So today I had my conference and I am feeling a little more confident about where I want this paper to go. After doing a lot of research last night about the influences of television in general, I have concluded that I may want to include a part on the effects of television on children. A study by Nancy Signorelli found that when children were shown traditional gender occupations, they were more likely to identify with those occupations as well as classify genders traditionally. She also found that when children were shown depictions opposite to tradition (male nurse, female construction worker)--"counter stereotyping", the children thought these occupations were more acceptable for the gender who portrayed the occupation, and were less likely to stereotype gendered occupations. This study really demonstrates the impact of television and gender on viewers... and therefore, why shows need to be careful about how they portray gender and occupation.
In terms of paper progress, the flow is probably going to discuss briefly the mass media impact (think Marshall Mcluhan's "medium is the message"), and then narrow it down to television impact. From there I will talk about gender then Food Network.
I have my presentation this Thursday, so if anyone is actually reading this and has suggestions, I'd love to take them. I don't want my info to sound extremely obvious (which it does to me...but whether that is because it is true, or because I've just been mulling over the info so much is debatable)... and I also don't want my purpose to come off as if Food Network has an agenda. It might, and perhaps I just am too naive, but I would really hate to be that cynical about a channel discussing cooking, let alone all of television.
Cheers :)
When I did the Princess and the Frog for my last paper I came across this topic which talks about how children perceive gender roles based on Disney: http://tinyurl.com/3f65u8m
ReplyDelete"Gender Role Portrayal and the Disney Princesses" by Dawn Elizabeth England
I don't know if it helps you at all but it's still an interesting read.
I meant to say this in class today, but maybe one other thing you could look at is the target demographic for the shows. For example, is the target demographic for Everyday Italian young housewives and the target demographic for Barefoot Contessa middle-ages retirees? Might be interesting if you need some more material. I thought your presentation was really interesting today.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough, gender and Disney was actually going to be my topic for paper 2 before I switched it. The only roadblock that I am sorta foreseeing with children + tv + gender is whether it will fit into my paper smoothly. It might be more of a footnote thingy.
ReplyDeleteAnd Leanna, thanks for the tip on giada and le cordon bleu! I think that is definitely something I will hope to incorporate into my paper. As for target demographics... there isn't a source that actually says who Food Network is targeting, although I found a site that says those who do watch the channel are generally 35-54 year olds, ~60% female, and ~70% own their own homes.
I don't think what I found would be helpful, but if in the near future there was a source I could find for your suggestion, that would definitely give some insight as to whether Food Network is intentionally reinforcing certain stereotypes.
thanks for your feedback elise & leanna!