This is an extract from a paper on domestic violence in the media I wrote back in 2011. Following a number of request on Twitter, I am posting this article to help encourage further conversation and debate on the subject, and get people to critically think about what we really see, or rather choose not to see in situational comedies.
I apologise I cannot provide you with the full article as the Western Digital pocket drive my work was stored on is damaged. This work is subject to copyright and cannot be reproduced in any part without my expressed permission.
As with today’s television programming efforts, programs consumed by the masses during the 1960’s and 70 has mirrored social values and cultural changes occurring at that time. Helping to conceal real life issues of war and conflict, shows such as ‘Leave it to Beaver’, ‘The Brady Bunch’, and ‘My Three Sons’ reflected wholesome images of the ‘perfect family’, ‘perfect lifestyle’, the happy-homemaker and took into account growing pains faced by children from middle-class America.
The producers of one television series
however, Bewitched (Screen Gems 1964 – 1970; Ashmont Pictures 1971 – 1972),
took a slightly different view when they presented us with their version of an imperfect
American ideal. While essentially the narrative throughout the series revolves
around the subjection of Darrin to copious hoaxes and hexes by his in-laws
because they considered him beneath them, Bewitched did more than offer a few
moments of escapism by transporting viewers to a world of magical beings and
incantations. No matter how thinly disguised, Bewitched encapsulated changing societal
values as it publicly announced the dawning of open marriages, sexual freedoms,
and integration. However, was everything at 1164 Morning Glory Circle as producers
would have us believe?
Strip away the facade of magic and mysticism and
we find an average middle-class 1960’s suburban couple. They have two children,
well kept house, the latest model car, and the primary income earner is an
advertising executive – essentially a perfect nuclear family --. Upon closer
examination of the Bewitched narrative though, a darker side of 60’s suburbia
is exposed. To run the risk of oversimplification, amongst the many issues
revealed such as drug abuse, domestic violence, and the notion of women as
property, we are provided with an underlying allegory of a woman’s concept of
‘self’ brought about by the husbands’ claim of power, and the impact his lack
of cultural awareness has within an intercultural relationship.
Within her traditions, Samantha is an
attractive, well-educated, articulate woman, who in many respects is more powerful
than her husband Darrin is (not only is she a witch, but she is Queen of
witches). Nonetheless, as Pettman (1992,
p. 60) suggests, sexist ideologies construct particular thoughts of masculinity
and femininity, which shape and constrain women's roles and their choices. Therefore,
if Samantha is to conform to the constructs associated with her new culture –
that of being a mortal --, she must obey her husband’s wishes. To fulfil his
masculine role and gain power over her, Darrin effectively prohibits the practice
of elements associated with Samantha’s traditions, and socially isolates her by
setting out conditions that govern the extent and type of interaction allowed
with that society.
In a number of episodes throughout the
series, Darrin declines consensual offerings associated with legitimate power.
This rejection of power further demonstrates Darrin’s perception of the
masculine role along with his desire to dominate and control his wife through
seizing assumed power. By taking power from his wife, society cannot view her
as his equal, nor indeed, would they (society) be able to place her at a higher
station.
Adding weight to the argument of an
abusive relationship as defined by Astor (1994, p. 4) are episodes in which
family and friends remove Samantha from the situation by whisking her off to
distant places. In each case, as with real life, we again find Darrin (the
perpetrator) exerting his dominance by going after Samantha and returning her
to her rightful place, his home.
Writers also provide a glimpse of
Samantha’s subconscious mind. These glimpses afford the viewer with a valuable
insight in to the effects of the character’s subjugation, what the character
desires, her need to escape, and the impact cultural separation has on the
characters wellbeing.
Mayer (2008, p.p. 1-2) points out racial,
cultural or social discrimination causes stress with individuals developing
more health problems, immunological down-regulation and psychological ill
health. While only one episode, ‘Sam’s Psychic Slip’, specifically states
Samantha has a ‘cycle-logical’ condition, whereby each time she hiccups a
‘cycle’ in one form or another materialises, other psychological examples
illustrating issues of decisional conflict, blocked behaviours, thoughts and
feelings requiring a broadening of perspectives as suggested by Ivey &
Simek-Downing, (1980, p. 20) are also present.
Such examples include:
·
Where
Samantha contracts a condition making her heavier – possibly representing the
lethargy often experienced with depression –, upon diagnosis the Doctor
provides Samantha with an antidote that makes her float. The effect of the
antidote could be viewed in one of two ways; the medication taking affect or,
the ongoing desire to flee (the fight or flight effect).
·
In
‘Okay, Who’s the Wise Witch’, the consequences of Samantha ongoing rejection of
her traditions at Darrin’s insistence, and the need for escape becomes quite
literal. By denying Samantha her spiritual and cultural heritage, the house develops
a vapour lock and those inside become trapped with no means of escape. We can
only assume that as three of the four involved in this scenario are visiting witches,
this trapped feeling, and the need to escape has resulted from Darrin’s continual
vilification of those associated with Samantha’s ethnicity.
·
Perhaps the most poignant example on the
affects of systematic isolation and abuse however comes from ‘Weep no more my
Willow’. Here we find Samantha wanting to revive a dying willow tree (presumably
her marriage), she calls her Doctor to help make her tree healthy again (initiating
a therapeutic relationship). During the incantation (counselling session) to
make the tree weep, Samantha is caught in the crossfire of the spell (consider
this a euphemism of being caught by her husband trying to fix a relationship
not considered broken), and when the wind blows, she begins to cry. When a
neighbour and Darrin’s employer hear Samantha crying they come to comfort her
as they are of the opinion the couple have been arguing. The Doctor returns
twice more. Once to administer an antidote (another counselling session) which
leaves Samantha laughing uncontrollably, and finally to provide an antidote for
the antidote, thus returning Samantha to a perceived normal state (a final
counselling session reviewing and putting additional coping strategies in
place).
Throughout this series, one of the more
interesting aspects is the inclusion of Samantha’s identical cousin Serena.
Although Serena only appears in twenty-four episodes (Montgomery credited as
Pandora Spocks), she provides an example of Freud’s id at work, and how it is balanced
by the ego and superego of Samantha. Without doubt, Serena is Samantha’s sexual,
carefree, and reckless side, the destructive side that acts on impulse seeking
gratification and pleasure. Peterson & Nisenholz, (1999, p. 178) suggest
when the ego is unable to maintain the energy to deal adequately with
unacceptable impulses and the demands of the superego, the id or the superego
becomes dominant over other personality components. Supporting this notion that
the id, Serena, has become the dominant personality component are episodes
where Serena impersonates Samantha and inflicts misery upon Darrin.
Aside from the id of Serena becoming
the dominant personality component, a further example, ‘Mixed Doubles’, emphasises
the id’s reality and Samantha’s unconscious motives, unspeakable yearnings, and
conflicts between desire and duty as pointed out by Wade & Tavris (1997,
p.455). This episode see’s Samantha reading a book on relationships prior to
going to sleep. When she awakes, she discovers she has become the wife of her
husband’s employer, and his wife has become her.
There are at least four ways to
interpret this episode.
1.
Suggest
this was nothing more than simple partner swapping. However, this was not the
case as Samantha was the only one aware she was not Louise,
2.
Samantha
is having an affair. Thereby demonstrating the morals and conscience defined by
the superego could not compete with the id,
3.
Samantha
no longer wants to be in a relationship with Darrin or,
4.
Samantha
would rather be someone else, somewhere else -- presenting a less aggressive
form of the id than Serena --.
While this paper has only begun to
explore a multitude of hidden meanings contained in one of America’s oldest
Witchcoms by applying principles of psychoanalysis, we have at least opened the
door to reveal the seedier side of 1164 Morning Glory Circle. In doing so, we
have exposed the true nature of the poor suffering mortal husband. The man once
thought of as the victim has made known the sexist ideology construct of
masculinity. He has shown he is not the passive bystander as once thought, but rather
the cause of neurosis, the architect of demoralisation, and the perpetrator of systemic
abuse upon his wife and her culture.
As suggest by Yang (2010, p. 29), ‘[a]nyone
who does not accept the reality and validity of cultural differences as a
general concept is not ready to get insight into another culture’.
References
Astor, H.
Violence and Family Mediation: Policy, in 'Australian Journal of Family Law',
#3, 1994
CBS
Entertainment (2011). Bewitched. Retrieved 10/09/2011 from: http://www.tv.com/shows/bewitched
Ivey, A. E.
& Simek-Downing, L. (1980). Counseling
and psychotherapy: Skills, theory,
and practice. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall
Mayer, C.
(2008). Identity and Health in Transcultural Mediation. In Journal of
Intercultural Communication 17, 1-19. Retrieved 5/2/2010 from: http://www.immi.se/Jicc/index.php/article/view/63/36
Peterson, J.
& Nisenholz, B. (1999). Orientation to Counseling (4th Edition). Allyn
& Bacon
Pettman, J. (1992).
Living in the Margins - Racism, Sexism and Feminism in Australia. Allen and
Unwin, Sydney.
Wade, C.,
& Tavris, C. (1997). Psychology. Longman
Yang, Y.
(2010). Interactive Cultural Cultivating
in FLT, In English Language Teaching, 3 (1). Retrieved 4/2/2010 from http://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/elt/article/viewfile/5211/4327.
