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The Mindy Project: Feminism Analysis

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The Mindy Project: Feminism Analysis
As a mainstream media source, television takes on an influential role to convey ideas and express messages to the general public. What are shown on televisions often correspond to the present situations in society. The topic of feminism is reflected as a prominent social issue through the entertainment industry, where an increase of feminist television shows has become a trend. Feminism has been advocated through television in various ways according to different periods, where each period reflects its own feminist ideology. Starting around the 2010s, women-lead shows are increasing in prime-time television over this decade. This continual trend reflects how viewers became more sensitive to feminism since these female representations are more …show more content…
Also, is showing women’s struggles weakening the feminist ideal of women power or independent? Comedies tend to portray how their female characters stumble in life so that they could elaborate humor. However, will these humorous images result in feminism being introduced positively or negatively to its audience? The show, The Mindy Project, may be one of the examples that are negatively affected by the contradiction between feminist message and humor. The Mindy Project was premiered on Fox in 2012 and later aired on Hulu after its 3rd season in 2015, and now continue into its 5th season. The show created by Mindy Kaling, who also starred as the main character, centered on an obstetrician/gynecologist’s life, which having a successful career but is constantly searching for her ideal love life. This romance comedy gained initial success by promoting a feminist message and displaying the reality that no one is perfect. Through its main character—Mindy Lahiri (Mindy Kaling)—audiences were shown a strong and independent woman who had the perfect career, while clumsily searching for romance and love in her life. However, I make the claim that the decline of using humor as an approach to moderately advocate feminism by the show is letting its audiences down as it develops through further seasons. I will be dissecting how feminism is depicted differently in The Mindy Project through its development to support my
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