An Analysis of 8 Simple Rules

An Analysis of 8 Simple Rules

 

        8 Simple Rules is a television show that was aired on the ABC television network. The show originates from a book titled 8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter. The main two characters that I will be focusing on are Kerry and Bridget, who are the two daughters in the Hennessy family. Bridget is portrayed as a stereotypical "dumb blonde" who cares only about her appearance and receiving attention from boys. Her looks also match what could be considered the beauty standards in the United States; she has long legs, a thin figure, and sheen blonde hair paired with her flawless skin and perfectly made up face. Bridget Hennessy is made out to be a girl who is completely self centered and displays all of the negative stereotypes about beautiful women there can be. This again shows the example of how media portrays women as either beautiful or intelligent, but never both. Kerry, on the other hand, is the younger and more reserved sister. While Bridget frequently flaunts her body in minimal clothing, Kerry is always covered up appropriately. Kerry is portrayed to be somewhat of a "geek" compared to Bridget and her unrelenting beauty. Kerry is always shown as being unhappy about something and is seen more as the intellectual type. Because of these extreme personality differences, the two sisters are always clashing. The video below briefly demonstrates the type of personalities that both girls have.

              The character of Bridget demonstrates to young girls the same type of lesson that Gossip Girl had demonstrated as well. She makes it seem as though just because she is considered beautiful by society, she can do whatever she wants and also treats others relatively poorly. This also can be contributed from her "lack of intelligence." There are obvious gender stereotypes coming in to play here by making Bridget the tall, beautiful, blonde who acts like a princess and the quiet, artsy, intelligent, quirky, curly-haired Kerry who is often made out to be completely unattractive, especially when compared to her older sister. 

                A similar type of assumption is made about females in Eve Ensler's The Good Body where Helen Gurley Brown explains how she was not considered to be beautiful when she was younger, however her friend Elizabeth was. Helen's mother teaches her a horrible lesson on how she should be as a person after Helen informs her of when, "Elizabeth was swinging from the tree. She fell and everyone came and made a huge fuss over her. I told this to my mother and she said, "Of course: Elizabeth's pretty. People make a fuss over girls who are pretty. That's why you, you will need brains," (Ensler 13). Helen had acne when she was younger, and so there was no way she was meeting society's standards of beauty any time soon. Her mother had also completely demeaned her self confidence by basically claiming that she is not beautiful, never will be beautiful, and so in order to make it through our society, she needs to have a higher intelligence. It doesn't make sense to me why a girl cannot be both beautiful and intelligent, since intelligence is beauty in and of itself. However, these types of degradations have severe impacts on girls view themselves as they are developing. Due to her mother's scrutiny, Helen continued to "improve" upon herself as she continued to grow older and even after her mother had already passed away; as though she is still trying to gain her acceptance. Helen writes, "Don't get things fixed, Eve. Don't do it... If you do, another thing always breaks down. I had my eyes done when I was forty. I thought that would do. But no. Tried it again when I was fifty-six. First full face-lift at sixty-three. Second at sixty-seven. Third at seventy-three. I'm desperate for another, but there's no skin left on my face. Yesterday they took some fat out of my backside and they shot it into my cheeks... I am recycling. My shrink thinks I'm still doing this for my mother, Cleo's gone almost twenty years. Can you imagine, I'm still doing this for her? I never had a daughter. But if I did have a daughter, I would tell her she was beautiful and lovely every minute," (Ensler 13). Helen's story proves that when people are constantly doubting your appearance or your abilities, you lose your own self worth and begin to obsess with doing anything in your power in order to build yourself back up to par. In 8 Simple Rules, Kerry is always faced with the problem of basically living in her older sister's sparkling shadow. She is consistently viewed as insignificant and this is ultimately the reason why she is depressed or moody a majority of the time on the show. 

 

Bridget (left) & Kerry (right)

        In order to break away from causing young girls to feel this way, as though they are not good enough if they don't meet the beauty standards of society and do not look just like Bridget, Serena, Blair, supermodels, etc, media itself needs to change how it portrays women. There should not be a choice when it comes to intelligence or beauty, there are plenty of real-world examples of women who are extremely intelligent and also beautiful. Later on in the television series after the father passes away, Kerry gets a high-social-standing boyfriend and also begins to act more like Bridget and completely changes her persona. This sends a horrible example to any young girl who is watching the show, because it demonstrates that it is okay for a woman to completely change who she is in order to "fit in" in society. The show also shows Kerry as being happier for her change as well, which is also a completely false ideal that should never be portrayed to young women. 8 Simple Rules is not the only television show that plays upon female gender-stereotypes among sisters however, the Brady Bunch does it just as well with Marsha and Jan. Additionally to that, Full House also demonstrates how society's expectations of beauty impact young girls when D.J. begins starving herself in one episode. However, more on that to come in the next post!

Sincerely,
Samantha