All tv, movies, even youtube videos are a biproduct of the era they are made in. Sometimes representing progressive values, sometimes traditional but should always be looked at with that in mind. Lucy isn’t exempt from that. I think some of our more modern values are easier to pick out in Lucy than some of the other tv shows of the time, the surface stuff looks pretty good. She was driven and she had a real desire to get out into the world and would often buck no refusal to be able to do so. But that being said there are also some deeply troubling things about viewing the show through those rose coloured glasses that blend and blur out the parts that maybe aren’t so good. I think that when we start talking about a show as representing something (especially something it never intended to be representing) that we have a duty to talk about the parts that aline with that as well as the things that really don’t; maybe even especially the bits that don’t. That may be the best way to find the present context as much as the historical one and to not get what the meaning and value of such an ideal really is.
As much as I love I Love Lucy I can’t bring myself to talk about it as a feminist show or even as an incredibly positive portrayal of women. The show is funny and Lucy is unapologetically flawed- except when she’s apologizing to Ricky for her flaws; It is nice to see that this role existed, that she was different from other woman on tv at the time, that it wasn’t actually all Harriet Nelson’s and perfect "Mothers" but it’s important for that not to be enough. And as I mentioned in the video some of the things that I would count at the core of a woman being respected and treated as an equal were missing from Lucy but surprising present in shows like Leave it Too Beaver. I would never want Lucy to have to have been June or visa versa (and God knows I’m closer to a Lucy than a June) but that doesn’t mean we should exalt one show and put down the other for the ways in which they chose to show women as they moved into a very different time. Personally I think June Cleaver deserves a bit more credit. But we also need to look at I Love Lucy with a more critical eye. It was an amazing show, that did help move women forward; but I think we need to talk about some of the problems with it as well.
I’d love to hear your thoughts here or in the comment section of my video.
I hope you’re having a great day!
Annie x
