ktag
Junior Sitter
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Post by ktag on Mar 23, 2006 22:07:44 GMT -5
We all know that Ann Martin liked to put women in positions of authority in the books, as evidenced by the female mayor, newspaper editor, most of the doctors, etc. So why is it that almost all of the women in Stoneybrook are/were stay at home moms? Kristy's, Stacey's and Dawn's mothers only went to work after they got divorced. In Stacey's and Dawn's cases, the "kids" were certainly old enough for their moms to "go back to work" before that, except it sounds like they had never worked in the first place. Mrs. Pike, well 8 children, enough said. I believe Jessi's mother eventually went to work, thus requiring Aunt Cecilia? Mrs. Kishi seems to be the main exception. Most of the mothers the BSC sit for stay at home, and only get babysitters when they run errands or go out. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with this, it just seems to go against the feminist approach Ann seems to want portrayed.
Then we've got the fathers. Mr. Spier is a lawyer, as is (was?) Mr. Pike. Watson the millionaire consultant. Mr. Kishi has something to do with banking or finances, but pretty high up I think. Mr. McGill was a VP at one point. Mr. Ramsey got a big promotion when they moved. No idea what Mr. Schafer does.
So what's the deal? Shouldn't there be more Dr. Johanssens? Or rather, how about some regular women who are mothers but also have regular jobs without a divorce forcing it on them (when the children are old enough)? Enough with the not-so-subtle-high-placed-female-characters-we-neither-care-about-nor-see-again.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Mar 23, 2006 22:42:31 GMT -5
All the BSC mothers except Mallory's eventually worked. Personally I thought the "career mum" thing was overdone in the BSC series! Just shows how different perceptions can be. It was never really mentioned whether the client's mothers' worked or not, although it's entirely reasonable that they were SAHMs, considering fact that most of them had toddlers and quite young children.
I suppose working mothers would have more permanent arrangements for childcare and wouldn't need 13 yr old girls for the odd hour here and there, hence the reason we don't see more Dr Johanssens.
I think feminism in the BSC was eye-rollingly PC. For instance, Mr Ramsey's secretary in Jessi's Baby-sitter was a man. And there was one book - can't for the life of me remember which one - when they were dealing with a female meter-reader. Oh, FFS!
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ktag
Junior Sitter
Posts: 694
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Post by ktag on Mar 23, 2006 23:58:30 GMT -5
I know I emphasized the stay at home thing, but that in itself isn't what bothers me. People can certainly choose to stay home and raise their children if they wish. I just think the way the whole thing is dealt with seems strange. Like Stacey's mom, who spent most of her time spending vast amounts of money and being bored. Then she gets divorced and suddenly thinks "oh I better find a way to support myself now"?
Basically, I'm saying the feminism is forced and inconsistant. They'll throw in the in your face going against stereotype characters who are there solely for the sake of PC like you said. The problem is, there doesn't seem to be that much depth in why the characters do what they do. Either don't be so blatant about it, or make it more meaningful with existing characters. But I guess I'm asking too much.
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jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
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Post by jen on Mar 24, 2006 2:41:35 GMT -5
ktag, there isn't much depth about ANYTHING in the BSC And it's Stacey and the Mystery of the Empty House that has the female meter reader, I think. I think Shannon's story had a female meter reader as well. I do agree that the feminism here was forced and inconsistent, but it'd be hard to have a consistent portrayal considering all the inconsistencies already in play.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Mar 24, 2006 6:00:29 GMT -5
The feminism here was extremely forced, that's for sure. Sorry I don't think I fully understood your point first time 'round. But I know what you're saying. It's like, if someone uses "man" in a generic statement, the BSC idea of feminism is for someone to leap in and say "or woman!" and when Kristy, Claud and MA were kids, they didn't build a snowman, they built a snow person. It's this trivial, feminism-for-the-sake-of-feminism crap that bugs me. It's like, include the token feminist one-liners and characters, but yeah, don't provide any depth further than that.
I also sense a general tone of dad-hate in the BSC. The mothers are all highly regarded, but quite a few of the dads have issues. Even Mallory's dad, who was usually just a minor character, a typical hardworking family man, became a couch potato bum within a few weeks of unemployment.
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jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
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Post by jen on Mar 24, 2006 18:07:39 GMT -5
Hmm... It's really only Kristy's and Stacey's dads with issues, wasn't it? Well, I suppose Richard was strict, but that didn't seem so bad. And there was the Mr Pike the couch potato after a day of unemployment thing... Oh, I suppose Shannon's dad wasn't all that great, either. Okay, okay, there's definitely more mum love than dad love in the series
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Mar 24, 2006 18:32:25 GMT -5
At the beginning of the series, Richard was a creepy weirdo who didn't seem to have any affection for his daughter whatsoever. Mr Barrett was supposedly a bad-guy too.
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jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
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Post by jen on Mar 25, 2006 8:20:02 GMT -5
Oh, that's right - he comes and "kidnaps" his kids and is the bad guy. I liked him better than Mrs Barrett in Impossible Three, though... it was her own fault. Even though Mr Barrett shouldn't've just taken Buddy like that, how impossible was Mrs Barrett?!
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Mar 25, 2006 14:58:10 GMT -5
And Mrs Barrett didn't improve much throughout the series, IMO. Nevertheless, she is always portrayed in a fairly positive light.
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jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
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Post by jen on Mar 26, 2006 0:08:10 GMT -5
I wonder why... it's hardly saying much for feminism by portraying someone as being able to look like a model but can't even look after her kids and house.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Mar 26, 2006 4:41:48 GMT -5
But she's a woman and merely by existing as a working single mother with an a-hole ex is doing wonders for the feminist movement (in BSC land, that is). If she was able to take care of kids and her home, she'd be nothing more than the stereotypical little woman and we can't have that!
It's like how Kristy's mother was given continuous back patting for being the struggling deserted wife of four kids, having "pulled herself together" and supported the family. Where was the recognition for Mr Pike, on his salary alone, ten people were supported. Did anyone ever congratulate him for single-handedly supporting his wife and kids?
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ktag
Junior Sitter
Posts: 694
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Post by ktag on Mar 26, 2006 6:54:11 GMT -5
Of course not, because he wouldn't allow Mallory to wear sparkles! Who would praise a tyrant like that?!
This is probably a stretch, but I find it funny how Stacey refers to roaches as "him"s...
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Amalia
Sitting For The Braddocks
Her Original Point of View
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Post by Amalia on Mar 26, 2006 15:15:42 GMT -5
Where was the recognition for Mr Pike, on his salary alone, ten people were supported. Did anyone ever congratulate him for single-handedly supporting his wife and kids? I dunno. It is not that impressive to me that a man could financially support 10 people. If he makes enough money then he could do it. I mean, Edward McGill could with the VP job he had before. I think it is more impressive that Mrs. Pike could take care of 8 kids. I haven't read much about where Mr. Pike interacted with the kids. I think it was mostly Mrs. Pike. So when it comes to the Pike's having a successful household, I think Mrs. Pike deserves more credit, but Mr. Pike deserves a lot too.
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Post by aln1982 on Mar 26, 2006 16:52:11 GMT -5
Oh, that's right - he comes and "kidnaps" his kids and is the bad guy. I liked him better than Mrs Barrett in Impossible Three, though... it was her own fault. Even though Mr Barrett shouldn't've just taken Buddy like that, how impossible was Mrs Barrett?! Then there was the evil Mr. Kuhn. He was accused of kidnapping Jake in Kristy and the Missing Child and then made out as an uncaring jerk in Mary Anne Breaks the Rules. I find a lot of the attempts at sex-role reversal very forced and not too believable. I like it that moms stay at home but wish that they would show them actually interacting with their kids. My mom stayed home with me and I am really glad she did but she stayed home to spend time with ME. The moms in Stoneybrook don't ever seem to be with thier kids - the dads for that matter either. I know a lot of that is probably so they can bring the BSC into the family (without parents needing a babysitter there would be no club). Couldn't they at least mention kids interacting with their parents, though? It does happen - at least with the people I know. What would it hurt to for example, have Claudia walking down the sidewalk with the Perkins girls and see Jamie Newton in the yard playing catch with his dad?
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Mar 26, 2006 19:35:45 GMT -5
Total word. It's so eye-rolling and just... ugh.
The whole series featured indifferent parents, so I'm not really surprised there weren't more Jamie-Newton-and-Daddy playing catch scenes. Parental involvement and interaction was always at the absolute bare minimum. Not really a good example for kiddies, IMO.
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