Provide a 7 pages analysis while answering the following question: Gender Representation in the Mass Media. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide. An abstract is required. The Independent Woman by PBS is a documentary that analyzes the changes in women’s roles in American television. It traces how there have been changes in television particularly analyzing how television has represented gender roles. The Independent Woman uses interviews and characterization to bring about the different roles played by women to show the changes in gender representation. The independent Woman gives the role of women as having developed too complex and at times controversial in terms of the characters women act and the roles they play. The documentary portents that the days of women being portrayed in a white apron cooking and as housemaids are long gone and taken over by further complex and fascinating roles. The documentary makes use of a number of movies with all depicting women as independent, a change from the traditional depiction of women.

Independent Woman interviews television stars and producers including Roseanne Barr who acted in “Roseanne”, Candice Bergen in “Murphy Brown” Felicity Huffman, and Eva Longoria in ‘Desperate Housewives. Felicity Huffman believes that the portrayal of women is about creativity “as it pertains to television and how it gets to be created”. She acted as Lynette Scavo in Desperate Housewives where she breaks up with her husband Tom and contends that motherhood can be hard. This is the first evidence as Lynette is portrayed as having been more independent after the breakup and was able to make her own judgment and decisions. Julian Marguilles, Robert, and Michelle King in the “Good Wife” are also interviewed. Julianna Margulies, in Good Wife, struggles to juggle being a mother, working, maintaining a relationship, and keep her integrity. James Brooks and Mary Tyler Moore in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and Shonda Rhimes and Sandra Oh of “Greys Anatomy” were interviewed in the Independent Woman.

The other evidence given is the views of actors, producers, influential people in the television industry, creators, and writers giving their insights on their shows, roles and the main topic on the female portray of women on television. The main reasons for the interviews were to get the opinions from the producers and characters as they give to the life to these characters for the benefit of viewers who identify with the character.