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.