Essay on American Television Show: I Love Lucy

I love Lucy is an American television show featuring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance and William Frawley. This show initially ran from October 15th 1951 to May, 6th, 1957 on CBS. A modified version came to existence for three more seasons. It then ran from 1957 to 1960 bearing the name; The Lucille-Ball desi Arnaz show before being changed to The Lucy-Desi comedy hour. The show was aired on the Colombia Broadcasting System (CBS) which was an American commercial broadcast company headquartered in New York City. The show gained popularity and won many awards including; five Emmy Awards and many nominations. This paper will majorly focus on the reflections of the show I love Lucy on the social, political and cultural event in the US in the early and late 1950s.

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I love Lucy being a popular and most watched show in America, addressed various social issues that existed in America by then. Lucy being married to a man from a different race, she tries to show some sense of equality and acceptance to her maids of Africa American origin. This is the time that racial discrimination which caused continuous civil wars and unrests was believed to be at its peak in America. Lucys pranks are also contrary to the cultural belief of Americans on gender and the roles given to each gender. It was in the tradition that only men were supposed to lead. This makes her to be a domestic hero when she becomes the first woman to head the most popular television show regardless of the position of women in the American cultural makeup.

As the United States was in a dilemma of being a world superpower in the 1950s, she was additionally endeavoring to keep up a social establishment that would advocate for a solid American culture locally. After the Second World War, the white collar class populace outperformed the common laborers in America, making her the first post-modern nation ever. This move propagated a national ideological move to white collar class values including religious ethics and a male chauvinist structure. The development of TV and the prominence of I Love Lucy went parallel with the ascent of the working class in American. I Love Lucy made a culture that rotated on TV, sitcoms, as well as the qualities they advocated for.

Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) made her appearance in Hollywood following her fruitful stretch as a model in New York. Sam Goldwyn appointed her as a Goldwyn Girls together with 15 others to co-act in the Roman Scandals of 1933 alongside Eddie Cantor, a film star. Very eager and persevering, Ball possessed the capacity to acquire the film work quickly at the Samuel's Studio and Columbia Pictures and after that in the long run at RKO Radio Pictures.where she got consistent film skills, first as an additional and bit player and in the long run as a co-feature in highlight movies and featuring parts in inferior pictures. Amid her features at RKO, Ball picked up the notoriety for doing actual drama and tricks that most of the characters abstained from. Lucy met Desi Arnaz in 1940.

The blast of the spirit of consumerism after the Cold war made the American citizens of medium earning turn all their interests to television. TV became an avenue for the Americans to stay informed and educated in the turbulent circumstances of the Cold War. It was within this setting that the program of I Love Lucy took its bearing gathering a huge following from the population. Sitcoms, Comedies, and theatrical presentations gave the American families a diversion from the daily unfolding dangers of the War, as the evening bulletins kept them abreast. It was the perfect type of excitement for the after war populace that unveiled a new door of impact on the American population. TV turned into an everyday family culture in the American population. It turned out to be part of the American life to the extent that a dinner program was developed to suit the daily culture of viewing TV at dinnertime. The institution of the family became distinctly focused on this upcoming and creative form of excitement. Unmistakably, TV programs could genuinely affect the peoples opinion and judgment.

Indeed, even with its monstrous notoriety, I Love Lucy set out to address a portion of some real social matters of this time. For instance, Lucy's stand in her biracial marriage proved she was a sympathizer and proponent of civil rights. Ball frequently showed her concern for her black maid's call for fairness demonstrated that she was ready to take a position on social equality. Lucy's part in the program was opposed to the shape of a 1950s housewife. Her character was regularly the inverse of conventional local parts, demonstrating the program's ability to advocate social limits. Indeed, even Ball's role as the first lady in charge of a TV creation organization showed the possibility of an option to the women's customary part as local legend

References

Davies, J., & Smith, C. R. (1998). Race, gender, and the American mother: Political speech and the maternity episodes of I Love Lucy and Murphy Brown. American Studies, 39(2), 33-63.

OGLICE, E. A. (2004). PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF HOUSEWIFERY: LUCY GETS THE BALL ROLLING.

Knoll, B. (2015). I Love Lucy Gender Analysis and its Influence on Popularity and Longevity.