The Dick Van Dyke show did an interesting job in attempting to bridge the gender gap on television. It portrays the jobs that both women and men were “supposed” to do throughout the day. What it did do well was put Dyke into the shoes of his wife and in the shoes of a male chauvinist/labor owner. Although the scene where he is the “ultimate male” is depicted in a nightmare he has, Dick Van Dyke understand that men and women must help each other rather than act in their pre-assigned societal roles. The acting as a woman or man has become much grayer than it was in the 1960s yet individuals still associate certain tasks with certain genders. Mary Tyler Moore represents this grey area very well as she is(was) a woman with high personal status and confidence. She is the show’s lead no matter how much advertising and emphasis is put in Dyke’s literal name.
The one caveat the episode has is that Mary Tyler Moore’s character is portrayed almost as the villain. She is “unfair” in asking her husband to take out the garbage or bring certain groceries home.
It is curious why many of her own shows were unsuccessful. Was it because of Moore herself and her public image?
Jerome Krase
May 8, 2017 — 3:38 pm
Sharp observation. I think men watched the show for reasons different from women. I was a fan and many husband-wife tv shows had similar tensions over stereotypical social roles with women often demonstrating their power in “feminine” ways to the chagrin of fumbling and bumbling male alleged heads of households.