Television drama and programs

Introduction

Television drama and programs are used as a mirror to reflect what goes on the society or

the society expectations of people. These programs are appropriately divided with age such that

the children’s programs serve as more educative to the children more than to the adults watching

them. Therefore, children and adults are bound to pick up traits from the characters in their

programs as well as try to adapt to them. In as much as some of the programs are still stuck in the

traditional way of living in that the society dictates the gender roles and perceptions, some of the

upcoming programs have embraced the contemporary tradition and have been portraying

equality among genders as well as elevating the female gender which had mostly been

suppressed.

According to Dora the explorer which is a children’s show, the male gender is portrayed

as smart and excellent from Pablo’s character in the show where he is seen as a good explorer.

The traits portrayed of the male gender in the show are identical to the typical traits of the gender

as portrayed by the society. Dora’s image in the show was a traditional portrayal of the society

towards females in that she showed that when female children grow up, they should dress and act

like a stereotypical girl which was not an empowerment action to the female gender. However,

Emma and Naiya the other female characters in the show were portrayed in a non-traditional way

in that Naiya was a smart girl in math and science whereas Emma is an excellent and

accomplished musician with big ambitions. The two portrayals were contrary to the societal

expectations of females mostly in the education and career sector where they are perceived to be

passive and less intelligent. In the ongoing Olympics, the traditional gender roles have been

foregone since both male and female can be seen participating in the same games. additionally,

the amount of energy between the genders can be equally matched therefore, the games portray

females to be as powerful and dominant as the male gender in the sports sector.

In the telenovel Marimar, when women interacted together with men on screen, the men

were more likely to define the situation. For example, Sergio being a doctor was more dominant

in the program and was the one tasked in making most of the decisions including clothes that

Marimar his girlfriend was going to wear for a date. Marimar was portrayed as a woman with no

power whereby she had no stable job as compared to Sergio who had a powerful and stable job

as a doctor. The telenovela programs mostly portray that the male saves the female gender. They

often do this through marriage which is seen as saving the woman from her hard situations in life

such as poverty and loneliness. In the telenovela Marimar agrees to marry Sergio after days of

them knowing each other and Sergio treating her as a lesser human all in the named of love. This

can be interpreted as a way of the male gender saving the woman out of her poverty and her sta