The article Beauty and the Patriarchal beast by Walsh, Fursich and Jefferson mainly focuses on the male dominated society that is getting stiff competition from the female over dominance, for instance, the reports states that the current state of affairs involve smart and attractive women getting married to fat men, who are overweight and immature. The men are depicted as not just fat but lazy too. Richard from the New York Times poses a question as to whether such men who are lazy and bear/TV oriented are worth husbands. He asks whether such a family is the American dream family for the man, woman or both (Lerner 1986).
In such a case, the women bear the burden of the family as well as the burden of the laziness and domination of the men in the family. But as much as the men are seen to be the root issue in the women’s life, each episode ends with the women rising above the male patriarchy. From the shows, the “king of queens” and “According to Jim” the main story outlined is patriarchy but at the same time they have both stories contradictory lines, we can see that the story initially portrays women as highly intellectual beings compared to their husband as well as physically fit. The second storyline is against feminist ideals there by bringing back male dominance. From the study, we can see that there are quite some contradictions in the plot, characterization, and progression of the show (King of Queens, 2012). All through the show, there is a struggle for dominance from both the male and the female. From this article, we can see that for the past twenty years feminist media critics have discus and explain how the fathers and men have been portrayed in evolution in the field of comedy and how humor can be used to empower women in their endeavors on sitcoms. Several scholars put up an argument stating that even though women have been prominent and dominant in most TV shows, patriarchal ideologies are still maintained by use of hegemonic narrative devices this according to the US Prime television (Lerner 1986).
According to Matt Feeney, ugly /beautiful couples have had a long history on American Sitcoms. Sitcoms today featured husbands who are both fat and not study. They are also described as selfish and immature. The roles men held and the position of command in their family fade due to laziness and being less intellectual than their wives (King of queens, 2012). Both men and women are the targets of the show, King of the Queen. However, research new times magazine indicates that more women watch the show compared to men. It’s even stated that the women make the choices of what should be watched. The number of male audiences attracted by the: Kings of Queens” show tends to identify themselves with at least one of the characters in the show (Lerner 1986). Other characters found in the show, Andy, and Diana. Andy is Jim’s partners as well as best friends. From this article, we can see that patriarchy is embedded deep in every person’s mind that it has become an acceptable norm in every society. As much as women are trying had to level up with the men, the ideologies of patriarchy will not be let go by the people's mind. Media scholars have been engaging each other in series of debates on whether humor can be used to eliminate oppressive ideologies such as sexism and racism (Koedt, 1975).
According to the New Girl episode, we can see that the women are making every effort to dominate the men. This is the same case as the beauty and partial beast. Jess, for instance, sees Nick as an immature and unfocused man. She, therefore, gets out of her way to look for a more mature man and land on Jack, who seems to even more emotional and unstable. As much as he is a football player, he is still mature and quite emotional for a guy. Jack still holds on the patriarchal ideologies by proposing to Jess in front of a party and asking her for her hand in marriage as the third wife (Koedt, 1975).
We can see from both shows that the patriarchy is an ideology that is embedded deep in the social lives of the people. Women, on the other hand, make an effort to gain equality to men or even dominate them. The difference between the “King of Queens and the new girl is that in the new girl, the men seem to have accepted patriarchy as a normal norm in the society. Nick is not much interested in pursuing Jess knowing that she will eventually run back to him even though she dislikes all his characters. In the King of Queens, the men are fat and lazy while the women are displayed as more intellectual than men. As much as patriarchy is accepted by the men; the women seek means of leveling their grounds with their husbands (Helfer, 2014)
Citation
Helfer, R. (2014). The Beauty of the Beasts.
Koedt, A., Levine, E., & Rapone, A. (1975). Radical feminism. New York: Quadrangle Books.
Lerner, G. (1986). The creation of patriarchy. New York: Oxford University Press.
King of queens. (2012). S.l.: Book On Demand.
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