A large amount of popular shows nowadays portray the main character man, husband, or boyfriend as a goofy, stupid, lazy person. The main character wife however, is portrayed as a smart, self-reliant, strong woman. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at some of these shows:
The Simpsons (From 1989 – Present)
The Simpsons is a prime and easy example. Homer Simpson, one of the main characters, who is a father, plays a fat, stupid, and sometimes drunk idiot. Marge Simpson, however is the voice of reason, the smart one in the relationship and the wife.
Is that bad? Well let’s look at the other characters on the show. Bart Simpson, son of the Simpsons, plays the delinquent, troublemaker. Whereas Lisa Simpson, Bart’s sister, is the smartest in the entire family, then Marge, then Bart, and finally Homer being the dumbest. (A part of me wants to count the pets as well, and they’re still portrayed smarter than Homer.)
Also I’m not going to count baby Maggie Simpson, simply because she’s too young, but at the same time if you’ve ever seen her on the show or movie, there’s already signs that she’s smarter than Homer. Giving hand gestures and performing actions that most babies wouldn’t be able to do.
Family Guy (From 1999 – Present)
Here’s another example with more or less the same setup. Peter Griffin is this show’s Homer, another fat, stupid, and almost always drunk man. The only real difference besides that Peter drinks way more than Homer, is that Peter is always doing stupid things that either destroy houses or wreck the town. Seriously just type in Peter Griffin on Youtube and you will most likely see acts of his stupidity.
Now Louis, Peter’s wife, seems to be more wild than Marge, but is still clearly the smart, sophisticated (by comparison), and voice of reason in the family; always giving Peter advice.
Chris, there son is portrayed as yet another fat, stupid person. Meg, there daughter, seems to be portrayed as the one that everyone doesn’t like. She’s still leaps and bounds smarter than Chris and Peter combined, but always seems to be down on herself because of her appearance.
Stewie, the baby of the family, is the only child whose seen as a genius. He’s on a whole other level when compared to Maggie or any of the Griffins, BUT his genius is usually used to give some episodes some sort of wacky adventure. Like his time pad, or his inventions, and in more recent episodes he is seen as a homosexual and is often made fun of for being so – whether it’s him dressing like a woman, or the show giving some sort of hint that he’s gay in some way.
So basically Stewie is seen as either a genius to give that episode some plot, or is seen as a homosexual to still yet AGAIN to be made fun of. (There really isn’t any relevance to mentioning Brian, their talking dog, who is still smarter than Peter or Chris.)
So the only 3 characters that aren’t made fun of are Louis, Meg, and Brian the dog.
American Dad (2005 – Present)
Now this show is slightly different. Francine, the wife, is usually seen as either sexy, stupid, or sometimes the voice of reason to her husband. HOWEVER Stan Smith, the husband, is seen as an over the top macho man whose usually doing a lot more harm than good for the family and sometimes the town; he’s still portrayed as an idiot. And let’s not forget the kids, Steve Smith is the nerdy, wimpy, boy who tries to get with women and fail; and Hayley Smith is seen as the peace loving, smart, strong woman who most likely is the smartest in the family. (There’s no point in mentioning Rodger, as he is a talking alien in their attic, kind of like an alien version of Stewie Griffin, minus of course the intellect.)
Now I know what some of you people might be thinking, there just shows, they don’t have any effect on people; least of all men.
Well let me ask you something, if all the media like magazines and TV shows make women feel bad about their bodies by featuring “hot” women – then why can’t men feel insulted or just feel like it’s a joke to become a husband?
The answer: people just don’t expect a man to feel anything, society automatically deems men as disposable and have no problem being making us look like weak stupid fools.
Astro 2 years, 7 months ago.
