Walzem’s EQ and Gender
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Mary Tyler Moore had been successful in earlier TV series in a supporting role (playing the wife to the
star in the very successful “Dick Van Dyke Show”). Tired of women only having secondary, supporting
roles, she started her own TV production company “MTM” (For Mary Tyler Moore—a parody of the
giant Hollywood studio “MGM”) with her husband, Grant Tinker. This allowed her to star as an
independent woman not subservient (that means “below”) her husband.
At this time almost all media were run by men. “Feminism” was viewed with fear and distrust, and
feminists were constantly attacked and made fun of in magazines, movies, and TV. Men were scared of
strong women.
1. How does Mary Tyler Moore present an independent woman without threatening men and
mainstream American culture?
2. Write a couple of words to describe each of these characters. How “strong” do you think they are,
as people (that is, do you like them? Do you think they have more good qualities or bad qualities?
Are they admirable as people?). How do the women, in general, compare to the men?
Characters:
A. Mary
B. Phyllis (friend)
C. Bess (friend’s daughter)
D. Rhoda (woman who wants the apartment)
E. Lou (boss)
F. Ted Baxter (anchorman)
G. Boyfriend (Bill)
3. Phyllis says marriage requires “a certain amount of sacrificing, of unselfishness, denying your own
ego, sublimating, accommodating, surrendering”. What do these words mean?
Vocab
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
Intern
Support
Spunk
associate producer
anchorman
caboose
Rotten
Your Presentations:
Choose one or more media examples. It can be an advertisement, comic, or part of a TV program or
movie.
A. Give background of the example (who made it? When? Why? what is the culture belief system
that produced it?
B. Give us information to understand the content
C. How is the content important to our topic of EQ and/or Gender?
D. Each group member must participate and address the class, for at least 1.5 to 2 minutes each.
E. All words and powerpoint MUST be original! Anything taken from the net without citation will
result in failure for the whole group! Please be carefull!!