cheque payable to Prostate Cancer Canada, referencing my name or Registration Number 995254 and mailing it to: Prostate Cancer Canada, Suite 306 145 Front Street East, Toronto, ON M5A 1E3, Canada.

All donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.

For more details on how the funds raised from previous campaigns have been used and the impact Movember is having please visit: http://ca.movemberfoundation.com/research-and-programs.

Thank you in advance for helping me to support men’s health.