Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Eureka # 2
Last night I was watching Jon & Kate + 8 season 5 premiere along with Millions of other men, women, children, entire families, however, I was attempting to watch it from a different perspective, something that most people wouldn't want to look at. All of the scandals involving Jon cheating, Kate cheating, a pending divorce, etc., have left Jon looking like a complete villian. I thought that the show would even the score, making sure to point out that he is home with the kids while Kate is out on her book tours, however, they showed Kate struggling to care for the children alone while Jon "took the weekend off." What I felt the producers only showed Talk of, and no visual examples, is how much Kate is on the road. Whenever they showed Jon, he was distant, tired, slumped over, and often not watching the kids. However, I feel as though it is easy for them to leave huge chunks of time out where he could have looked better, more awake, and maybe they were playing a trick on us? Is it possible that Kate is more at fault for being star struck than they want us to think. There is no doubt that when I start a family I hope I could be somewhat near as organized as her, because a lifestyle like that with so many children seems really hard. However, I feel like Jon taking care of the kids wasnt shown at all and that he does more for the family than they showed. Probably because people like Kate more, but it also makes the stereotypes about men and their lack of parenting skills even more apparent. It is also negative towards women because it shows that Kate's power within their household is too strong and imposing that Jon can not handle it, he feels as though he has lost his "manhood."
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Shaina,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree!! I felt like the show slmost fed into all the hype going on. From what I see kate is on the road alot and why isn't that shown?? Not to mention she is a tad rough on John. They seem to forget all the previous seasons and how people reacted to how mean she was to him. I do get she has to be organized and stern to keep things moving with 8 kids but sometimes she was just plain out mean. I feel like one season they are going against Kate for being too strong or even "manly" and taking charge and now this season it is taking a blow at manhood and what Jon is doing wrong. It is a shame because when the show started it was a nice, intersting show to watch because of their unique situation now it is just another show overtaken by sterotypes and the media.
Luckily the kids are adorable. I feel like saying the same thing Jon & Kate said, I'm in it for the kids. Otherwise, the show is a depressing stereotypical example of an American family and more proof that marriage doesn't hold as much importance as it did before.
ReplyDeleteI like your understanding of how this show is portraying men! Men are ALWAYS shown as being lazy, stupid, and inadequate when it comes to child rearing, and being a vital part of the family. Shows like The Simpsons, and the King of Queens also like to utilize the stereotype of the stupid alpha male in order to get higher ratings. That is why most commercials for cleaning products are geared to women, because society is buying the concept that only women can take care of their home and family, and men are simply bystanders or are in the way. Extremely common dialogue on nearly all sitcoms involves some type of put down of the opposite sex. It is pretty interesting how television can reinforce and create gender stereotypes!
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said! I normally don't watch this show, but all my friends rave about how great it is, so I decided to watch it last night. After seeing all of the previews on tv for the past week, the show was pretty much what I expected it to be. I hope everything works out for the kids sake because they are a great family, and I would hate to see it fall apart. Like you said, the portray Jon as a typical male-lazy and not really caring for the kids, and Kate as a typical mother, raising the children.
ReplyDeleteoh and Sister Sister is on at 1pm on ABC Family lol
I do not watch this show, but since all of the speculation about the cheating and the divorce I am forced to see this everywhere. And it's intresting that you say that she is portrayed as the spouse that is not doing anything wrong because on all the magazine covers it is her side of the story and how her husband is an ass. And I also read something that while the show was premiering that he was in a bar with two young girls living it up while she was at home with all of the children. I'm sure that the show will keep feeding into this idea because its going to help their ratings because I'm sure now people are watching the show that have never watched it before. But it is very sad that executives are portarying women like the weaker sex in this show now and that men don't care about their children. I agree with you there.
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