Mary seems to be surrounded by men who do as they please in their self-righteousness male privilege, while being surrounded by women who are trying to compete with her for apartments, or to be included as a fellow woman trapped in married life.
In one instance her boss Lou drinks at openly at work, barely hiding it, during an interview with a potential employee. At one point he asks her about her religion. Mary informs him that it is against the law to ask her this question. “Do you want to call a cop” he responds, not at all concerned that he could be facing a harassment lawsuit. He gives her a job as “associate producer” on a whim, the job title paying less than the secretary position, perhaps just because she is good looking and entertained his drunken harassment. The men in her life stumble through their positions, her boss is an open drunk, the anchor is on television giving the news despite what seems to be a speech impediment, and another one of her male coworkers mocks her with announcing that the position that she is seeking has been filled, then tells her she got her job because their boss was probably drunk. In one instance her boss Lou, arrives drunk, intrudes and then stumbles around her apartment, casually sexually harassing her, then helping himself to her typewriter after comparing Mary and his wife’s “caboose”. Men do as they please, Mary seems just a puppet that can only go along with, or go against men but this would probably end up in her losing her job. It was a good thing that Lou wasn’t really intent on forcing his way upon her, otherwise she would be in a very difficult position.
When it comes to the relationships with her fellow women, there is one point in the episode where there is confusion title of aunt between Mary’s landlord and her daughter. Mary is not really a relative and the daughter doesn’t know why her mother insists on calling Mary “Aunt Mary”. It is an honorary title automatically conferred by some adults to others when it comes to children. The mother instead of trying to justify calling Mary an aunt, she admits to her daughter that Mary is not an aunt, and therefore not really any one other than one of the tenants, just another human being that just happens by circumstances to be there. The mother is later upset with the daughter when she blurts out the crux of the story that Mary’s boyfriend Bill is coming to see her. The women are catty amongst themselves. In one instance, Mary’s landlord signs a lease for Mary for year without talking to her, knowing that Rhoda wants Mary’s apartment. Rhoda is another tenant in the building who covets Mary’s apartment, and this seems to be a running plot device of the two fighting over the rightful ownership of the apartment.
I noticed in the opening credits that men wrote and directed the show.
In the episode “The Cigar Store Indian”, Jerry thinks it is appropriate to purchase a cigar store Indian, which is aesthetically unattractive in itself for a woman’s apartment and is also a racist artifact of a time when it was permissible to use racist stereotypes as advertisement. The cigar store Indian was used by tobacconists, as an attempt to advertise their products by using the Indian by its association with the idea that the Native American introduced the European settlers to tobacco. In Europe the early cigar store Indians looked more like racist caricatures, rather than depicting actual Native Americans. According to Moonan (1997), the Cigar Store Indian was “supposed to be American Indians, but what they reveal is the European idea of how an Indian might look,'' (The New York Times). Moonan (1997) goes on to state that “no Indian in the New World ever wore a feathered skirt, but Columbus sent back reports saying Indians were naked except for feathers, and the Europeans invented the skirt for modesty's sake. None of the Indian figures are historically correct” and later in the article it is related how Native Americans in the form of the cigar store Indian were referred to as “noble savages” (The New York Times). This is an example of how a limited perspective of another race becomes an assimilated and unconscious social stereotype.
I think in this episode Jerry symbolizes the part of us who isn’t normally racist but still entertains the occasional racist joke, believing these jokes are assimilated/just a product of our common culture.
In the episode All in the Family, an African-American character Lionel, makes an allusion to stealing flowers when Gloria gives him a dollar, he responds “where I get my flowers from, this is a dollar profit”. This fits him into the stereotype of black people as thieves. Later on Lionel is revealed to be playing a game with Archie about his racism, and he entertains Archie’s racism by referring to his degree that he is pursuing as “electical engineer” rather than “electrical”. He is in the home to do repairs on the upstairs television set, used by Archie for his knowledge of television, as Archie believes he is saving money by not having to take the television to a professional repairman. Edith even states this, and Lionel admits to Mike that he has to do what he has to do, in order for white society to allow him to attain a degree.
When Mike and Archie get into an argument about white male privilege, about “what you have and how you can keep it”, Archie gets irate and uses terms like “spics and spades”. Archie is often loud and bombastic, he shouts down other people’s opinions, and uses insults like “silly dingbat” for his wife when she shows appreciation for the counter side of his argument.
Archie responds to one of Mike’s statements by saying “I never said your black beauties was lazy. It’s just their systems are geared a little slower than the rest of us.” When they find fault with his statement he tells them to look it up as if racist literature gives truth to his statement. Archie is indignant, stubborn, racist, set in his ways, and the head of the household. His ideas and beliefs are things to be defended to the death, rather than making any consideration for other people’s understanding and ways of thinking. Archie always has an answer for everything, and that is why is always at odds with everyone else.
"Love is All Around". The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Hulu.com. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. ,
“Meet the Bunkers”. All in the Family. Hulu.com. Web. 21 Mar. 2012.
“The Cigar Store Indian” Seinfeld. Youtube.com. Web. 21 Mar. 2012.
Moonan, Wendy. “Antiques; Cigar Store Indians on Parade”. The New York Times, 21 Nov. 1997. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Mar. 2012
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