"There is difference and there is power. And who holds the power decides the meaning of the difference." --June Jordan

Friday, February 20, 2009

Lurking in the Quotation Marks

Yahoo news has this blurb about the new CBS sitcom "Accidentally on Purpose":

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Jenna Elfman, who starred in the sitcom "Dharma & Greg," has been cast in the lead role of the CBS comedy pilot "Accidentally on Purpose."

She will play Billie, a San Francisco movie critic who finds herself "accidentally" pregnant after a fling with a younger man, and builds an unconventional family around her "mistake."


Now, while the entire show can't be summed up in just one sentence, I'm bothered by those quotes around "accidentally" and "mistake". Because they hint at a plot based around one of most dangerous stereotypes used against women -- that women are deceitful and will try to get pregnant to trap men. Just as TV teaches men to fear the mythically numerous "girls who cry rape", do we really need another example of a "sperm-theif" outside of soap operas?

I suppose we will see in time what this show is really all about. But I'm skeptical.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's CBS, honey. Home of "Touched by an Angel". I'll bet the "accident" is an act of God, and her only "mistake" is that she didn't try for a huge family in the first place.