Bones

Ok, so I've chosen yet another crime show, Bones, to blog about this week. This seemed like an alright choice, as gender issues pop up often in the show, and the series's treatment on this subject may even need to be addressed again in later posts. The series's main relationship, between the two main characters, Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth, often has them questioning aspects of their respective genders.

The most recent episode was centered around hockey, one of the world's most aggressive sports. Many men use the aggressiveness of the sport, with its lenient rules on fighting, to show off their masculinity. The game has become a sort of modern day arena, where physical strength often prevails over skill in the sport.

This strive to attain and keep the image of "manliness" turns out to be the motive of the killer, once the case is solved. The victim had taunted his friend and teammate and insulted his masculinity, which set the killer off in a rage to prove himself, resulting in the death of the victim.

Is the show trying to give an insight to the sometimes destructive pressures of masculinity, or is including such subjects a ploy to bring in more viewers? Of course, this is subject to your own interpretation, and depends on your opinions on these types of television shows.

I've put up what I could find of the episode on YouTube, thought it should hopefully be enough to give some visual aid.

CSI: Miami

So you find yourself looking (perhaps oggling?) a certain David Caruso on your television screen, with his calm and commanding demeanor, trying to make heads or tails of the crime scene at hand. After putting on his Silhouette Titanium Model 8568 sunglasses and spouting one of his trademark one-liners, you're stuck watching this show for the next hour. Well, you know, as one of the most sensational shows on television, CSI: Miami has to cover some sensational topics as well. Of course, you're probably thinking guns n' stuff with criminals' rights, but this blog is about gender issues, so that other stuff will have to be put aside.

Detective Calleigh Duquesne, Assistant Crime Lab Supervisor and lead female role on the show, has been in many different relationships throughout the series. Somewhat recently, she found out that her partner, Eric Delko, had fallen in love with her, but she can't seem to decide whether to shoot him down or start something with him.

Meanwhile, in this week's episode, Horatio Caine (Caruso), finally puts away a Russian mob leader who's been on his list for some time. Of course, as in almost all shows with conflict, the bad guy never really goes away. The ending sequence suggests that he is going to tear the CSI team apart from within, with the relationship between Duquesne, who is showing interest in a horse trainer from the case, and Delko as one of his prime targets.

So the question is: is Duquesne portrayed as an independent woman, who is intent on making her own choice in a love interest, or as a destructive presence, leaving behind trails of hurt feelings and broken relationships? Certainly this is an issue that is very common in today's media, so I'm sure it will come up again in posts to come.

O HAI

Well, looks like I gotta make a blog for English Comp about gender roles in television and film. I don't watch much TV, but as gender issues wind up just about everywhere, I'm hoping this shouldn't be too hard. Thank God for YouTube.