September 29, 1997
Contact: Shirley Hulett, (619) 594-2585
Meek Speak to Potent Parlance
SDSU Prof Rates Unruly Women of Prime-Time TV Sitcoms
Who’s the most unruly female character in prime-time situation comedy?
If your answer was Roseanne or "the Nanny," you’re off base.
The prize goes to Grace of Grace Under Fire.
That’s the conclusion of a just-released study by San Diego State University Communication Professor Martha Lauzen, who spent last winter monitoring the female lead characters in the 12 top-rated situation comedies. In all, Lauzen watched 48 episodes, rating the characters on an index based on character demographics and language patterns.
"Unruly women reject the commonly accepted norms of femininity, including ‘meek speak,’ the traditionally polite speech used by the socially powerless," Lauzen explains. "Unruly women speak too often and too loudly. They bark orders, spew expletives, and control conversations. They threaten, intimidate, and insult other characters, acting in a most decidedly unladylike manner," Lauzen says. In addition to language patterns, Dr. Lauzen took into account the characters’ gender, age, race, marital status, occupation and work setting.
She also observed a direct relationship between a character’s age and her unruliness. The older characters were deemed most unruly, while those in their teens and 20’s were the most "ruly."
Lauzen rated Grace of Grace Under Fire as number one, followed by Murphy (Murphy Brown); Cybill (Cybill); Sabrina (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch); Nora (The Naked Truth); Ellen (Ellen); Fran (The Nanny)); Roseanne (Roseanne); Pearl (Pearl); Cher (Clueless); Susan, (Suddenly Susan), and Caroline (Caroline in the City).
"All three of the most unruly female characters are also executive or co-executive producers of their own shows, Lauzen states. "These womenare, in effect, able to mold their own unruly persona. None of the three most ruly women in the shows studied play a role behind the scene." The researcher concludes that female characters in sitcoms speak out more when the female star is also the executive behind the cameras.
In addition to unruliness, Dr. Lauzen’s study examined femininity in leading sitcoms and consequences to those who used "potent parlance" rather than traditional "meek speak."
What most situation comedies have in common is a clear point of view. However, Lauzen notes that "if that point of view happens to be an unruly woman’s, sitcom life can be precarious. Unruly women usually do not act with impunity. They often pay for their ‘bad attitudes’ over the course of an episode. In contrast, traditionally feminine women soften their statements and are rewarded for doing so.
Lauzen punctuates her study with examples of on-camera vignettes, noting that "Murphy Brown and Cybill constantly do public penance for speaking up and out. Murphy pays for her ‘bad attitude’ with her single marital status and almost constant fence mending."
"Unruly women find themselves in the precarious position of being punished for using language that reflects their power. Although these women maintain high profile in prominent prime-time shows, they really can’t win. If they soften their language, they lose their power. If they display their power through language, ultimately they lose," Lauzen says.
Lauzen concludes," Unruly women choose to push the boundaries of acceptable televisual behavior. By questioning traditionally accepted norms of female behavior, these characters serve a transformative purpose in the portrayal of television characters. Placed in a nonthreatening comedic setting, audiences can laugh at Murphy’s misfortunes. In the short term, the joke may be on Murphy. In the long term, as unruly women bash stereotypes, they may just have the last laugh."