Media+Paper

Description of Assignment Writing this paper was a thrilling and fun experience because I never imagined that television could be so frank about gender differences. It was surprising how much the television shows separate males and females. I didn't expect it much from food network since the shows are supposedly about the food and not who is cooking it. However, the shows separate the men and women by placing them in different situations and settings. I thought this was definitely discouraging because I have hopes of a world without gender discrimination. However, I did witness an upward trend while watching the show and this paper explains this trend.

Food Network’s Upward Trend  For men and women in media, there are many equality and stereotype issues. The shows of Food Network demonstrate a wide range of theses issues, beginning with the woman in the kitchen cooking for the family to a man in hardcore challenges against food, to total equality between women and men in challenges. The Food Network is making progress in portraying men and women equally by producing shows that allow men and women to compete against each other.

 Before Food Network’s upward trend, men were mainly placed outdoors and in food challenges. //Grill It! With Bobby Flay// is one of the shows that really illustrates the stereotypical man with his grill in the outdoors. Although //Heat Seekers// is a relatively new show, this separates men and women by placing the men in a challenge to find spicy food and ultimately eat the spicy food to see if he can handle the heat “like a man”. //Guy’s Big Bite// is another show that also portrays the stereotypes of a man who loves sports. Even though he is placed in a kitchen, the kitchen is transformed into something that looks more like a bar. There are tire rims hanging on the wall, a drum set in the background, a refrigerator that looks like a race car, and sports trophies on a shelf. //Good Eats// is an interesting show because although Alton Brown is placed in a kitchen, he incorporates science and history into his cooking. The show is not simply a man in his kitchen cooking, but rather a man who is brilliant and teaches the viewers what each ingredient is, where it comes from, and why each step is taken. Other shows with the same portrayal of men include //Dinner: Impossible, Barbecue Addiction,// //Throwdown with Bobbly Flay, and Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.//

 Women on the other hand are placed in the kitchen, in their homes, and the shows are very family oriented. E//veryday Italian// and //Giada at Home// are both shows that place Giada de Laurentiis in her home in a set that is, without a doubt, a kitchen. She often talks about how the food she makes will be appealing to her baby girl and more so, her husband. Impressing her husband seems to be very important to her. This is the same for Rachel Ray in //30 Minute Meals//. This show illustrates the stereotypical woman who needs a recipe that will fit into the busy schedule of a woman who needs to cook for the family. Likewise, the show S//ecrets of a Restaurant Chef// really stands out because Anne Burrell is taken out of her restaurant setting and put into a kitchen at home. She is stripped of her title as a restaurant owner and chef and is made into the stereotypical woman cooking at home. More shows that have this same concept include //Semi-Homemade Cooking, Barefoot Contessa, Nigella’s Kitchen, Paula’s Home Cooking//, and many more.

 All these shows place men and women in different settings and therefore gives the viewer a different perception of what cooking is and how it should be: with men outside grilling and facing challenges and the women in the kitchen making family-friendly meals.

 However, the Food Network is also producing new shows that include men and women together. These new show place both genders in challenges against each other and there is even a husband and wife that are cooking together.  //Down Home with the Neelys// is a show with a man and a woman cooking together in the same kitchen. It even shows that it can be romantic and fun cooking with the opposite sex, especially if it is a significant other. There are many competitions such as //The Next Iron Chef, Food Network Star, Worst Cooks in America, 24 Hour Restaurant Battle, Chopped, and The Great Food Race//. All these shows are not gender biased and allow men and women to compete under equal circumstances with equal power. This is step toward gender equality in media because there are no stereotypes incorporated into these shows. But rather it allows each person to prove that they are better than the other; men and women don’t win due to their gender. They win because they have better skills and abilities than the others.

 Food Network’s upward trend is a wonderful concept for media because media often portrays discrimination against men or women. Having no stereotypes incorporated into the shows allow men and women to be equal. Although this trend is a positive step, it doesn’t mean that it will fix the rest of the media world. Hopefully it will catch on to the rest of the media industry soon.