1960s Sitcoms.

            As we continue on our way to current day gender roles, we find our next stop in the 1960s. This week we’ll be taking a look at a couple sitcoms from the 1960s, hoping to see a bit of progression for some of the gender roles introduced in the 1950s.

            The first sitcom we’ll be looking at is called Leave It To Beaver. Leave It To Beaver took place in the early 1960s, leaving us with little progression but a lot of reflection on the end of the 1950s era. In this sitcom we see the stereotypical family unit that was established in the previous decade, a mother, a father, and two sons. The show revolves around one of the sons, the youngest; whose nickname is Beaver. Beaver is always getting himself into trouble and we see many times during the show that each time he pays for his actions, his father is the one that disciplines him, while his mother stands next to the father and remains wordless. This is just another example of the submissive types of actions we see from women in the 1950s sitcoms.  However in this sitcom we start to see the wife having a bit of influence over the decisions the husbands make. In one episode, Beaver is punished and mopes around the house. His mother see’s him and talks to the father about lifting his punishment a bit. She’s very persistent and eventually the father agrees.

            The second sitcom I’ll be looking at is a sitcom called Bewitched. This sitcom was made in the late 1960s and into the early 1970s so we see a large difference in this sitcom than the ones we’ve seen so far. This show revolves completely around the main character named Samantha. Around the 1960s is when we start to see females take the lead in all types of roles. However Samantha isn’t a typical main character, she’s also a witch. Despite witchcraft having a slightly negative connotation, this sitcom puts a positive, comedic spin on it. Like the shows before Samantha is also married to a man who does most of the work around the house. There’s still a large amount of authority given to her husband, who is sure to tell her what he thinks is right and wrong, but we can clearly see that this show unlike the others has a female lead.

            These two television programs helps paint a picture of how the 1960s was a decade that started change. We see the progression from a male dominated character line up to a completely even amount of males and females. We also see women in these sitcoms starting to gain a bit more power, and a bit more say, as well as some different outfits. In the clip of Bewitched attached below we can see the main character, a woman, has pants on instead of a skirt. We can also see Samantha, the lead, take her own actions without her husbands consent. At the end of the clip we see her husband reprimand the main characters cousin for her actions, without much effect.