Final Project: Girlfriends: A Simultaneous Disruption and Enforcement of Hegemony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5h6Y_Vjs6c&list=PL4D89F9C31422AD19
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4_mn6rBE6M&list=PL4D89F9C31422AD19
(Please watch Both videos, it is 2 parts for every one full episode)
Background:
Girlfriends, created by Mara Brock Akil, is a sitcom from the early 2000s. The show follows the friendship of four African American women and their relationships with men. In the first episode of the show (the two videos above) revolves around the celebration of Joan, the main characters, birthday. During the show we see that Joan’s best friend Tony is dating Joan’s ex-boyfriend. The plot of this episode is about how the two ladies and the other friends Myia and Lynn, deal with the issue of dating your friend’s ex.
Hegemony is the assertion of power by a dominate group through the dissemination of messages about standards for society. These hegemonic standards put in place are both disrupted and enforced in Girlfriends. To prove this is true Casey will be showing how the show enforces hegemony on her blog and I will be showing how it disrupts hegemony. The three main points we will be arguing are the shows character portrayals, is displays of beauty and consumerism, and the family unit created by the woman’s friendship.
Character Portrayal:
Girlfriends was loved by so many African American women, including myself. But why did I love it, what about it calls to me? I believe one of the main reasons this show is so loved is definitely for its positive depiction of the African American female. The media usually shows women of color as very animalistic or poor. Very rarely is a character that is a woman of color shown who is a strong, intelligent, and successful; let alone is she the main character of a show. However, Joan, for example, breaks this stereotypical depiction of women of color. We see that Joan is a successful lawyer who is doing so well at her job she is about to be promoted to junior partner. Bell Hooks points out in her essay The Oppositional Gaze: Black female spectators the “Black female spectator [chooses] not to identify with the film’s imaginary subject because such identification [is] disenabling” when it comes to a women of color viewing media featuring White characters. This oppositional gaze is usually formed because of the differences in construction of gender roles between races. However, it is the positive diction of women of color that allows the African-American viewer to ultimately identify with the characters of Girlfriends and not have an oppositional gaze.
Beauty and Consumerism:
As the women search for relationships, a focus is put onto appearance and consumerism. However, the character Lynn disrupts the hegemonic standards set by the other characters. She disrupts the ideal beauty standards through her clothing. When all four women are seen together three of their outfits are basically the same: Business appropriate or tights and revealing, sleek, and on trend. However Lynn is usually shown in outfits that stand out more. Whether it is a tutu or long bohemian type skirts, she doesn’t follow the trends set by the magazines. Rather she embraces her own unique personal style. Not only does she disrupt the message of beauty, but she also disrupts the message of consumerism. As a counter balance to extreme materialism of Tony, Lynn is more earthy, enjoying life and free. We see that she is not concerned with materialistic things; she has no house, no car, and no job. Lynn does not live her life based off of the commodity image system, which as Sut Jhally states in “Image-Based Cultrure” is “a particular mode of self-validation that is integrally connected with what one has, rather than what one is.” Her absence of concern over her lack of wealth adds to her ability disrupt the hegemonic messages of consumerism within the show.
Family Unit:
As the tile of the show points out, rather overtly, the characters are all friends. However, these women are not just friends they are a family unit. Just like in Sex and the City, this family unit disrupts the norms defined by heterosexuality. “The connections they have with each other create an alternative to their boyfriends, an alternative that , by its very existence, grants the women options different from those traditionally signified as ‘heterosexual’”(Jane Gerhard, “Sex and the City: Carrie Bradshaw’s queer postfeminism). They find love and support in each other. As they search for the “right man” the women subsequently find each other and it is this relationship that they rely on. The end of this episode makes this point even more evident when Tony and Joan both realize their relationship is more valuable than some man. This scene disrupts the hegemonic ideals because even though they are both heterosexual women, they choose each other over a man that had fulfilled most of their requirements for a life mate.
In all this show was an outlet for many African American women to relate to. It allowed them to see positively portrayed women that loved each other and weren’t always concerned with their appearance or what they had. It is these things that disrupt hegemony and in my opinion made the show great.