LUCY - An Accidental Feminist

FOLLOW UP TO HEROINES OF MY YOUTH (posted a few days ago)

I Love Lucy of the 1950’s – the greatest American TV sitcom EVER – was already in re-runs when I started watching it in the 70’s. As a young girl, what I so loved about ILL was the silliness of it all. And it was silly! Lucy (Lucille Ball) & Ethel (Vivian Vance) getting into all kinds of scrapes, often dragging their respective hubbies – Ricky (Desi Arnaz) and Fred (William Frawley) – into their mishap adventures. What’s not to love about a character – Lucy – who dresses as Superman & gets stuck on a ledge with pigeons, who steels John Wayne’s footprints, who inhales chocolate, etc. ? She made my younger self laugh. She was a good-hearted loon.

OK – now yes, she was a housewife and mother whose husband ruled the roost – OR AT LEAST TRIED TOO. Ricky was forever telling Lucy what to do in a paternalistic tone. Yes, he treated her like a child – even spanking her on occasion (yikes! my adult, feminist self yelps!). And, yes, she recognized his “right” to do so - though grudgingly. She never claimed that wives had the right to question their husband’s mandates. She never questioned his right to speak to her as a father and not as a husband, fashioning her as a little girl who needed paternal guidance. All of this is true and, on some level, I probably intuited this even as a young girl. Did I question it? No. I did not yet know I should question it. I did not have the maturity, awareness yet to even know how to agree or disagree with it. If asked, I’m sure I would have said that, “No, my parents do not conduct their marriage this way.” But, then again, for the time, I had hipper parents than some.

Now the key, here, is that Ricky TRIED to rule Lucy. The charm of Lucy, both then and now, for me was/is that Lucy is ultimately UNRULEABLE! Lucy is a rule breaker! No, she does not break rules in order to make a feminist statement – even a 1950’s version of one. But, in her own rebellious way, she proves that women can break the molds within which their world tries to cast them – even if they do not do so for explicit socio-political reasons. Lucy was just being Lucy. A free-spirited rule breaker.

My younger self learned to be a rule-breaker from Lucy. To go for what I wanted irrespective of what I was told I wanted. Lucy – and Ethel – taught me to be a rebel. A good-natured rebel. After all, Lucy was a good hearted soul. She knew what she wanted and was determined to get it irrespective of male orders to the contrary. Me, the feminist of today, still nurtures Lucy’s rebel spirit in my heart.

I have continued to watch I Love Lucy over the years. I have seen every episode at least 2 dozen times (this is not an exaggeration, I confess!). My domestic world is not full of paternalistic men telling me what to do. But, if it were, I would take a cue from Lucy – with a decidedly feminist twist.

As for the the thorny question of whether or not such dated TV shows are "safe" viewing for the young of today . . . always a tricky issue . . . I will definitely have a talk with my son about the "historical context" which encompasses Lucy's world when he is old enough to laugh along.

[It occurred to me after posting this that I should have mentioned the fact that the comedienne Lucille Ball who created Lucy Ricardo was also part owner of the production company that produced I Love Lucy - Desilu Productions - amazing for a woman at that time. She co-spear-headed Desilu with her CUBAN husband, Desi Arnaz. The additional fact that I Love Lucy featured an inter-cultural marriage in the 1950's was very progressive, to say the least.]