Examining I Love Lucy - Assignment Example

I Love Lucy Examine this episode of "I love Lucy" and write an analysis regarding the genre and ideology. How do this episodes representations of gender, ethnic, class or generational conflict reflect pressing ideological concerns of their times? The movie I Love Lucy depicts richer aspects of ideology dominant in this period through different features of themes it depicts. The film exposes absolute comical manifestations whilst expressing the sexists conflicts and attributed by male chauvinism. A section of cultural trends of the movie series incorporates the specific techniques of formulating a show that highlight a signpost towards the extreme reality, the slipping among the realistic as well as the imaginary as posed by the postmodern theories and stipulations. By questioning the ideological considerations of this time where it would be logical to highlight the 1950s, there is need to understand the occurrences of the periods (Landay 224). It is true that people have developed a great deal from the 150s to the current state in the social perspective. Gender The series express comprehensive aspects of gender attributes as depicted in a normal society. This means that there are responsibilities assumed to belong to particular groups of sex, however there is conflict between different genders. The movie is diverse and caters for all aspects of gender involvements hence; there are also points of embracement. There are conflicts between sexes and especially the conflicts within relationships. Lucy and Ricky express conflict as well as Ethel and Fred. The conflict mainly results from the characters personality and whatever each pursues in life. Among the issues attributing to the conflicts involve the need for prominence and refutation of female beauty for the desire for comedy. In this instance, Ricky is a celebrity and he cherishes his fame for which he has no doubt that is critical in his life. This implies that he might have no option to reject whatever he feels would compromise it and in this case, Ricky seems not to relent on his love for Lucy. Lucy equally proves relentless on her love for the reasons of comedy. For instance, Ethel Mertz: Where you afraid youd lose me? Fred Mertz: Ill say, that outfit youre wearing is rented (Landay 255). Here, it appears that Ethel demands an element of independence and tends to shun dependence on others. Lucy Ricardo: We have to find Sylvia Collins a husband but where? Ethel Mertz: Ill make the sacrifice she can have mine (Landay 255). Lucy is in doubt of the quality of men around because according to her, none of them merits the demand she requires. Lucy prefers a man who has liberated himself from the stereotype that views women as the weaker group in the society. Again Ethel is not satisfied with the deeds of her husband and probably being chauvinistic. Ricky Ricardo: Fred, Ive got an awful problem on my hands. Fred Mertz: You should have thought about that before you married her (Landay 255). This depicts a sense of regrets in its exposure of humor in its submissions to the audience. Ethnic There is a rich ethnic ideology of ethnicity providing that the Latinos were merely foreigners. Latin persons were never regarded a different racial set, as per this argument Ricky is a white Hispanic and they were merely "foreigners." Significantly, there is more humor between Lucy and her lover Ricky relied on their cultural difference though Rickys comical accent is critical for highlights (Edwards 486). Class The class depicted in the film I Love Lucy is the social class. Individuals are distinguished amongst different classes in the society. People are of different social classes for instance the workers and the employers. There are women who are perceived to be vulnerable in the social scenario and presumed as the weakest group that should remain home and perform the domestic chores. There are economic classes, for instance the Lucy’s and Ethel’s family. Ethel is the owner of the houses that Lucy and Ricky live in. in this scenario, Ethel and her husband are in different class from as Ricky Ricardo’s family (Edwards 372). Generational conflict The movie depicts a strong generational conflicts attributed by different actors and generations depicted therein. There is a new generation of women emerging and are out to disapprove the common belief amongst men and other women and what makes them believe that women are inferior. The first instance is realized when Ricky Ricardo who believe in the plight of women, tells his determined wife, “I want my wife to be a wife…” In this case, Ricky refers to the housewife and that is what he wants his wife Lucy to be. Ricky believes that Lucy should remain home and tries to convince her on the essence of remaining home. In this film, Lucy represents the minority of the women population who believes in themselves as real people who have rights just like any other man and entitled to equal rights. Lucy and Ethel live to fight the oppression set by men against the feminism during this period of postwar. They begin to conflict with their husband’s preferences against the feminist community. Lucy’s landlord, Ethel is against her husband’s demands and refers to the social suppression as the feminine mystique. Friedan and Ricky have represented other chauvinistic men in the society and the film uses women to disapprove this notion determined to confine women development and empowerment (Edwards 392). How does the "coding" of the shows themes in terms of staging, camera work, editing and sound manifest an audio-visual rhetoric appropriate to the shows representational strategy? The show’s representational strategy has been enhanced by several attributes as outlined in the techniques specified for film quality enhancement. All attributes concerning display and audio of the film have been harmonized and converged in a common theme to ensure the best quality of the film. This was achieved despite the technical constraints prevalent during this period in a new venture for instance, the use of black and white color televisions (Landay 301). Camera Work and Editing Even though I Love Lucy was never a live television show, it maintained some of the live features of a live television show. In the film there is a clear indication of the innovation of the technique of editing footage from an assembly of three cameras filming at the same time in the live view of audience in a stylistic manner. The series team in the creativity sector ensured a combination of the immediacy of live television through the radio together with the verbal conversations exposed in the cinema and the display as well as the continuity editing. During this time, critically television shows were documented by "kinescope," that is purely a film camera obtaining footage of a TV exhibiting the shows live relay. Understandably, this results to really shoddy-looking video output. That is the reason as to most shows during the 1950s and the immediate period around this time have either been eliminated or have been rendered of very little concentration in reprocess (Edwards 388). In disparity, the film I Love Lucy conceived the live-studio incorporating the three Cameras system. The show again discovered the rerun technique and this concerns the real life situation. When Lucy conceived and required a decrease in her workload, Desi suggested the idea of presenting an earlier aired episode that was greatly cherished in preference to something current as may be expected by majority. This only came to be since Desilu had assumed the trouble to movie the original transmission in the first instance. I Love Lucy has continued to dominate the air factually without stop from the first time it was released, though it is a common feature but I Love Lucy has been outstanding (Landay 342). Sound Manifest The film has a rich audio quality in its presentation throughout its episodes. This implies that the technical team did a commendable work during the shooting and the final edition of the film scenes. The sound has been synchronized with the moving pictures in the movie to comply with the demands and anticipations of the audience (Landay 212). Different sound features, tones and notes have been used in the series for different purposes. Majorly, the audio have been used to show transition of scenes in regards to the content of the specific theme. For instance, the movie has employed the whelm-scream sound effect to express surprises amongst the characters and so to the audience. The effect of the universal telephone ring has also been employed to depict the conventional ring tone to depict phones. Besides the sound effects, audio has been employed throughout the episodes to connect the casts with the viewers by expressing themselves to one another through conversations. What does your analysis tell you about the function of your selected show or genre of show in the North American culture of its time? Complete rationale have been put forward showing that the film degrades women in support of the patriarchal ideology that was greatly manifested the 1950s.The film I Love Lucy comes into showing just in the post war period and as a result builds the postwar domestic ideology. The film sets several contemporary ratings of the time and assists in enhancing the situation the situation comedy into a genre (Edwards 460). For instance, in a circumstance of comedy like I love Lucy, the audience are welcomed to laugh at the ridiculous failure of Lucys efforts to liberate herself from the said of housewife. Again the appreciators are invited to feel sorry for Lucy. In every episode, the patriarchal norms of the period of 1950s are to the point queried and even though they are determined in a similar manner on every occasion, throughout the course of the series I love Lucy series, the focal point of power within Lucys relationship with Ricky changes and attain a different direction. The directions of relationships referred in this scenario incorporate the variations in feelings for one another amongst the main characters in these series, Ricky and Lucy (Edwards 466). According to Television and Gender, I Love Lucy came about in the pre-feminist 1950s, during this time the women were supposed to belong into two categories, wives and mothers but not any other group.  Women were not appreciated for their brainpower nor were they supported to attain any type of career achievement.  The chauvinistic dominance of men was at its most obvious level.  The distinct increase of uptown housing, increased marriage rates, the escalating baby boom rates and the belief, greater emphasis put on traditional gender functions, and a renovated weight on the importance of the home all led to a “domestic revival” observed in the 1950s. I Love Lucy was a produced at this time, and proof of sexist gender demonstration within the film’s episodes is numerous. It is more evident when Lucy and Ethel break from the barriers of chauvinism and go to work in the chocolate factory whilst their husbands resume to the domestic chores (Edwards 410). Work Cited Edwards, Elisabeth. The I Love Lucy Guide to Life. Philadelphia, Pa: Running, 2005. Print. Landay, Lori. I Love Lucy. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2010. Print. Read More