Last night, STA and I live-tweeted 2 more episodes of The Brady Bunch, Season 1. Here are the tweets archived on Storify:
A Clubhouse is not a Home (6)
Kitty Karry-all is Missing (7)
Both were memorable episodes, introducing some themes that will be repeated again and again…and again throughout all five seasons. For example, the Kitty Carry-all episode is a great illustration of how easily and cruelly the kids turn on each other and how effectively they regulate and discipline each other. As I live-tweet the series, this is one theme that I’m particularly interested in tracking, especially how it relates to the particular brand of family values that the Brady’s practice and promote.
Another important theme is the repeated reference to feminism and feminist principles. “A Clubhouse is not a Home” is the first explicit reference to feminism. They mention the need for equality,
Alice is watching a bad soap opera while dicing up onions. The woman in the soap opera is arguing for equality. #tbbs1
— Sara Puotinen (@undisciplined) March 3, 2012
the right to fair treatment for girls/women
Carol’s feminist statement: She declares: “Girls have the right to everything boy’s have!” #tbbs1then she cries. — Sara Puotinen (@undisciplined) March 3, 2012
and the girls even protest their unequal treatment with picket signs.
The girls protest the boy’s clubhouse: “Women’s Rights Now!” “Unfair to females!” #tbbs1
— Sara Puotinen (@undisciplined) March 3, 2012
Wow. I’m not sure what they’re doing with feminism in this episode (well, I think I know, but…)
Is this a feminist episode? Or, is it just playing with/making fun of feminist principles? #tbbs1
— Sara Puotinen (@undisciplined) March 3, 2012
I want to revisit Mimi Marinucci’s great article on the Brady Bunch, “Television, Generation X, and Third Wave Feminism: A Contextual Analysis of the Brady Bunch” in order to put their mention of feminism in this episode into the larger context of the entire series and its relationship to 1970s culture. Briefly, here’s Marinucci’s summary of the episode:
In a very early episode, the Brady girls demand equal access to the Brady boys’ clubhouse (‘‘A Clubhouse Is Not a Home’’). When Mike and the boys exclude them, Carol decides that the girls should begin building a clubhouse of their own. The point, however, is not actually to build a clubhouse, but to do such a poor job that Mike and the boys will take pity and build it for them. The scheme works, and Mike sends the girls to fetch lemonade while he and the boys get to work.
What she seems to be getting at with her description is that, even as The Brady Bunch draws upon feminist principles/slogans, it does so in a way that undercuts them. The girls will try anything to get access to their own space; they’ll spout “feminist principles” that they don’t really believe in or understand or pretend to be incompetent in order to trick the boys into doing the work for them. Do I agree with this assessment? Hmm…not sure, yet.
