Some of our favorite shows from "back in the day" were entertaining, yet taught us life lessons along the way. Whether from the fatherly talks in Full House, to the family love in 7th Heaven or the teachings of Mr. Feeny in Boy Meets World, television series during that time gave viewers insight on morals in undercover situations. Subconsciously we picked up on the typical stereotypes and morals through the actor’s sarcastic and comical behavior. A main factor during this time was stereotypes on gender roles. For my paper I decided these great, all-time loved television series were a perfect way to explain gender role stereotypes in media and how influential they can be on society. I discovered that the stereotypes on television not only alter our perception of people, but support the perceptions already established by society.
We are biologically, one gender or another, female or male. What we make of that though is our decision. Most commonly it is portrayed little girls have dolls, wear dresses, play tea party and grow up to me mom's who care for their children and are often found in the kitchen. Boys grow up playing sports, liking girls, getting messy and dirty and grow up to be men, strong, handsome and bring in money to support families. While these may appear accurate in many cases, it is due to media influence and stereotypes. Why can't a girl play sports, or grow up and support the families, why can't a father be a stay at home parent preparing the children’s lunchboxes? Is it not socially acceptable?
I was able to find articles written by professors and researchers as liable supporting sources to these accusations of gender roles as well as websites confirming the described roles to specific characters in Boy Meets World. http://therottenlittlegirls.com/2009/02/04/do-you-do-gender/ is a blog about gender roles in society that can be related to the character descriptions in http://www.tv.com/boy-meets-world/show/158/episode_guide.html
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I loved the show Boy Meets World. I can definitely see the gender stereotypes in the show, Topanga the gorgeous nerd, Eric the funny class clown, and cory the semi popular boy. Mr. Feeney definitely played a pretty stereotypical role and it seemed that in every show he was sort of the ghandi leaving everyone with a lasting message or a moral. you should definitely use some more relatable sources and you may want to not have such a broad topic. It might be hard to make your paper seem like it has one focus. Maybe another 90's show you can focus on is Dawson's Creek or something like that and maybe compare and contrast the roles that the charachters play. For instance a similarity in the show is the characters of Topanga and Joey, both gorgeous girls and both nerds.
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