Reinforcing Gender Stereotypes in a Most Unfortunate Way
By Margaret Crastnopol
Posted Thursday, March 15, 2001, at 1:12 PM ETWho are these people?
Dear Glen, Phil, and Joel,
Would it be too terribly predictable if I weigh in with some ambivalent reactions to Dr. Melfi's portrayal from a woman's perspective? I think you gentlemen are a bit too easy on her (or perhaps I should say, on her writer). Ugh, she makes me squirm! Her stiffness and the formulaic quality of many of her interventions suggest that it's time for her to retool, both psychically and technically. (She's already periodically seeing her own therapist, but she needs to meet with a supervisor or consultant who can more directly address her technical deficits and her countertransference issues.) Treating Tony--even now that the heat (both legal and erotic) has been turned down--still seems to be traumatizing Melfi personally. How else to explain her too frequent retreat into "psychoeducational" monologues that he can make only limited use of? I have to wonder whether she feels so intimidated by Tony--both his aggressive masculinity and the far more pernicious sociopathy--that she has to both retreat emotionally and also "one up" him by taking that high-handed (as well as "heavy-handed") attitude toward him. The gender/power division is a profound issue in their relationship, ramped up by the "life or death" significance of their work together. She is an extremely threatened and very angry woman--understandably so, given what it has cost her to treat him.
Now here's where my feminism comes in--I think that Melfi is being portrayed in an especially negative light, perhaps in keeping (if not as egregiously so) with the negative stereotypes that so often color the portrayal of female analysts. (Glen, what do you think, in light of your own very persuasive work in this area?) I am particularly troubled by the contrast made in seasons past between Melfi and her own male therapist. The latter is portrayed as far more rational, clear-headed, philosophical, and wise--than his patient Jennifer. Now admittedly, the once-removed clinician called in to help a therapist manage a difficult treatment is indeed in a calmer, more protected position, so portraying him that way isn't necessarily unrealistic. But the juxtaposition of a rational senior male clinician with an emotionally overwrought junior female clinician can reinforce gender stereotypes in a most unfortunate way. After all, in terms of social power, the only ones "on top" in this series are male! And that's not only within the necessarily patriarchal Soprano family itself. Does this have to be repeated among the clinicians as well?
Reinforcing Gender Stereotypes in a Most Unfortunate Way
By Margaret Crastnopol
Posted Thursday, March 15, 2001, at 1:12 PM ETThis spring, Slate will ask Dr. Melfi's real-life counterparts to examine developments on The Sopranos
. Glen O. Gabbard, M.D., is a professor of psychoanalysis at the Menninger Clinic and co-author of Psychiatry and the Cinema. Philip A. Ringstrom, Ph.D., Psy.D., is an analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles and a full-time practitioner. Joel Whitebook, a practicing analyst in New York, is on the faculty of the Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. Margaret Crastnopol, Ph.D., is on the faculty of the Northwest Center for Psychoanalysis and a practicing psychologist/psychoanalyst in Seattle. Click here to comment on Sunday night's episode. Reader Comments From The Fray:
Margaret Crastnopol hit it right on the head: we are being too easy on Melfi (or at least the portrayal of Melfi). Fact is, Tony Soprano is an idiot and she's physically intimidated by him. She's also turned on by him--which is a revolting possibility. Thing is, thousands of women are, in fact, turned on by Tony and his merry band of thugs. Crastnopol's suggestion that the doctor-patient and doctor-doctor power positioning does little to counter stereotypes of weak women being pushed around by angry, stupid men--this is all correct, too. Actually, the whole program is misogynistic and ought not be watched by anyone....yet, I'm strangely attracted to it, bad writing/acting and all. Is it that I'm that desperate for entertainment or is this representative of some deep misogyny within? Doctors, tell me: what drives us (me) to watch this thing, even when I know it's negative TV? There are too many men and women out there watching this and thinking that this is an acceptable way of life. What's wrong with us? A diagnosis, please.
--Phil H.
(To reply, click here.)
To Phil H:
There is nothing wrong with "us." But there is a problem with your formulation of the problem. To enjoy this well-written and well-acted drama, we are not obligated to find that the fictional characters pursue "an acceptable way of life." On the contrary, I would guess that 99.9% of viewers strenuously object to the way Tony puts bread on the Sopranos' table.
We enjoy the bravura plot twists, the odd contrasts, the marvelous characterizations, and the Machiavellian tactics--and the occasionally absurd results of the characters' efforts. The monstrous is combined with the mundane in a striking and amusing way. Consider Tony strangling a mafia traitor as his beloved daughter is interviewed for admission to a genteel New England college.
Millions of people have read and admired Crime and Punishment. Do you suppose they accepted the grotesque reasoning that drove Dostoyevsky's main character? Must we approve of step-patricide to enjoy Hamlet?
Relax and enjoy the series. If you feel the urge to emulate the main characters, call your therapist (or your local sheriff).
--Gary
(To reply, click here.)
On the question of the Mafia don who approved of Tony's therapy: Remember that this was a leader of the Manhattan mob. Probably they are a little more sophisticated than the Jersey crowd. Remember, it was only Junior and Tony's assumption that seeing a shrink was taboo. The New York family was probably way ahead of them.
--Aurora Duane
(To reply, click here.)
(3/15)
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Reader Comments From The Fray:
Margaret Crastnopol hit it right on the head: we are being too easy on Melfi (or at least the portrayal of Melfi). Fact is, Tony Soprano is an idiot and she's physically intimidated by him. She's also turned on by him--which is a revolting possibility. Thing is, thousands of women are, in fact, turned on by Tony and his merry band of thugs. Crastnopol's suggestion that the doctor-patient and doctor-doctor power positioning does little to counter stereotypes of weak women being pushed around by angry, stupid men--this is all correct, too. Actually, the whole program is misogynistic and ought not be watched by anyone....yet, I'm strangely attracted to it, bad writing/acting and all. Is it that I'm that desperate for entertainment or is this representative of some deep misogyny within? Doctors, tell me: what drives us (me) to watch this thing, even when I know it's negative TV? There are too many men and women out there watching this and thinking that this is an acceptable way of life. What's wrong with us? A diagnosis, please.
--Phil H.
(To reply, click here.)
To Phil H:
There is nothing wrong with "us." But there is a problem with your formulation of the problem. To enjoy this well-written and well-acted drama, we are not obligated to find that the fictional characters pursue "an acceptable way of life." On the contrary, I would guess that 99.9% of viewers strenuously object to the way Tony puts bread on the Sopranos' table.
We enjoy the bravura plot twists, the odd contrasts, the marvelous characterizations, and the Machiavellian tactics--and the occasionally absurd results of the characters' efforts. The monstrous is combined with the mundane in a striking and amusing way. Consider Tony strangling a mafia traitor as his beloved daughter is interviewed for admission to a genteel New England college.
Millions of people have read and admired Crime and Punishment. Do you suppose they accepted the grotesque reasoning that drove Dostoyevsky's main character? Must we approve of step-patricide to enjoy Hamlet?
Relax and enjoy the series. If you feel the urge to emulate the main characters, call your therapist (or your local sheriff).
--Gary
(To reply, click here.)
On the question of the Mafia don who approved of Tony's therapy: Remember that this was a leader of the Manhattan mob. Probably they are a little more sophisticated than the Jersey crowd. Remember, it was only Junior and Tony's assumption that seeing a shrink was taboo. The New York family was probably way ahead of them.
--Aurora Duane
(To reply, click here.)
(3/15)