Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Weeds (Television program); Celebrities--Periodicals; Celebrities; Motherhood in popular culture; Academic theses; Periodicals;
Abstract
Throughout this thesis investigate how images of motherhood in popular culture rely on specific ideological "myths" to convey implicit messages about appropriate femininity. To examine the depictions of motherhood I performed a textual analysis of the contents of the first two seasons of the television program Weeds as well as randomly sampled issues of the following celebrity gossip magazines: People Weekly, US Weekly, In Touch Weekly, and Life & Style Weekly. In order to make sense of the data, I rely on the theoretical concept of hegemonic femininity, as developed by Mimi Schippers. Additionally, I offer a more nuanced argument of intensive mothering, noting there are two distinct aspects to the intensive mothering paradigm: Mothering and care-work. Each of these theoretical concepts provide the groundwork for identifying the qualities that American culture privileges as "ideal" for all women, as well as discussing the implications of the myths and unrealistic ideals. In short, I find that media uses the images of motherhood to police and protect the boundaries of femininity through ideologically restricting or granting access to Mothering and care-work.
Year of Submission
2011
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Psychology
First Advisor
Susan Hill
Second Advisor
Marybeth Stalp
Third Advisor
Martha Reineke
Date Original
2011
Object Description
1 PDF file (144 leaves)
Copyright
©2011 Johnanna Joy Ganz
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Ganz, Johnanna Joy, "Defining the “Good” Mother: Examining the Myths of Motherhood and the Hierarchical Construction of Femininity in Weeds and Weekly Magazines" (2011). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2693.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2693
Comments
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