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Blog 2: Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show was a 1970s CBS sitcom that bodly differed from most other shows of the time period. The show effectively showed social structures and roles and how they were changing at this time. Even today there are shows based on the use of ambivalence and humiliation as humor, similar to that of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The episode “Chuckles Bites the Dust” in particular, uses ambivalence and humiliation to depict these social issues. By examining the character of Mary Richards along with the different ways that all of the characters deal with the death of Chuckles the Clown, one is able to see underlying issues such as woman’s roles in society and same sex marriage.
Mary’s character is one not seen before on TV. She is a single working woman who sets out to do big things, but always seems to come up short. Mary goes out to find a typical female job as a secretary but then gets a seemingly better job working at the news station. This is just the beginning of Mary separating from the idealistic views of how a woman should live, thus being known as a New Woman. This shows the change in social structure and woman’s growing role in society and in the working class. Another reason the character of Mary Richards is considered a New Woman is that she accepts her single marital status. At this time, it was very uncommon to see a single woman as the main character of a TV show, let alone one so accepting of her marital fate. Through watching the show, we find out that Mary is not single by choice. After trying her fair share of dating, she realizes she will never find the right man for her. This fact makes Mary an ambivalent feminist. She lives her life by feminist principles but only because living the life of a typical woman didn’t work out for her. These reasons amongst others make The Mary Tyler Moore Show “most significant of the New Woman sitcoms to appear on US television in the 1960s and 1970s” (Crozier 51).
Another instance that the Mary Tyler Moore show challenges a social ideal is when the Ted Baxter is making a breaking news announcement regarding Chuckles the Clown’s death. Ted embarrassingly realizes he does not know very much about Chuckles even though they work at the same TV station. After explaining that Chuckles died as a result of being peeled by an elephant while dressed up as Peter Peanut, Ted says he does not know if Chuckles was married but assumes he is not “the other kind” (Brooks). When Ted says this he means he assumes Chuckles is not gay. The audience cannot help but to laugh at this comment but gay marriage was just beginning to become a prevalent issue and is still important in society today. Around the time of this episode, “a number of U.S. states repealed sexually restrictive laws during this decade — laws that had criminalized same-sex behavior as misdemeanors or felonies” (“the gay liberation movement”). The Mary Tyler Moore Show is once again able to subtly approach an important issue by using comedy and humiliation to downplay the issue’s importance.
Although “Chuckles Bites the Dust” is just one episode of this long series, it does a good job of showing some of the issues that the series addresses time and time again. The Mary Tyler Moore Show set a standard for challenging societies norms through the use of ambivalence and humiliation as humor. Even today, the sitcom’s influence can be seen in popular shows such as 30 Rock and Friends. Although The Mary Tyler Moore Show was ground breaking for its time, it has influenced many other shows and will continue to influence shows for years to come.
Works Cites
Brooks, James L. “Chuckles Bites the Dust.” The Mary Tyler Moore Show (TMTMS).
CBS. Television.
Crozier, Susan. “Making it After All: A Reparative Reading of The Mary Tyler Moore
Show.” International Journal of Cultural Studies 11.1 (2008): 51-67. Print.
“The gay liberation movement during the 1970s.” Religious tolerance. Web. 13 January
Blog 2: Gender Roles in Hill Street Blues
I chose to discuss gender roles in the pilot episode of Hill Street Blues. In the pilot, none of the female police officers played a large role in the plot. Females were generally downplayed in the episode overall. The only women whose characters were somewhat developed were Joyce, the public defender, and Fay, Frank’s ex-wife. I noticed while watching the episode that the contrast between the two is very stark. This contrast is also discussed in Thomas H. Zynda’s article, “The Metaphoric Vision of Hill Street Blues.”
Fay is depicted as an annoying nag and is very angry and shrill when she comes to demand money from her ex-husband. Frank blows her off every time she comes in, ignoring her pleas and appointing his friend in the office to take her somewhere else when she gets annoying or gets in his way. Their relationship is dominated by Frank, who holds Fay at arm’s length while she begs in vain for his assistance in raising the child they share.
In “The Metaphoric Vision of Hill Street Blues,” the author discusses the fact that Fay is “continuously involved in an endless series of psychological therapies and social action groups to solve some problem” (Zynda, 107). We get a glimpse of this in the first episode when she tells Frank that she had their son psychologically evaluated because of his problems at school, and asks him for more money to afford his private school so that he doesn’t have to go back to public school where he was bullied. I agree with the article’s claim that Fay’s seemingly contrived problems provide a contrast for the more real and serious problems the police are dealing with in the streets (Zynda, 107).
Joyce, on the other hand, is depicted as a strong, beautiful, intelligent, and successful woman. All of these characteristics can be seen even in the first episode. She asserts herself and uses reason and solid arguments to get what she wants, rather than exasperated pleas. She is desirable to the men at the station and is always dressed stylishly. When LaRue makes a pass at her, she dumps her drink in his lap, demonstrating her confidence and independence. We eventually discover that she is the lover of Frank near the end of the episode. The relationship they seem to have is very different from the one Frank and his ex-wife have. Joyce and Frank seem to treat each other more as equals, discussing their days at work and venting to each other before bed.
Compared with Fay, who is having difficulties with money, with her love life, and with parenting, Joyce has a relatively perfect life. She seems to be quite affluent, based on the clothes she wears and her “taste for fine restaurants,” and generally seems to run in a more sophisticated circle than Fay (Zynda, 108). Her love life isn’t perfect (she has a tiff with Frank in the pilot), but it seems to be pretty good. She is young and free from the burden of children (Zynda, 108). Based on the evidence from the pilot, I agree with Zydna’s claim that Joyce “embodies the ideal of achievement in the post-feminist era” (108).
Works Cited:
Zynda, Thomas H. “The Metaphoric Vision of Hill Street Blues.” Journal of Popular Film and Television 14.3 (1986): 100-113. Print.
Blog 2 The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore show, a prominent satire of contemporary America from the 1970’s depicted a growing trend of independent women (Sanes). The show was often on the cutting edge of what was politically correct at the time. It poked fun at areas that were considered controversial.
In the episode “Chuckles Bites the Dust,” we are able to see many instances of self-humiliation and controversial remarks. The episode takes us through a story about the death of clown, Chuckles. Chuckles was at a circus dressed as peanut when an elephant decided to try and eat him. It’s easy to see the simple humor in this, however, it can be considered in bad taste (“Chuckles Bites the Dust”).
A major instance of self-humiliation comes from Mary. Throughout the episode, Mary explains to her coworkers that the death of individual is nothing to make jokes about. Her coworkers scoff at her and continue to make waves of jokes. However, once at the funereal, Mary can no longer hold her composer and begins to laugh hysterically at the eulogy. No matter how hard she tries she cannot hold back her laughter. It becomes so apparent that even the priest giving the eulogy stops the service and asks her to stand up in front of everyone and get all of her laughter out. Obviously, Mary is extremely embarrassed by this.
At the funeral, Ted Baxter the station’s news anchor, makes a remark something to the effect that he always looked down on Chuckles and wasn’t right even though his skin was different colors than his. At the time of the show the Civil Rights Movement was still fresh in everyone’s minds. The Civil Rights movement gave minorities equal rights as white people and didn’t complete this task until 1968. “Chuckles Bites the Dust” aired less than ten years later.
Earlier in the episode, Ted is asked to ad lib an announcement on the air to inform everyone of Chuckles’ freak death. Ted makes another edgy remark about Chuckles when he says something to the effect that “I don’t think he was the other kind, he seemed like someone who would have a wife.” Here Ted is speaking about the homosexual population. At this time homosexuality was on the forefront of controversy. The Stonewall Riots in 1969 had sparked the modern day gay rights movement and homosexuals were beginning to assimilate into society. It wasn’t until 1973 that The American Psychiatric Association took homosexuality off of its list of mental disorders (“1970’s in LGBT rights”). This episode first aired in 1975, only two years after homosexuality was considered a normal state of mind. The timing of this shows that the writers of The Mary Tyler Moore Show wanted people laugh at controversy in society.
Even in the episode, the head of the news station Lou, explains to Mary that we should laugh at things that make us feel uncomfortable as sort of a release.
Works Cited:
“Chuckles Bites the Dust.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 13 Jan. 2011.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuckles_Bites_the_Dust>
“1970’s in LGBT rights.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 13 Jan. 2011.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970s_in_LGBT_rights>
Sanes, Ken. “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Transparency Now. Web. 13 Jan. 2011.<http://www.transparencynow.com/mary.htm>
Blog #2 – The Mary Tyler Moore Show!!
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television show that was created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired from 1970 to 1977 on the CBS network. The Mary Tyler Moore Show was a television hit, with a independent career,and first singe non-married woman as the central character: “played as Mary Richards, a single woman that in her 30’s, Moore showed a character that was different from other single TV women during that time period. Ms. Moore was not widowed or divorced or seeking a man to support her just simply enjoying life.
“Some of the starring cast were Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore), a single native Minnesotan moves to Minneapolis in 1970 at age 30 and becomes Associate Producer of WJM-TV’s Six O’clock News. Her sincere, kind demeanor often acts as a foil for the personalities of her co-workers and friends. Lou Grant (Edward Asner) is the Producer (later Executive Producer) of the news. His tough, work-oriented demeanor does not hide his soft-hearted nature. He is referred to as “Lou” by everyone, including Mary’s friends, with the exception of Mary herself, who can rarely bring herself to call him by his first name rather than “Mr. Grant.” Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod), the head writer of the news makes frequent quips for Ted Baxter’s mangling of his news copy, and Sue Ann Nivens’ aggressive, man-hungry attitude. He is Mary’s closest coworker and close friend. Murray is married to Marie, and has several children. Ted Baxter (Ted Knight), is the dim-witted, vain, and miserly anchorman of the Six O’Clock News. He frequently makes mistakes and is oblivious to the actual nature of the topics covered on the show, but considers himself to be the country’s best news journalist. He is often criticized by others, especially Murray and Lou for his many shortcomings, but is never fired from his position. Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper) (1970–74), is Mary’s best friend and upstairs neighbor. She is outgoing and sardonic, often making wisecracks, frequently at her own expense. Like Mary, she is single. She dates frequently, often joking about her disastrous dates. After four years, Rhoda moves back to New York for the spinoff series Rhoda.”
The Mary Tyler Moore Show was considered a classic comedy, with genuine emotion show. This is a show with plenty of laughs, in the final seasons, the show explores humor in death in the classic Emmy-winning episode “Chuckles Bites the Dust” Ted deals with intimate marital problems, infertility, adoption, and suffers a heart attack; and Mary overcomes an addiction to sleeping pills. Mary dates several men on and off over the years, two seriously, but remains single throughout the series.
One show that the Mary Tyler Moore show was influential to was the show 30 rock an American television comedy series which was created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC network. The show has also influenced numerous other programs such as Friends .
The Mary Tyler Moore Show was most likely watched by adults because of the storyline and plots and well as the terminolgies are more geared towards adults. So this was a nice funny sitcom for adults to come home to and watch.
Works Cited
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mary_Tyler_Moore_Show>
“Chuckles Bites the Dust.” The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Television. 13 Jan 2011
Poniewozik, James (2007-07-06). “17 Shows That Changed TV”. TIME. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1659718-1,00.html.
Weekly Blog Post #2
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” gets a lot of its humor from fear, embarrassment and humiliation. It heavily contrasts how things have always been with how things should be in a way that is very comical.
In the “Chuckles Bites the Dust” episode that we watched in class, the show addresses themes of death, loss of human dignity and inappropriate humor.
Throughout the episode, the men of the show (and even Sue) are all laughing uncontrollably at the bizarre situation that led to Chuckles the Clown’s death. They all show remorse and try to justify their laughing. Their reasoning is that they laugh to cope with the pain of the loss.
Mary however, views their laughing as lack of respect for the dead. She constantly scolds them and this sets up a very funny situation. Everyone can relate to times when they are told not to laugh and because of that, the situation seems so much funnier.
The most important part of the episode however, comes at the funeral when Mary begins to find the situation funny and laugh. She tries to hide it but it slowly gets more and more funny. This is important because it portrays Mary as a dynamic, multi-faceted character. She is idealistic and believes in doing the right thing. Mary represents a new era of woman who stand up for themselves and aren’t afraid to be their own person.
Yet at the same time, her actions at the funeral show a sense of vunerability that audiences can relate to. She isn’t the kind of person who is so idealistic that they appear cold. Instead, she tries to be professional and represent ideals that are professional, but in the end she is only human.
As a result of the embarrassment that Mary feels from being torn between these two worlds, she ends up crying at the end of the episode. The preacher calls her out for laughing by saying that its okay to laugh. He says that this is what Chuckles would have wanted. The preacher taking the stance that it is okay to laugh, combined with the embarrassment of being told to stand up in a funeral makes her burst into tears.
Another element that the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” introduced is the one of the dumb pretty boy who is obsessed with his good looks. Co anchor Ted Baxter is the inspiration for later characters like Ashton Kutcher in That Seventies Show, or Ron Burgandy in Anchor man. He adds to Mary’s character of the new feminist with an increased role in the working place. Ted Baxter shows that just because a male is in the working place doesn’t mean that he is a competent and valuable member of it.
A current show that depicts issues of humiliation in a similar way to the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” is “30 Rock.” Liz Lemon is a character who is often humiliated trying to balance work with being a woman. Like Mary, Liz focuses the majority of her efforts on the business side of her life and often her love life suffers as a result. Liz is also a strong woman and the show seems to be heavily influenced by “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”
Hill Street Blues and Women’s Roles
Up for twenty-one Emmy nominations just in its first season, “Hill Street Blues” received critical acclaim in spite of its initial low ratings (“Hill Street Blues”). The show reflected a 1980’s view that television could be more than just entertainment, but a realistic portrayal of social issues. One of these issues shown is the presentation of women’s roles from the late 1970’s through the 1980’s. Women’s roles appear to change during this time as seen through the lives of the female characters in the show.
Thomas Zynda, author of, “The Metaphoric Vision of Hill Street Blues”, discusses the changing role of women in the television series. He discusses the three main female characters of “Hill Street Blues”, Fay, Lucy, and Joyce. Each presents a different type of female for the show. Fay appears to be weak; Lucy takes on the role of a female patrol officer and becomes more like the character of a male, while Joyce is successful as a strong more modern type female (Zynda 109). In contrast, the male characters of the show are conveyed in a very different light. The “Hill Street Station Episode Recap”, explains that beginning in the pilot episode of the show, the male characters are depicted as a “well trained team, prime and ready for action”. The “Episode Recap” further describes the precinct captain, Frank Furillo, as commenting on how his men should be tough and not have “daisy where cinch belts should be”.
Initially, the author appears to be presenting women as subservient and weak characters in comparison to the men in the pilot episode. For example, Fay, Furillo’s ex-wife, is needy and demanding of her husband’s attention while distracting him from his official duties. The patrol officer Lucy is viewed as someone who does not want to be seen as female at all, using excessive force at times when dealing with her suspects that she must encounter on duty. By contrast, public defender, Joyce Davenport, is seen as a stronger more modern type of woman (“Hill Street Station Episode Recap”). Her character may have been written as a type of foreshadowing to the future of women’s roles in society. Although Davenport is viewed as a more modern version of a woman, and she denounces the “macho persona” (Zynda 103), she allows one of the men in the force, Captain Furillo, to become her lover. Their romance demonstrates the conflicting forces that arise even in the most modern appearing female.
I agree with Zynda’s argument of the changing roles of women. As portrayed in the pilot episode of the television series, “Hill Street Blues”, the decade of the 1980’s was a period of tremendous change for women; and this is seen through the lives of the three main characters and the various roles they play in the show. Zynda illustrates the shift of integrating realism and authenticity into the series to illustrate that not only has the role of the modern woman change socially, but also in the workplace. I agree that the show changed the roles of women, but I do not believe that was the only thing that was altered. The show changed the perception of the police force being an all male presence, to including women of varying strengths working right beside the men, being just as active and important (“Police Programs””).
In one episode of “Hill Street Blues”, Zynda discusses a scene where police officer ,Renko, is picked up in a bar by a woman. After their tryst, the woman admits to him that another officer arranged their encounter. This scene illustrates the emergence of a newly found strength and sense of independence in women. It portrays that woman can be equal to men and can be the pursuer as well (Zynda 108-109). The battle of the sexes is at a standstill, with men still unable to fully grasp the powerful emergence of the professional woman.
Work Cited:
Crime, For, and Chicagoland Mystery Players. “POLICE PROGRAMS.” The Museum of Broadcast Communications. Web. 13 Jan. 2011. <http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=policeprogra>.
“Hill Street Blues: Hill Street Station Episode Recap on TV.com.” TV.com – Free Full Episodes & Clips, Show Info and TV Listings Guide. Web. 13 Jan. 2011. <http://www.tv.com/hill-street-blues/hill-street-station/episode/51545/recap.html?tag=episode_recap;recap>.
“Hill Street Blues” Resource Page.” Morty Port. Web. 13 Jan. 2011. <http://mortystv.com/showcards/hill_street_blues.shtml>.
Zynda, Thomas H. “The Metaphoric Vision of Hill Street Blues.” Journal of Popular Film and Television 14.3 (1986): 100-113. Print.
Blog 2: Setting of Hill Street
Specific or not, every show has a setting. When I first watched the pilot episode of Hill Street Blues, I did not consider what city the show was set in, but when I went back and looked at it again, the setting resembled any urban, industrialized city I had ever seen before. The buildings, police office, crimes, and gangs depicted in the pilot episode made me believe it was an urban area but not a city as large as say, New York. To be honest though, my inquiry about the specific city stopped there until I read “The Metaphoric Vision of Hill Street Blues” by Thomas Zynda.
In the article, Zynda contrasts the setting of this series to other police shows: “Police shows are traditionally set in specific cities…Hill Street, however, takes place in no particular city” (102). His argument about the setting then goes on to discuss how not being set in a specific city is actually much more sad and representative, which I completely agree with. Zynda points out that “The critical praise of Hill Street’s “gritty realism” celebrates the authenticity of the aesthetic experience it provides” (110). The setting created in Hill Street allowed viewers to extrapolate on their own thoughts of urban life and did not put the show in some ‘far off’ city.
Americans can have this glamorous view of the United States creating itself as an almighty nation that is above the poverty and turmoil of many other nations across the world. As Zynda testifies to, this is not the case. Hill Street, while not specific, represents many areas in the United States, especially the northern industrialized cities. Zynda refers to the setting as “urban hell” (102). During the pilot episode, there are scenes of the city with trash everywhere, storefronts barricaded with wood, glass broken and smoke coming from everywhere (“Hill Street Station (Pilot)”). The rawness of the setting brings light to the “hell” that is part of so many cities across America, yet rarely makes up the typical scenes of cities we are used to seeing.
The setting is what most people imagined when they thought of the cities during the industrialized age. The opening scene is one which truly depicts the urban landscape, “The establishing scene…shows Metro Police cars floating down wet, potholed streets, where there walks, shabbily bundled against the cold, a large woman with two small children” (Zynda, 103). While I do not know great details of how industrialized cities looked in the 1980s, this description can still be relevant to urban areas across the States even today. The ‘realism’ that Zynda argues in “The Metaphoric Vision of Hill Street Blues” is what made the show so accurate to the whole of America and a major reason why viewers were so attracted to the show. As Zynda ultimately concluded, the urban setting created from the general perceptions of northern industrialized cities worked hand-in-hand with the ‘realism’ and authenticity the show’s writers desired.
I believe the urban landscape of Hill Street Blues worked dynamically with the intent if the show. The setting allowed the show to include various urban controversies such as gangs, hold-ups, shootings, and questionable citizenship that were not native to only one city but could be broadly associated with any urban area. Zynda points out the realism of the show in many ways and the non-specific setting is just one of them.
Works Cited:
“Hill Street Station (Pilot)”. Hill Street Blues. National Broadcasting Company, 1981. Web. 9 Jan 2011. http://www.hulu.com
Zynda, Thomas H. “The Metaphoric Vision of Hill Street Blues.” Journal of Popular Film and Television 14.3 (1986): 100-113. Print.
Blog 2: Hill Street Blues’ Urban Landscape
Within the pilot episode of Hill Street Blues (HSB), there were many themes that I’ve seen before from other similar police/ law shows, which most likely could have stemmed from this program. One of the most notable themes was the conflict within the character to maintain his/or her individuality and morality against the constraints and pressures of society. I recognized Captain Furillo trying to be a hero, in a sense, to please and to provide justice and tolerance to everyone without considering his happiness. His job got in the way with his personal life, and to his family they considered him to be everything but a hero. Many of the other characters also had this problem because they focused much of their lives as officers rather than in their personal life and individuality.
These cultural and societal conflicts had an impact on the urban landscape of the show in order to manufacture flawed characters which were just as real as HSB’s stories (Pace). HSB casted a grim perspective on the reality of inner city life where corruption and organized crime played a vital role in hardening the moralities of each police officer, while also creating a depressing and melancholy tone to the series. Zynda expressed that the show alluded to a “gritty reality” to depict the natural surroundings and situations that the police faced on a daily basis by creating a “crumbled America” (101). Other ways that the show committed to making it appear natural was: the dark scenery of the police institution; the overlapping background noises; the actors’ costumes, which were intentionally stained and battered; and the way the directors utilized hand-held cameras to illustrate a documentary, since the show was based on real accounts of police officers (Zynda, 101-102).
At first when I saw the pilot, I was uneasy and knew that show was going to have a gloomy-feel to it, foreshadowing the crimes and socioeconomic problems to come. However, I was also surprised by the show’s tragicomedy genre (Zynda, 109), suggesting that cops need a good sense of humor to break themselves away from the harsh reality.
I do agree with Zynda’s comments concerning HSB’s approach to creating an urban landscape. He states that the program was produced right after the 70s, an era tormented by the Vietnam War, oil crises, an impeached president, and a decline to industrialization (111). How could if not affect the people? There started to be uneasiness around the neighborhood because “crimes were sadistically violent, aimed not at material gin but at inflicting pain and injury in beating, shooting, stabbing, raping, or setting fire to the victim” (Zynda, 105). It wasn’t safe in America anymore, and one can see that throughout the recent decades. The rise in crime such as the Tuscon shootings, the Virginia Tech massacre, etc. are just examples due to troubled kids who battle their own socio-economic hardships. As life becomes more complex, so do we. Furthermore, some of us believe that the “institutions of democracy have failed us,” and that the criminal justice system doesn’t work (Zynda, 104). Although this is true to an extent, there are far too many problems and crimes, and few less people solving these injustices. This is how life is now, and I think HSB’s capture on it is on point as well as Zynda’s review.
Works Cited:
Zynda, Thomas H. “The Metaphoric Vision of Hill Street Blues.” Journal of Popular Film and Television 14.3 (1987): 100-13. Print.
Pace, Frank. “TV’s Greatest Shows: The Definitive List.” Hall Of Fame Network – Your Connection to Greatness. Web. 13 Jan. 2011. <http://www.hofmag.com/content/view/818/30/1/1/>.
Blog 2-The Mary Tyler Moore Show
“Chuckles Bites the Dust”
A hit show on television, specifically CBS, from 1970-1977 was the Mary Tyler Moore Show show. Her character, Mary Richards, was known for being somewhat of a feminist. This is because, at this point in time, most women on and off screen were homemakers. Quite the contrary in this case, Mary Tyler Moore played a woman who was quite content with supporting and looking out for herself.
Every episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show is well known for its humor and realistic settings of life at work and life at home. The banter between the characters is also a factor in viewers being able to relate to this show. However, one episode in particular sticks out for its themes of ambivalence, embarrassment, and humiliation. This episode is known as “Chuckles Bites the Dust”.
Ambivalence can be defined as having simultaneous but contradictory attitudes or feelings toward a person or object. This theme is definitely evident in this episode. One example of ambivalence is in the way everyone is dealing with Chuckles’ death. Although everyone is sad that the man is dead, they can’t help but laugh at the way that he died. In some cases, people laugh to relieve stress. In other situations, people tend to laugh when laughter should be the last thing on their minds. The fact that the giggles are somewhat irreverent makes the situation even more humorous. Ambivalence can also be seen in the way that Mary Tyler Moore reacts at the funeral. Although she is very upset that Chuckles died, she can’t help but laugh all through the funeral.
Embarrassment is defined as the shame you feel when you inadequacy is made public. There are a few examples of embarrassment seen in this specific episode. One example of this is just in the way that Chuckles died. It was not a natural death, nor was it heroic. The sheer fact that it was a freak accident, that involved a peanut suit and an elephant, is quite embarrassing. Another example of embarrassment, towards Ted, was that Chuckles the Clown was given the Grand Marshall position in the circus over him.
Humiliation is defined as a state of disgrace or loss of self-respect. One example of humiliation in “Chuckles Bites the Dust” is what happened to Mary Tyler Moore at the clown’s funeral. As was discussed earlier, Mary Tyler Moore’s character could not stop laughing all through the pastor’s funeral speech. After a few minutes of suppressed giggles, the pastor called on her and requested that she stand up. Once all eyes were on her, and her irreverent giggles were publicly announced, she began to feel self-conscious and uncomfortable. The pastor encouraged her to “laugh out loud”, but feeling humiliated, she sat down and began to cry her eyes out. Another example of humiliation was in the way that Ted jokingly announced Chuckles’ death on television.
Through the years, television has surely changed in many different ways. One specific change can be seen in social structure. Ambivalence has influenced a change in today’s social structure in that now, the harsh jokes and banter are more public. Also, ambivalence has caused an accepted informal way of addressing decisions, people, and serious matters. Today’s youth is also influenced by ambivalence. Although they feel and know that something is illegal, sinful, or dangerous, they still dabble in the temptation because of mixed feelings.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show has definitely influenced shows today. One example would be The Office. One of its main themes is just to make people feel awkward or uncomfortable. Another example of the Mary Tyler Moore Show‘s influence on today’s television programming can be seen in all of the different reality TV shows. The ambivalence in these reality television shows is a prime example for the statement made earlier in the blog about today’s youth. The humiliation is evident in the way they conduct themselves in every day life while being filmed.
So, as one can see, the Mary Tyler Show has influenced today’s comedic television programs. “Chuckles Bites the Dust” has influenced the widespread themes of ambivalence, embarrassment, and humiliation seen all over television today.
Work Cited: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mary_Tyler_Moore_Show>
Weekly Blog #2: The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show, an American 1970s television sitcom, illustrates the life of a young, unmarried woman, who moved to the city in hopes of surviving on her own. The show liberalized television, in its attempts to openly address suppressed ideas and notions through various techniques, such as humor and ridicule. These techniques undoubtedly eased the audience slowly into accepting and coping with the ideas and issues brought about on the show. In some sense, it can be viewed that The Mary Tyler Moore Show created a more realistic and more human approach to television in that, “Mary was human and strong enough to be laughed with and laughed at” (Poniewozik). The show deals with regular people coping with regular, everyday problems, and covertly incorporates controversial issues such as death, gender roles, minorities, and homosexuality in a comical fashion. Throughout the episode, “Chuckles Bites the Dust”, the instances of humiliation and ambivalence are overwhelmingly present.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show uses comedy, especially humiliation and embarrassment, as a ploy to address the current issues of the time, such as gender roles, social structures, and even death. It is pointed out in the Crozier’s article ‘Mary and her friends and colleagues ‘suffer orgies of discomfort’”, which is immensely evident throughout the episode (62). For example, Sue’s gift, the food mobile, is ridiculed for the duration of the episode, with it being described as a ring or being joked about placed in a mobile home. However, when she gives Mary the gift, the writers of the show slyly inserted Sue’s comment about famine, a clear example of the show’s tendency to incorporate genuine issues with a comical twist. Furthermore, the social structures and gender roles of the time period are expressed through the characters of the show, simply by utilizing these techniques of humor and humiliation. Georgette, Ted’s wife, reveals that Ted did not want to worry her about his problems; instead he comes to Mary, jokily insinuating that as an unmarried woman, she does not have issues to deal with. Moreover, the main story of the episode itself, the death of Chuckles, is turned into a joke, with Murray and Lou hysterically laughing at jokes, such as, “You know how hard it is to stop after just one peanut” and “He could’ve gone as Billy Banana and had a gorilla peel him to death” (“Chuckles Bites the Dust). While death remains a serious topic in our society, the show attempts to lighten mood of the topic, allowing the audience to openly address it.
Ideas and issues are tested through the ambivalence shown by individual characters. In “Chuckles Bites the Dust”, contradictory emotions and coping methods are viewed, especially through Mary, who reprimands her coworkers for taking Chuckles’s death lightly and for laughing at such a tragic event. During the clown’s funeral, however, she finds herself unable to stop “chuckling”, but when she told to openly laugh, she begins to sob uncontrollably, clearly demonstrating her conflicting feelings of the issue. The show realistically deals with such issues, in that most people would indeed feel confused and conflicted about such ordeals. The Mary Tyler Moore Show probably had influences on contemporary sitcoms and television shows, such as The Office, Seinfeld, and Friends. The shows express similarities in their manners to address topics through humor, humiliation, and ambivalence.
Works Cited:
“Chuckles Bites the Dust.” The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Television. 13 Jan 2011.
Crozier, Susan. “Making it After All: A Reparative Reading of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” International Journal of Cultural Studies 11.1 (2008): 51-67. Print.
Poniewozik, James. “17 Shows That Changed TV.” Time 09 06 2007. Web. 13 Jan 2011. <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1659718-1,00.html>.
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