Media Studies - TV
Feminist approaches to Life on Mars

A liberal feminist response might suggest that the 70s representation is intended to be ironic and should be accepted as such, in the belief that a contemporary audience viewing this would question and challenge these values, thus challenging the dominant social values of contemporary society. They might argue that the female roles are necessarily limited by the legislation of the period and that, in fact, Annie Cartwright is important within the narrative. Her journey may be perceived as the beginning of a shift to more positive representations of women in the media, which is what they seek. However, the notion that women themselves are constrained by social stereotypes or ‘norms’ is exemplified by Mrs. Raimes’ comments on the “lady policeman”.

A radical feminist response may reject the representations as illustrative of a male-dominated hegemony in which the (male-dominated) media producers of the text (male writers, directors, the BBC) are reinforcing patriarchal values. They may argue that even though the text is intended to be viewed in context (i.e. the “dated” gender roles of the 70s are intended to be seen ironically through 21st century eyes), the gender stereotypes are still being reinforced for mainstream audiences. They may believe that the only way to challenge this is to have media texts produced by women.