30 Rock and the Feminist Perspective

This week, we discussed how media texts such as television programs can be viewed as “preferred” or “oppositional” from the feminist perspective. This means the text either reinforces taken-for-granted beliefs of our society, or it challenges those beliefs. Those texts that present an oppositional reading may be “inflected” (meaning it seems to be subversive, but really it is not) or “subverted” (meaning the text presents an outright rejection of societal norms).

One of my favourite programs is 30 Rock, which I believe is an inflected preferred text. On the surface it appears subversive. The lead character (Liz Lemon) does not fit the mold of a typical sitcom woman. She dresses plainly. She is messy. She is intelligent but is often portrayed as a nerd. Although she has a love life, her storylines are not dominated by the quest for the perfect man or the idea that she gave up a better life by having a career. And as this clip shows, the program frequently pokes fun at our society's view on what a woman should be like:

But on closer inspection, 30 Rock supports many taken-for-granted norms. Liz is the boss, but she reports to a powerful male character (Jack Donaghy) who is the ultimate authority on the program. Most of Liz’s time is spent playing the mother role to two spoiled actors. Her love life may not be of the clichéd sitcom variety where she is desperate to land a man, but storylines about her going “baby crazy” enforce the taken-for-granted belief that every woman longs to have children.

Although it would be easy to view 30 Rock as an oppositional text, I believe it is not as subversive as it appears and it is in fact an inflected preferred text.