3 Men and 3 Little Ladies

One of my all time favorite television shows from childhood is Full House. I have most of the seasons on DVD and I watch reruns of it every afternoon. Simply put, I am obsessed. Well, after reading the article about mismatched couples from class, it got me to thinking about sitcoms from the '90s and how they represented gender roles. I immediately thought about Full House. For anyone who isn't familiar with the show, it's about a widower and his brother in law and best friend living in a house together raising the widower's 3 daughters. Scattered among these main characters are supporting characters including the neighbor child, one guy's girlfriend, and various other family friends that come to visit the house. I find the portrayal of gender on this TV show to be quite interesting for a few reasons. First of all, this television show places 3 men in a role typically played by a woman. I feel that this sends a subtle message that it takes 3 men to do a job that a woman often does all by herself and that men are incapable of being single parents. I don't really have a problem with this, but I think it is funny that even though there are 3 men in the same house raising 3 girls, the oldest of the daughters often has to step in and help when "girl" issues arise with her younger sisters. The fact that these 3 men are raising 3 girls adds to comedic effect in the show as well. When two of the young guys attempts to change a diaper by using a half roll of paper towels, a pot, and a plastic bag, hilarity ensues. This points out that changing diapers and raising babies is not a male's job, especially when the middle daughter points out a bag of diapers nearby and they realize how ridiculous they were. Later on in the show, however, permanent female characters are introduced such as Danny's love interest, Vicki, and Jesse's wife, Rebecca. These female characters are permanently introduced to the show late in the series, possibly as a way to keep the show believable. One may argue that these 2 female characters were brought onto the show because it just isn't practical to think that 3 men could raise 3 little girls entirely on their own. I find this interesting to think about in relation to popular sitcoms in the new millenium in that this storyline, while funny in the '90s, is no longer original or comical in this day and age and gender messages are instead represented through couples on the show rather than the lack thereof as they were only a decade ago.