Ideological Critique: Parks And Recreation

NBC’s Parks and Recreation displays many different dominantideologies however in my opinion, one of the most obvious in the show would be the dominant ideology of masculine hegemony. The show portrays this through RonSwanson’s masculinity and attitude and through the erratic and emotional quirks of Leslie Knope. Ron Swanson is a manly man who has very strong beliefs about how things should be done. He feels that men are better than women and that’s that. And Leslie Knope is a very cheerful, fun character, who gets very attached and emersed in different things ( for example, she loves the town horse Little Sebastian and has made up holidays on almost every day). This dominant ideology basically says that women should not be in a position of power because they can get too emotionally involved, etc. This ideology is also shown through the privileging of men, along with the hierarchy of social positioning of men and women in different scenarios.

However, Leslie Knope’s character challenges this dominant ideology by being a strong woman and going above and beyond her call of duty in the office. For example, although she is a woman, she is always willing to do what needs done, even if it involves going on the trash route with the boys, or cleaning out the river with her own hands. Despite dominant ideologies, she is not afraid to get her hands dirty or to work hard physically. In the government building she is the only woman who is honored on the wall, which makes her feel very empowered. However they do include a realization of what the dominant ideology is because she states how people look up to her because she is up on the wall however, “except this one guy, he’s always looking at my boobs.” This episode shows her challenging the dominant ideology, but they still remind the audience of how some people still haven’t changed.

Overall I think that the show does a good job of establishing and challenging the ideology of masculine hegemony. It is very easy to notice both parts of it when watching the show. Leslie Knope’s character does a great job of exemplifying the ideology and then proving that wrong when the time comes.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xb8ztr_parks-and-recreation-i-m-just-a-gir_fun

Here is a good video of Leslie Knope displaying this dominant ideology in order to get out of trouble for shooting someone. She starts off trying to prove that the accident did not happen because she was a woman, however once she realizes that the cop is not buying her story, she tries a different approach to the situation. 

Parks & Rec: A Semiotic Analysis

In this post, I have chosen one advertisement for NBC’s Parks and Recreation, and I am going to offer my own semiological analysis.

( http://parksandrecreation.wikia.com/wiki/Season_3 )

First of all, semiotics is the study of signs. Signs are made up of signifiers and signifieds. A signifier is the different pieces of the images and the words that describe them. Then a signified is the meaning of these signifiers put together.

There are many different signifiers in this photo, and these can all give us an insight on who each of the characters are.

Leslie Knope, who is the main character of the show, is located in the center of the image. This shows that she is the most important, and the show is centered around her.

Ann Perkins, who is sitting in the chair to Leslie’s right, is Leslie’s best friend. I think that her placement in the image displays that she is always by Leslie’s side. And I think that sitting in a chair shows her laid back attitude.

Ron Swanson, who is sitting in the other chair, is Leslie’s boss. Again, I think that the fact he is sitting in a chair shows that he is more laid back, and doesn’t take his job too seriously. But his posture and facial expression show his serious attitude.

April Ludgate, standing on Leslie’s left is the office intern.  Her posture and facial expression shows that she really doesn’t care too much. But her positioning next to Leslie displays that she is a important character and plays a large role in the show.

Andy Dwyer, on the far left of the photo is Aprils Boyfriend. His facial expression shows his silly and fun personality. Then his positioning on the outside of the image shows that he is a much less important character than some of the others.  Also, his outfit shows that he is very casual and not highly professional.

Tom Haverford, on the far left of the photo is another worker in their parks and recreation office. He works very closely along with Leslie. His positioning towards the front of the image shows that he plays a large role in the show. And his outfit shows that he is kind of extravagant. He is the most dressed up out of everyone, and this really goes along with his personality.

Donna, Chris, Ben and Jerry are all towards the back of the image. They are all other workers in the parks department. They do play a role in the show, but their characters are not quite as important.

Also, the image takes place outdoors, around an office desk. This portrays that a lot of their work has to do with parks and the outdoors, however most of the show takes place in an office.

All of these signifiers tell us so much about the characters in the show. Using semiotics, we can look at the image, and find out about the show without even watching it. It is easier to interpret what the image means when you have seen the show and are familiar with the characters, however you can still learn these things just by dissecting the signifiers and determining the signified.