Lesson+2

Gender Roles / Social Stereotypes / Jobs and Gender in the television show //Friends.//
 * __LESSON 2__****:**
 * The Assignment:**

From a young age, our culture teaches children what it means to be a boy or a girl. From the color of clothes to the toys we play with, the messages begin early on and are very prevalent on television. Students are influenced by tons of messages to conform to a variety of expectations and to learn the differences between genders. The way people are presented on television and in the movies has a big effect on viewers. Even though the plot and characters are fictitious, the underlying attitudes and messages are not. They communicate cultural values, which shape the way we think and the way we interact. Understanding this, it is important to begin to realize the double standard that is persistent in our culture. This assignment will help students begin to ask questions, rather than just accept whatever they see and hear on television. Recognizing these stereotypes through a show many know and love is a good first step. The objective here is to notice the line between the stereotypical behavior of the characters on //Friends// and our own lives.
 * Background Knowledge:**

Throughout the different episodes that were selected for this assignment, it is obvious that social stereotypes and gender roles play a big part in the overall comedy and genre of the show. Each character, male or female, fits a specific stereotype and portrays his or her personality with an exaggerated role. In order to teach our students about stereotypes and gender roles through the medium of television and the show “Friends,” each student will examine a different character from the show and will discuss what they notice about these stereotypes. They will watch character montages from each of the 6 characters and begin to think about the different roles each one portrays in comparison to one another and how the show functions as a whole. We want them to focus on the following questions: -What social stereotypes are represented in this show? -What gender stereotypes do you see? -How do jobs factor into the character identities? -After watching the short character montage clips, think about what we know about the characters themselves.
 * Purpose:**

- Students will develop their own critical intelligence with regard to culturally inherited stereotypes, and to the images presented on television. - Students will understand the importance of distinguishing between what happens on television and reality. - Students will analyze and begin to recognize stereotypes and gender roles that they notice in selected episodes from the television series //Friends.// 
 * Objectives:**
 * Sunshine State Standards:**

Students will


 * -LA.910.2.1.4 - identify and analyze universal themes and symbols across genres and explain their significance **

-LA.910.5.2.3 - use appropriate eye contact, body movements, voice register and oral language choices for audience engagement in formal and informal speaking situations.


 * Overt Instruction:**

Comedy allows us to address sometimes serious and important issues in a lighter way without directly offending any specific person. In //Friends//, humorous scripts subtly shape the way we view gender roles and stereotypes, oftentimes without us even consciously recognizing it. Here the students will continue learning about gender roles, and read the chapter from Carlos E. Cortes on //How the Media Teach//, recognizing key terms and ideas about how gender and stereotypes are portrayed through television. The students will focus on the section of the reading about gender roles on television. There Cortes states, “take, for example, the perception of aging. What expectations do media reinforce about what it means to get older? It is axiomatic that producers of local television news shows prefer anchor people with pretty faces. Yet, when it comes to the television personification of ‘pretty,’ there is a striking gender gap. Male newscasters are allowed to age. With gray hair and wrinkles they become wise and more distinguished. But, as female newscasters age, they become – more expendable” (65). Students will assess this idea of gender roles and how what Cortes describes is portrayed through //Friends''// episodes and other television they watch daily. Also, students will learn the definition of gender role stereotypes, which is defined as //the socially determined model, which contains the cultural beliefs about what the gender roles should be. It is what a society expects men and women to think, look like, and how to behave.// Gender role stereotypes are often based on gender norms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atypical_gender_role).


 * Situated Practice:**

Television still continues to show traditional gender stereotypes because it reflects dominant social values. In reflecting them, TV also reinforces them, presenting them as “natural.” Unconsciously, gender roles are still represented in shows like //Friends// where a traditional ‘masculine’ perspective is used, perpetuating dominant gender stereotypes. Many narratives on TV are implicitly designed to be interpreted from a masculine perspective. In order to allow the students to recognize this through the //Friends// cast, we will look at one of the characters who is portrayed as very masculine through the episodes we have selected for our students to watch (Season 2, Episode 1). In this episode, Rachel realizes that although she is falling for Ross and wants to tell him, he has brought back a new girlfriend from his trip. As Rachel is feeling down on herself, she reverts back to an old habit with a foreigner named Paolo. Paolo lives in the same building as Rachel and Monica. He speaks very little English and his relationship with Rachel starts off as nothing more than a fling. Eventually Paolo makes a pass at Phoebe during a massage, consequently ending his relationship with Rachel. When Rachel's depression over Ross and his new girlfriend, Julie, increases, she gets back together with him for a short time. Paolo embodies the very typical masculine foreigner who loves women and is muscular and possesses long hair and big charm. As a class, we will look at a clip of him from this episode in Season 2, and begin to have a group discussion about what is stereotyped within his character. The students will discuss what they are supposed to assume and know about this character as a whole class. This will show them how to look closer into the gender roles and stereotypes of the main characters and will show them how to notice the things that Cortes discusses in his chapter on television stereotypes.


 * Critical Framing:**

After looking closer into the character of Paolo, the class will break into groups by characters, Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, and Joey. They will get into their groups depending on which character they were assigned to watch, and begin looking at the character montages of each person posted on the Wiki. Each group will discuss what they already know about the character prior to watching the video, and then they will watch as a group and talk about what they now know about the characters personality and traits. After, they will talk about what stereotypes they discovered about their character and what social roles and values they fulfill through the episodes and montage the students watch together. We want the students to notice how each character pushes his or her personality and shows how he or she may be stereotyped as this type of person. For example, Monica is a neat freak who is very organized, and we want the students to notice how the episodes push this idea and make it more noticeable when she is working as a chef or even dealing with men. Though the scriptwriters make Joey the less intelligent character, they always seem to find new ways to make him look stupid and fit the stereotype of an Italian male who loves women and has very bad luck with acting jobs and relationships.


 * Critical Framing 2:**

If there is time after the students discuss (as a group and then as a class) the characters' gender roles and stereotypes in the show, we will then discuss the different jobs the characters have, from the first episode to the last one in Season 10. We will use what the students have learned and discussed when looking at the montages of each character and see what they have determined about each character in relation to their jobs. For example, we know Monica as the high-strung obsessive compulsive and clean person, but we want to know how that relates to her job as a chef and how she is trying to break out of that glass-ceiling stereotype. Also, we see Rachel at the start of the show complaining that she will never get the job she wants outside of the coffee shop, and yet she eventually gets a great job as the years go on in the show. She begins working as a fashion consultant in a department store and continues to work her way up, loving what she does. The students should look at what this means about Monica and Rachel and their desire to succeed, whereas Joey remains a failed actor for the whole series, although the audience does not seem to care or focus much on this fact. The students will then answer: “What do these jobs and the ways they relate to their social stereotypes / roles fit into what we know about gender?”


 * Students’ Assessment:**

After each group of students watch a montage clip of the character they were assigned to, they will need to stand in front of the class and discuss the gender roles and stereotypes they noticed about each character and why they think this is portrayed in the show //Friends.// Additionally, they will need to show their knowledge of the Cortes chapter by referencing ideas he used and by explaining how what he stated is also true in this sitcom. Then the students will discuss with their groups the idea of jobs and how their character fits the gender role of his or her job. As homework, students will be given the following question to answer: “What do the jobs these characters have and the ways the jobs relate to the characters' social stereotypes / roles fit into what we know about gender?” This will be a one-page typed or nicely hand written paper that they will hand in the next day, and will be graded on a 25 point grading system. The students will receive a high grade if they address certain things like what job their character has, why they think the character has this job, whether the character is successful in the job, whether he or she worked hard to achieve this job goal, and how the job relates to stereotypes and gender roles in today’s society. Students will also get points for comparing their character’s job to the jobs of the other characters in the show and for discussing how gender roles are played in each.