Main Post 9/16

During the 1990's a new trend was infiltrating movies and television. The role of female characters and how they were portrayed was drastically changing. The era of the Chick- Flick ushered in new perspectives, wisdom and huge popularity. Douglas begins her analysis of this new era with her discussion of Clueless, an extremely popular teen-chick flick that followed Cher Horowitz, a high school shopaholic. This film spawned other hits such as, Legally Blonde, Miss Congeniality, Sex & The City and Gossip Girl. These movies and series both mocked and celebrated girliness. They offered young girls a tantalizing fantasy that they could embrace their sexuality by flaunting their bodies in skimpy clothing, while still retaining their independence and respectability.  Such media told women that the path to empowerment came through buying products and goods that enhanced their looks and attractiveness to men. This message made feminism seem antiquated, because obviously women had achieved such levels of success that it was no longer needed. More important tasks were at hand, such as finding a man to complete their lives. Characters such as Bridget Jones embodied this intense struggle to find a man. Many were repulsed by the outdated stereotypes presented in this movies and stated that the gender stereotypes were from the 1950's. Bridget was obsessed with dieting just so she could impress her love interest. Without a man she was often miserable and frantic. Her self esteem rested on the approval of men. This is a trend that is very prevalent in today's society and can be seen at Colgate. However, having seen and enjoyed this movie I cannot say that I totally agree with her analysis. Bridget Jones is a comedy and goes through extreme measures to impress the men in her life. She is an example of what NOT to be like, we laugh at her because of her absurd nature and find ourselves thinking wow I would never do that.

Mr. Right ?!

It is important to remember that during this time of extreme girliness, young girls were also being bombarded with the images of warrior women in thongs. This presented a huge contradiction of images and stereotypes which did not help the plight of young women. Additionally, outbursts of national violence against young women and females was spreading across the nation. Such contradictions prompted females to wonder whether they were truly empowered or still the victims.

A show that highlighted this contradiction was Ally Mcbeal, which Douglas discussed ad nauseam. Ally was a successful lawyer who embodied intelligence and poise, while still pissing off feminists. The show, like many others was both progressive and regressive. Surprisingly, this grey area appealed to young women, because they had to deal with the achievements of feminism and the growing demands of femininity. Overall the new media sought to equate feminism with being outdated, un-hip and unnecessary. Enlightened sexism was draped all over these films and television shows. The main message from several of these films was that yes women could achieve success - but the love of a man was far more gratifying.


Her chapter titled, You, Go Girl, finally discusses the plight of African American women. Ironically, many white women find themselves envying the purported image of a strong, sassy Black Woman. Why do privileged white women envy a minority? Mainly, because the media image of African American women is that they are independent, outspoken, sassy and real. They have no problem standing up to men and saying what they feel. Generally, they command respect and are seen as having weathered hard times and thus their respect is deserved. Black women also have a unique perspective because they have been positioned to see ALL of white society from the outside and thus they have a much better idea of what is really going on. A key to female African American's actresses is their ability to code switch- meaning they can adapt their vocabulary to white and black audiences. Code switching truly intrigues white women. For instance, when Oprah or Tyra Banks get sassy with their studio audience, white women feel as if they are included in the hipness. For just a second they are allowed to enter the mystifying world of black women- exciting!

African American's entered the mainstream media through the rising popularity of rap music. Suburban white kids were intrigued by what seemed to be their polar opposites and wanted to emulate their style and coolness. MTV and Fox exploited this desire and started producing shows featuring African Americans. As long as the plots avoided tackling the problem of racism, white people would tune in. At first female rappers were admired for their good rhymes and independent nature, but they were quickly outweighed by the sexist rhymes of numerous male rappers. Additionally, when they wanted to express their sexual desires and be proud of their body they were labeled sluts. Another problem African American faced was that of assimilation. Their projected out spoken nature made them popular but also made them stand out. Similar to media depictions of white women, contradictions were ever- present in the representation of black women. At 4pm one could tune into Oprah to hear an inspiring story of female triumph. Two hours later they could also tune into 106th & Park to watch female booty shaking contests.