Week 9 Response/Dick Van Dyke Review

No amount of attempts at satirizing various status quos could the 1960s and 1970s do a formidable job, by 2017 standards. The episode of the Dick Van dyke show that we watched in class depicted the roles of males and females in a metropolitan city during the 1960s.

What it does well is make fun of the roles of both men and women , this is what is supposed to be done when parodying something, to examine all aspects. Not only does this bolster the status of women in this case, but it allows women at home to live vicariously through Mary tyler Moore’s character. This is important because of the lack of female characters in “power” in the show and due to her outspoken demeanor towards societal norms. The fifties were more quaint where everyone was “in their place”, for all things good and bad. Fortunately, when the 60’s came, progressively groups and individuals began to speak out against certain things that were not just, such as lack of civil rights, women’s rights, and gay rights.

The best part about it is that Mary Tyler Moore was herself not the stereotypical housewife in the real world. She was an influential woman who inspired many female sitcom protagonists, according to Virginia Hefferenan’s article on her.

What made the episode so successful was the emphasis on Moore’s character and how she was able to hold her as well as any male character portrayed was able to, especially her husband. The role reversal, to a degree, is done so subtly because Moore already has defied the way a wife should “be” in the 60s. It is not completely out of the realm of possibility for Moore to act without constraint as it would be for any other portrayed housewife. This is why the episode allowed many women to become Moore’s character and feel empowered.

For the 1960s, the episode made strides for the female character. The power dynamic and balance between housewife and husband arguably remains the same throughout most sitcoms, yet, the “housewife” has evolved. She is mostly, now, just as witty, smart, thought-provoking and, innovative as her male counterpart which remains a relic of what Mary Tyler Moore was able to accomplish by playing a version of herself on television during an important part of the Women’s Movement.