Television programs can depict various themes in the society such as gender representation in various cultures, gender, or families (Holtzman " Sharpe, 2014). Bosch
is a television program staring Titus Welliver who is the Los Angeles police detective as Harry Bosch. The other characters include Jerry Edgar, LT Grace Billets, Irvi Irving, and Maddie Bsch. Harry Bosch works as a homicide detective and has respect for rules as well as policies. Jerry Edgar is Harry’s partner and they work together as detectives while Grace Billet is Harry’s immediate superior as well as a good friend (Connelly " Overmyer, 2014).. Another character, Irvin Irving works as the west bureau commanding officer while Harry’s daughter Maddie Bosch is a young girl in which the two have a very close relationship. Goliath is a television series classified as a legal drama by Amazon Studios premiered on 13th October 2016 (Kelley " Shapiro 2016). The lawyer Thornton is seeking for redemption and wants justice in a legal system, which lacks truth. The main characters include Billy McBride who is a lawyer and owns a law firm. Brittany Gold is a prostitute who works as Billy’s assistant while Patty Sous, lawyer and a real estate agent. Michele is MCBridge’s ex-wife is also his partner at Cooperman McBrige. The film, Suits is an American legal drama TV series by Aaron Korsh premiered on 23rd June 2011, on the cable network. The main characters are Harvey Specter who owns a partnership venture at Zane Specter Litt, Mike Ross the personal associate to Harvey, and Louis Litt, Harvey’s rival an a partner. Rachel Zane is the seniors paralegal as well as associate at Specter Litt while Donna Pausen is Harvey’s former legal secretary who later becomes the CEO of Specter Litt. Jessica Pearson co-founded the Pearson Hardman.
In the film, Suits Harvey is a skilled litigator who annoys many people for his arrogance and self-serving character. He is an amoral attorney since he uses questionable means to win cases or close deals although he also helps innocent persons. He is heterosexual since as the series progresses; he forms a relationship with a character called Mike and has relationship with Donna and Jessica. Mike Ross is a hardworking man and heterosexual having relationships with live partners Harvey and Trevor (Korsh, 2011). He also has a secret relationship with Rachel in season 3 leading to office romance. Louis Litt is an ambitious lawyer who admires Monica and Donna. He can also be considered a bad boss since he mistreats his new associates. He is interested in Monica thus can be classified as a stalker. Donna Paulsen is a hardworking person but she is gender-flipped in her relationships. She manipulates people to get what she wants and is also heterosexual forming life partners with Rachel. She has platonic partners with Harvey, Mike, and Louis. Rachel Zane works at the firm as a paralegal officer and has a relationship with Mike as well as heterosexual life partner to Donna. Her secret affair with Mike leads to office romance ad has platonic partners with Louis. Jessica Pearson is the firm’s managing partner and an excellent lawyer. She has platonic life partnership with Harvey and acts as his sexy mentor. The program depicts non-traditional gender ideology in which men take the main roles while women assist them in accomplishing the goals (Murphy, 2015). Alternative or non-hegemonic gender ideologies opposes traditional one, which places emphasis on the values of distinctive roles for women and men where each fulfill, designated roles. In this film, men and women are actively involved in different activities and practice various sexual relationships.
In the film, Bosch, Harry is an active character who knows the control his emotions despite having a trouble past. His mother was a prostitute and died when Harry was young and was bullied in prison as the inmates called him son of a whore. Jerry Edgar is an experienced protagonist acting as a detective. He is sharp dressed and always smart in dressing and his work (Korsh, 2011). Grace Billets is a lesbian although she is an iron lady in the force. She is therefore, engaged in same sex romance, which is greatly stereotyping (Connelly " Overmyer, 2014).. Irvin Irving appears to Harry Bosch’s enemy and in season, two he acts as somebody with reasonable authority. Maddie Bosch is an actor that is ready to become a police officer and is hardworking. In this film, the gender ideology that exists is hegemonic in which men maintain dominant social roles over women (Budgeon, 2014). In the film, male characters are in senior positions such as detective and management.
In Goliath, the main actors include Billy McBridge, one of the owners of Coorperman firm but later become an alcoholic (Kelley " Shapiro 2016). He is divorced and a friend to Brittany Gold who is a prostitute seen as quite caring to McBridge. Brittany plays a big role in the firm supporting the management despite her tainted image as a prostate. Patty Solis-Papagian: is a lawyer and real estate agent, who plays a role of bringing Rachel Kennedy's case to McBride. Michel is Mobridge’s daughter and loves him despite having separated with her mother. After analyzing the characters in this program, there exist dominant gender ideologies since men have the greater roles in the company management (Whitman, 2014). Women, on the other hand have little to do while in the legal arena they only assist men.
Conclusion
The three programs are quite consistent in the story line and the characters used who include men and women. I was surprised by the results of the analysis that showed similarities especially the role of men and women at the workplaces. However, some relationships such as office romance and heterosexual depict existence of transition gender ideologies especially in the film, Suits. There is a uniform story of men and women in the work place as well as their roles and relationships. A lot of content is on the work and little on family relationships. In the three films there is a norm repeated of men occupying top positions while women act as their assistants. In addition, the workers form relationships amongst themselves. The messages being communicated include, gender ideologies for men and women, family relationships and divorce, as well as issues of corruption or work ethics. Being masculine gives a person an advantage in the workplace as they occupy the managerial positions while women work as secretaries or assistants. The activity has helped me to see the operation for hegemonic gender in the contemporary society. Men are still occupying higher positions at work and having more command than women have on prime time television. The protagonists are mostly men in several television programs revealing that traditional gender roles are still in existence.
References
Budgeon, S. (2014). The dynamics of gender hegemony: Femininities, masculinities and social change. Sociology, 48(2), 317-334.
Connelly, M., " Overmyer, E.E (2014). Bosch IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3502248/
Holtzman, L., " Sharpe, L. (2014). Media messages: What film, television, and popular music teach us about race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. Routledge.
Kelley, D.E " Shapiro J. (2016). Goliath https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4687880/
Korsh, A. (2011). Suits. Imdb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1632701/
Murphy, J. N. (2015). The role of women in film: Supporting the men--An analysis of how culture influences the changing discourse on gender representations in film
(Doctoral dissertation).
Whitman, K. L. (2014). Looking out for the ‘Aussie Bloke’: Gender, class and contextualizing a hegemony of working-class masculinities in Australia
(Doctoral dissertation).
