I Love Lucy was a television show that aired from 1951 to 1957 on CBS, being the most popular sitcom in America during four of its six years. The show won five Emmy awards, including best actress and best situation comedy. The show was particularly significant for its era because of the stereotypes that it broke about women and how it introduced a whole new concept of women empowerment.
The show was centered around Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, husband and wife, who lived in the upper east side of Manhattan. Lucy was a stereotypical housewife who longed for a career in show business, and Ricky was an entertainer for a nightclub. Despite Ricky’s firm belief that women shouldn’t go into show business and Lucy’s lack of talent, Lucy had a dream and a whole plan laid out to go into comedy. Eventually, the couple had a child, Little Ricky, and the focus of the show shifted towards parenting and less on escaping the domestic life. Regardless, the show garnered much attention and left a lasting impact on the American people.
I Love Lucy left a tremendous impact on the show business industry, not only through its unorthodox camera setup and using a live audience for laughter, but also through breaking the boundaries of what was expected from a person regarding gender and racial “roles”. First of all, Lucy and Ricardo were a biracial couple, something that wasn’t universally accepted during the 1950s. However, not only were they a couple on screen, but they were also a couple in real life, making the situation even more controversial. And as mentioned previously, the roles that the women played in the sitcom were boundary-breaking, for example, Lucy having a plan laid out to become successful in show business. This really was a reflection of the real-life actress who played Lucy, one who became wildly successful in show business. Overall, I Love Lucy was a show based around norm-defying, stereotype-breaking, and presenting new ideas to the American public. Maybe that’s why it won so many awards.
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It's important to know how much media can affect a culture as a whole, as it's often through shows like this that people become more exposed and receptive to new ideas and social dynamics. It also served as a very positive diversion from the troubles of the time: the Cold War, McCarthyism, etc.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/14/arts/television-radio-good-bad-lucy-legacy-laughs-coolly-confident-timelessly-funny.html
I think it is really interesting how this show, which was controversial at the time, became so successful during a time when conformity was such an important aspect of society. Nonetheless, Lucille Ball, changed television and women's opportunities in the industries offscreen as well. Following the divorce of her husband who played Ricky on the show, Ball became the first female production head ever. This even allowed her to have a role in choosing whether to air well-known shows like "Star Trek" and "Mission Impossible".
ReplyDeletehttps://thegoodolddays.club/lucille-ball-changed-tv-forever/