Parenthood in the Media Presentations - Mike Murgo

All the parenthood in the media presentations were enlightening and brought new ideas into the mix, but each presentation had common themes, such as the father being depicted as the major breadwinner and the mother being portrayed as the primary caretaker for the kids. Before these presentations, I hadn't really noticed just how illusory the media's depiction of the mother is. As Josie showed in her presentation, Kelly Rippa was in a commercial where she was beautiful, in heels, and taking care of her children - a "super mom". This illusion of the perfect, put-together mother is pervasive in the media and creates unrealistic expectations for all mothers. As Brooke analyzed in her presentation, celebrity moms depict conforming to the societal norms of motherhood as something that gets you "cheap but effective rewards." Kelly's commercial depicts motherhood as easy and something that does not require much effort, but, in reality, it is quite the opposite. They rarely show the more disagreeable moments of motherhood in the media, and when they do, it's in a Baby Alive commercial, as Ellie showed, where they portray changing diapers and feeding kids as something easy and desirable; it depicts motherhood for little girls as something that they should aspire to have. Watching all these presentations, I couldn't help but think about their effects on an audience who has no training in media literacy. Ignorant girls and women may not know what they're getting themselves into once they become mothers because of motherhood's depiction in the media, and other mothers may feel inadequate; they may feel like they're not doing all they could be doing because they don't have perfect bodies and beauty while raising children. Furthermore, the media makes girls and women feel obligated to be mothers, and not just mothers, but stay-at-home mothers. As Josie showed in her presentation, products for the nuclear family are advertised to mothers, which reinforces the idea in women's minds that they must be the primary caretakers for their families.
Conversely, products that bring pleasure are advertised to men, which reinforces the idea that men need only be concerned with their individual entertainment as fathers. I was surprised at how many of the media images in these presentations portrayed fathers as the "second parent" with the mother as the primary parent. They showed the father's main goal as providing material resources for the family (money). This sends the idea to society that father's need to only show their love through acquiring money for the family. It's a shame, too, because this leads to children not establishing as much of a relationship with their father as much as with their mother (if she is the one staying home). The father will sometimes get a free pass as the "fun dad" because, in comparison to the mother who is always at home and thus the disciplinarian for the kids, he is seen as less dangerous to them. Of course, family dynamics vary greatly on a case by case basis, but these are the ideas that fatherhood media images tend to support.
The alternative section of the presentations was very eye opening for me -especially Molly's presentation. When I was thinking of a media image for alternative parenthood, my mind immediately went to gay dads because of my personal connection to the idea. I didn't even think about transgender parents and how that may work out for a family. The media tends to ignore alternative images of parenthood in favor of something that society is more familiar with and can connect better with, so perhaps that is why it was more difficult to find these images. For Molly's presentation dealing with trans parents, I was surprised that she was even able to find that picture. Aside from her media image, I don't think I have ever in my entire life seen a media image of trans parents. It's a shame, too, because when the media discounts this, most of society will discount the idea as well. All these presentations got me thinking about when it will be that we will start seeing more images of alternative parenthood in the media. Two gay dads depicted in a positive light would not be in a popular magazine 40 years ago, so there's some progress, but I can only hope that I'll be able to see two trans parents in a popular magazine before the 40 years pass. The media is a powerful tool, and I only wish that it would be used more for the progress of society instead of the reinforcement of traditional ideas and views.