We can see subculture beginning to be featured in Dobie Gillis. How was this evidenced in the episode we viewed?How might either Dobie's or Maynard's masculinities be considered non-normative? Feel free to compare the two characters.
Specifically, the Dobie episode we screened in class is telling of teen culture in that it was representative of the independence that teens were starting to have from their parents in the 1950s. Rather than how a television family was depicted in the past—with the children coming home for dinner every night and close bonds between members—the relationship between Dobie and his friends and their parents is quite distant. For example, when Maynard is drafted into the army, his parents seem to be excited rather than upset about his leaving. Additionally, Maynard is yearning to be drafted, as he begs his parents for their approval to leave. Typically, the separation between family members due to something like the draft would be depicted as heartfelt and sad, rather than comedic, but it is used as a way to get laughs from the audience in this episode of Dobie. Furthermore, the popular culture of teenagers at this time was seen through the way in which Maynard talked and through the activities that he participated in that were portrayed as ‘cool.’ The way in which Maynard keeps saying “like” was telling of the way teenagers talked at the time. Also, the importance that teenagers put on music and records was represented through the way in which Maynard spent hours in the record shop and moreover, how he was seen as too much of a loser to hang out in such a cool place that he was eventually asked to leave.
For years television had been trying to cater to the stay at home mom, but in shows like "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," we see a new audience trying to be reached. This show was definitely more catered to the young teens at the time, while still maintaining its more adult audience. They accomplished this by using more young characters and actors in order to depict the average teenager of the time. However, they always made fun of the youths in various ways. Maynard is one way they did so. He was the epitome of what parents and adults were complaining about at the time. He was unintelligent, spent too much time thinking about hip music, spoke in an unfamiliar way (as depicted with the “like” scene), and he was always costing his family money. Through characters like Maynard, the show was able to relate to the struggles that parents at the time were feeling. Aside from the teen subculture, another was also made evident through the use of Dobie Gillis. Dobie was portrayed at the averaged American boy with a good head on his shoulders. He especially seemed more intelligent in comparison to Maynard. However, he had certain qualities that would add an interesting aspect to his character. Dobie cares for Maynard in a way more than just a regular friendship. He says he sees him as a brother, but he treats him in a much more romantic way. The homosexual parallels are quite obvious now and at the time would be seen as “non-normative.” It was very clever to give this quality to the main character that was supposed to be seen as a “masculine man.” It allowed the homosexual subculture to be represented in a minor way in television culture at the time as normal.
I wouldn't say that there are "homosexual" threads in Dobie's affection for Maynard. I definitely agree that their relationship is non-normative in that it does not follow the norms of 'masculine-man' since there is sensitivity to each other, rather than aggressive normative hetero masculine gender codes. Dobie talks about Maynard with open affection. Such expressiveness and care towards another man does not necessarily imply eroticism definitely contrasts with the traditional image of men as the "tough", "stoic" and less in touch with their feelings but, I'd suggest "non-normative homo-social" themes as a more accurate way to describe their relationship.
Maynard's language is the biggest indicator of the emergence of subculture. Traditionally, characters speak in the traditional American "language" or in an American/ethnic mix if applicable. Maynard was clearly a non-ethnic character who spoke in a distinctively non-traditional manner. His repeated use of "like" and the various slang terms he used were outside of the family lexicon; however, they were incredibly indicitive of the teenage vocabulary that was developing. The emergence of different lexicons helped characters become more relatable to a particular subculture and helped that subculture thrive.
Dobie and Maynard's characters were not traditionally masculine because they did not possess any of the stereotypical attributes associated with masculine high schoolers. Stereotypically, the audience expects male high schoolers to be football players, nerds, or jocks. Dobie and Maynard did not fall into a traditional clique in the high school hierarchy. Dobie, in particular, showed emotion when referring to Maynard leaving. These masculine stereotypes are not pictured showing emotion, as that could be perceived by some as "weakness". The relationship between the two showed an actual emotional connection built through years of friendship, which is more attributed to the female concept of BFFs. Male relationships are seen more as a teammate relationship, where no connection exists outside of a specific set of tasks.
Dobie Gillis started a trend of subculture in television primarily in the way it diverged from the typical nuclear family structure seen in family sitcoms. Instead of following the morals of family bonding and togetherness, Dobie Gillis focuses on a teenager and his friends. The family is not the central structure of life, and in some instances, as seen in our episode with Maynard, the parents are completely out of the picture or uninterested in their children. This created an entire plot structure focused on youth culture and the teenager’s life as seen through Dobie. Yet the depiction of Dobie’s character as a young, male teenager is also atypical. Masculinity here is not represented as the normal, tough all-American boy. In the episode we viewed in class, Dobie is portrayed as a sensitive best friend, who almost breaks into tears at the thought of Maynard leaving. He is thoughtful, and expresses his feelings, unlike the “manliness” found in typically distant father figures of television. We see the off-centered personality in Maynard, whose independence is laughed at, but ultimately praised. He represents a new type of teenager on television; one that isn’t perfect, doing his schoolwork, or looking for girls. He even offsets the importance of strength and serving our country in the army, typically an essential theme in the American nuclear family, through his ironic escalation in position and the apathy of his parents.
Within the teen culture we see in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, a subculture starts to arise that hints at the beatnik attitudes of the time. Maynard is the character who embodies this most clearly, with his outright abhorrence for the concepts of work and marriage. He claims he is looking for a girl to chill with and who likes to listen to jazz. Even when Dobie mentions the word marriage, Maynard’s reflect is always “married?!?!” and it becomes clear how he feels about these institutions that teenagers are expected to desire. This may be one of the first times a teenager is portrayed as rejecting the social norms of dating, courtship and marriage (expected of most teens at the time).
While Maynard overtly rejects these ideas, making his character seem unconventional or abnormal, Dobie too exhibits non-normative behaviors for a young man at this time. Rather than appearing like the young, confident, mature male character we’re familiar with from television shows at this time, Dobie is the opposite. He is insecure and desperate for a partner, and has had a number of failed attempts recently. Rather than continuing to pursue every available woman, he settles with Zelda and suggests they get married. The characteristics Dobie exhibits in this episode are common for female characters at this time, so it can be inferred that this segment was considered comical at the time due to the role reversals for these two men, neither of whom are fulfilling the expectations set forth for male characters on television at the time.
In the episode of Dobie we screened in class, both Dobie Gillis and Maynard G Krebs exhibit different forms of masculinity. At the time, the normative sense of masculinity fell upon the Clark Gable's of the generation, handsome, gentlemen types that made all ladies swoon. Dobie's masculinity was fairly normative when compared to Maynard's beatnik style. Maynard was not masculine in line with 1950’s tradition. He was a bit more timid, more willing to stick up against authority, and does not worry himself with romance. In a time when so many programs romanticized men as looking for a woman to settle down and marry, Maynard was more focused on himself. He also set himself apart in not worrying about his sense of self pride. The fact that his parents were seemingly perpetually disappointed in him concerned him, but didn’t make him feel like a failure. However, he did choose to join the army in the episode we screened, which was something that seemed traditionally masculine for someone like Maynard. However, it was discovered at the end of the episode, he brought his own style of masculinity to the unit he was in charge of. Proving that despite his offbeat style, Maynard still could be a traditional leader of men in his own, non-normative way.
The budding subculture that was present in "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" was definitely geared towards teenagers and all of the fun, confusion, and growth that comes with being that age. By focusing more on typical teenage worries such as forming relationships, the show takes the spotlight away from older characters and places teens in the "frontman" role of maintaining the audience's interest. Similar to shows on television today, the teen subculture can be heavily influential in that teens themselves can be easily influenced and, especially true of the 1960s, the population of teenagers continues to expand in the United States.
As far as the masculinities present on this show, the title itself serves as a clue to the non-normative masculinities of the show. It's clear that Dobie does not embody the stereotypical hyper-masculine male. Dobie is portrayed as being very affectionate towards those he cares about, something that is usually kept hidden by the "tough guy", and seems to put a lot of thought into how those surrounding him may feel in certain situations. For this episode in particular, the fact that his best friend Maynard was the focus of one of Dobie's "Many Loves" highlights how audiences may see these two boys as defying the masculine norm, as expressing one's love and care for the other might bring about accusations that the two are exhibiting homosexual tendencies--especially when compared to the friendships of the "tough guy" characters that seem almost cold and completely lacking in expressing "too much" emotion".
The Dobie Gills piece we watched in class took place in a small Suburban town with a population of mostly White Middle class Americans. This middle class culture defines Dobie as a teenager, thus from today’s point of view, provides the historian with the insight into the subculture of the teenager. The culture is usually associated with Dobi’s pursuit of popularity, money, and the attention of the beautiful women he is associated with. This made the implication that the young American teenager was always in pursuit of something they did not have. His side kick was Maynard Krebs, he stole the show in his appearance as a wannabee Jazz musician . He played bongos, would collect tinfoil , petrified frogs. While he also went out of his way to avoid romance, authority figures and work. This was all done while he was speaking in a slang format of the English dictionary. The portrayals of Dobie and Maynard seem to be polar opposites, Dobie, the responsible, semi-popular character goes out of his way to achieve goals to which he sets his sights upon. Whereas Maynard goes out of his way to avoid the goals which Dobie pursues. This comparison sets a polar opposite and because of it, this says that Americans at the time had the view of the young white teenager as either a go-getter or a no-go getter. It’s long and quite strenuous to think of, but there are links to which can be made to the medias portrayal of the two and the standards of the American public, at least when thinking from about the goals of broadcasting companies. These of course are to sell as much as possible, thus, Maynard is not the ideal person to sell too, and instead, he is the opposite.
Specifically, the Dobie episode we screened in class is telling of teen culture in that it was representative of the independence that teens were starting to have from their parents in the 1950s. Rather than how a television family was depicted in the past—with the children coming home for dinner every night and close bonds between members—the relationship between Dobie and his friends and their parents is quite distant. For example, when Maynard is drafted into the army, his parents seem to be excited rather than upset about his leaving. Additionally, Maynard is yearning to be drafted, as he begs his parents for their approval to leave. Typically, the separation between family members due to something like the draft would be depicted as heartfelt and sad, rather than comedic, but it is used as a way to get laughs from the audience in this episode of Dobie.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, the popular culture of teenagers at this time was seen through the way in which Maynard talked and through the activities that he participated in that were portrayed as ‘cool.’ The way in which Maynard keeps saying “like” was telling of the way teenagers talked at the time. Also, the importance that teenagers put on music and records was represented through the way in which Maynard spent hours in the record shop and moreover, how he was seen as too much of a loser to hang out in such a cool place that he was eventually asked to leave.
For years television had been trying to cater to the stay at home mom, but in shows like "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," we see a new audience trying to be reached. This show was definitely more catered to the young teens at the time, while still maintaining its more adult audience. They accomplished this by using more young characters and actors in order to depict the average teenager of the time. However, they always made fun of the youths in various ways. Maynard is one way they did so. He was the epitome of what parents and adults were complaining about at the time. He was unintelligent, spent too much time thinking about hip music, spoke in an unfamiliar way (as depicted with the “like” scene), and he was always costing his family money. Through characters like Maynard, the show was able to relate to the struggles that parents at the time were feeling.
ReplyDeleteAside from the teen subculture, another was also made evident through the use of Dobie Gillis. Dobie was portrayed at the averaged American boy with a good head on his shoulders. He especially seemed more intelligent in comparison to Maynard. However, he had certain qualities that would add an interesting aspect to his character. Dobie cares for Maynard in a way more than just a regular friendship. He says he sees him as a brother, but he treats him in a much more romantic way. The homosexual parallels are quite obvious now and at the time would be seen as “non-normative.” It was very clever to give this quality to the main character that was supposed to be seen as a “masculine man.” It allowed the homosexual subculture to be represented in a minor way in television culture at the time as normal.
I wouldn't say that there are "homosexual" threads in Dobie's affection for Maynard. I definitely agree that their relationship is non-normative in that it does not follow the norms of 'masculine-man' since there is sensitivity to each other, rather than aggressive normative hetero masculine gender codes. Dobie talks about Maynard with open affection. Such expressiveness and care towards another man does not necessarily imply eroticism definitely contrasts with the traditional image of men as the "tough", "stoic" and less in touch with their feelings but, I'd suggest "non-normative homo-social" themes as a more accurate way to describe their relationship.
DeleteThere was a typo: "Such expressiveness and care towards another man does not necessarily imply eroticism[, but] definitely contrasts..."
DeleteMaynard's language is the biggest indicator of the emergence of subculture. Traditionally, characters speak in the traditional American "language" or in an American/ethnic mix if applicable. Maynard was clearly a non-ethnic character who spoke in a distinctively non-traditional manner. His repeated use of "like" and the various slang terms he used were outside of the family lexicon; however, they were incredibly indicitive of the teenage vocabulary that was developing. The emergence of different lexicons helped characters become more relatable to a particular subculture and helped that subculture thrive.
ReplyDeleteDobie and Maynard's characters were not traditionally masculine because they did not possess any of the stereotypical attributes associated with masculine high schoolers. Stereotypically, the audience expects male high schoolers to be football players, nerds, or jocks. Dobie and Maynard did not fall into a traditional clique in the high school hierarchy. Dobie, in particular, showed emotion when referring to Maynard leaving. These masculine stereotypes are not pictured showing emotion, as that could be perceived by some as "weakness". The relationship between the two showed an actual emotional connection built through years of friendship, which is more attributed to the female concept of BFFs. Male relationships are seen more as a teammate relationship, where no connection exists outside of a specific set of tasks.
Dobie Gillis started a trend of subculture in television primarily in the way it diverged from the typical nuclear family structure seen in family sitcoms. Instead of following the morals of family bonding and togetherness, Dobie Gillis focuses on a teenager and his friends. The family is not the central structure of life, and in some instances, as seen in our episode with Maynard, the parents are completely out of the picture or uninterested in their children. This created an entire plot structure focused on youth culture and the teenager’s life as seen through Dobie.
ReplyDeleteYet the depiction of Dobie’s character as a young, male teenager is also atypical. Masculinity here is not represented as the normal, tough all-American boy. In the episode we viewed in class, Dobie is portrayed as a sensitive best friend, who almost breaks into tears at the thought of Maynard leaving. He is thoughtful, and expresses his feelings, unlike the “manliness” found in typically distant father figures of television. We see the off-centered personality in Maynard, whose independence is laughed at, but ultimately praised. He represents a new type of teenager on television; one that isn’t perfect, doing his schoolwork, or looking for girls. He even offsets the importance of strength and serving our country in the army, typically an essential theme in the American nuclear family, through his ironic escalation in position and the apathy of his parents.
Within the teen culture we see in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, a subculture starts to arise that hints at the beatnik attitudes of the time. Maynard is the character who embodies this most clearly, with his outright abhorrence for the concepts of work and marriage. He claims he is looking for a girl to chill with and who likes to listen to jazz. Even when Dobie mentions the word marriage, Maynard’s reflect is always “married?!?!” and it becomes clear how he feels about these institutions that teenagers are expected to desire. This may be one of the first times a teenager is portrayed as rejecting the social norms of dating, courtship and marriage (expected of most teens at the time).
ReplyDeleteWhile Maynard overtly rejects these ideas, making his character seem unconventional or abnormal, Dobie too exhibits non-normative behaviors for a young man at this time. Rather than appearing like the young, confident, mature male character we’re familiar with from television shows at this time, Dobie is the opposite. He is insecure and desperate for a partner, and has had a number of failed attempts recently. Rather than continuing to pursue every available woman, he settles with Zelda and suggests they get married. The characteristics Dobie exhibits in this episode are common for female characters at this time, so it can be inferred that this segment was considered comical at the time due to the role reversals for these two men, neither of whom are fulfilling the expectations set forth for male characters on television at the time.
In the episode of Dobie we screened in class, both Dobie Gillis and Maynard G Krebs exhibit different forms of masculinity. At the time, the normative sense of masculinity fell upon the Clark Gable's of the generation, handsome, gentlemen types that made all ladies swoon. Dobie's masculinity was fairly normative when compared to Maynard's beatnik style. Maynard was not masculine in line with 1950’s tradition. He was a bit more timid, more willing to stick up against authority, and does not worry himself with romance. In a time when so many programs romanticized men as looking for a woman to settle down and marry, Maynard was more focused on himself. He also set himself apart in not worrying about his sense of self pride. The fact that his parents were seemingly perpetually disappointed in him concerned him, but didn’t make him feel like a failure. However, he did choose to join the army in the episode we screened, which was something that seemed traditionally masculine for someone like Maynard. However, it was discovered at the end of the episode, he brought his own style of masculinity to the unit he was in charge of. Proving that despite his offbeat style, Maynard still could be a traditional leader of men in his own, non-normative way.
ReplyDeleteThe budding subculture that was present in "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" was definitely geared towards teenagers and all of the fun, confusion, and growth that comes with being that age. By focusing more on typical teenage worries such as forming relationships, the show takes the spotlight away from older characters and places teens in the "frontman" role of maintaining the audience's interest. Similar to shows on television today, the teen subculture can be heavily influential in that teens themselves can be easily influenced and, especially true of the 1960s, the population of teenagers continues to expand in the United States.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the masculinities present on this show, the title itself serves as a clue to the non-normative masculinities of the show. It's clear that Dobie does not embody the stereotypical hyper-masculine male. Dobie is portrayed as being very affectionate towards those he cares about, something that is usually kept hidden by the "tough guy", and seems to put a lot of thought into how those surrounding him may feel in certain situations. For this episode in particular, the fact that his best friend Maynard was the focus of one of Dobie's "Many Loves" highlights how audiences may see these two boys as defying the masculine norm, as expressing one's love and care for the other might bring about accusations that the two are exhibiting homosexual tendencies--especially when compared to the friendships of the "tough guy" characters that seem almost cold and completely lacking in expressing "too much" emotion".
The Dobie Gills piece we watched in class took place in a small Suburban town with a population of mostly White Middle class Americans. This middle class culture defines Dobie as a teenager, thus from today’s point of view, provides the historian with the insight into the subculture of the teenager.
ReplyDeleteThe culture is usually associated with Dobi’s pursuit of popularity, money, and the attention of the beautiful women he is associated with. This made the implication that the young American teenager was always in pursuit of something they did not have.
His side kick was Maynard Krebs, he stole the show in his appearance as a wannabee Jazz musician . He played bongos, would collect tinfoil , petrified frogs. While he also went out of his way to avoid romance, authority figures and work. This was all done while he was speaking in a slang format of the English dictionary.
The portrayals of Dobie and Maynard seem to be polar opposites, Dobie, the responsible, semi-popular character goes out of his way to achieve goals to which he sets his sights upon. Whereas Maynard goes out of his way to avoid the goals which Dobie pursues. This comparison sets a polar opposite and because of it, this says that Americans at the time had the view of the young white teenager as either a go-getter or a no-go getter.
It’s long and quite strenuous to think of, but there are links to which can be made to the medias portrayal of the two and the standards of the American public, at least when thinking from about the goals of broadcasting companies. These of course are to sell as much as possible, thus, Maynard is not the ideal person to sell too, and instead, he is the opposite.