COMM 380:  Media Criticism

What do you get when you combine The Real Housewives, The Office and Downton Abbey into one show? You get Comedy Central’s Another Period.

 

Airing in June 2015, comedians and actors Natasha Leggero and Riki Lindhome created a clever and raunchy parody about the antics and ridiculousness of high society in pre-World War I America. With Ben Stiller as the Executive Producer, the show is produced like a part-reality show like The Office, poking fun at American addiction to shows such as The Real Housewives and Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Most notably, however, Another Period satirizes gender inequality, sex and sexuality and the politics and economics of marriage in early-20th century America in order to highlight the continued flaws of American society.

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Context

 

Another Period is set in 1902 Newport, Rhode Island, surrounding the lives of the affluent Bellacourt family. The characters feature an all-star cast of comedians and actors. The Commodore Bellacourt (David Koechner) is a magnet tycoon, married to Dorothea “Dodo” Bellacourt (Paget Brewster). Their full-grown, useless children are Frederick Bellacourt (Jason Ritter), Beatrice Bellacourt Downsy (Riki Lindhome), Lillian Hitler Schmemmerhorn-Fish (Natasha Leggero and the ugly Hortense Jefferson Library Bellacourt, played by three separate actors (Lauren Ash, Lauren Flans and Artemis Pebdani). Hortense is allegedly barron, for which she is ridiculed. Even today, if women are infertile, they are viewed in a negative light as well (Whiteford & Gonzalez 1995).

 

Lillian and Beatrice are the main characters of the series, using every chance to seek fame and further their fortunes. Both characters were forced to marry men who are revealed to be homosexual for each other and their father Commodore is having an affair with a servant. The family has an abundant number of servants, led by Head Butler Mr. Peepers (Michael Ian Black), and the program introduces a number of historical figures that assist the story in making fun of societal norms and problems of 20th century America, frequently intertwining and criticizing modern day issues.

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Gender Inequality and Degradation

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The early 1900s saw the emergence of key historical events, particularly the women suffrage movement. Another Period does exceptionally well to emphasize and ridicule the laws and social norms that oppressed women in 20th century society that relate to the flawed dynamics between men and women in the United States today. In the pilot of the program, Hortense, a member of the women suffrage movement, invites Hellen Keller to Bellacourt Manor as an esteemed guest. Lillian and Beatrice are unaware of who she his, but continue to berate Hortense about how women should not have the right to vote. Several episodes later, Beatrice and Lillian are seen chanting “No votes for women,” at a women’s suffrage rally. They rationalize their position saying, “If women get the chance to vote, who’s next? Tulips? Horses? Would we have to vote everyday?” This incident highlights the satirization of women in the modern day who vote against their interests (Lee 2016).

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Most directly, Another Period criticizes gender oppression that is exhibited in programs like beauty pageants and The Bachelor in the modern day. In the third episode of the series, the Newport Beauty Pageant opens its doors to women contestants for the first time, to compete against babies and cabbages. Dodo Bellacourt scoffs that in her day, “Women were judged for their fertility, silence and their threshold for pain,” but never their beauty.

 

During the pageant, the host (Jack Black) asks each of the human contestants a question, first asking them for a kiss. Beatrice does so willingly and she is asked a simple question, “What is your favorite time of day?” After several moments of struggle she answers, “I think I should ask a man.” She receives perfect scores from the judges. However, Lillian refuses to give the host a kiss and receives a difficult question, to which she replies about the unfairness of the event. The host says, “Oh a little nippy, not encouraging,” and she receives subpar scores. Lillians husband, who acts as her coach further adds to Lillian, “You got cocky. No one likes a confident women.” In the United States, men continue to struggle in the presence of powerful, strong and vocal women (Kamps 2013).

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Similar to The Bachelor, a prince comes to Bellacourt Manor in the second season to choose a bride, and he is supposed to choose between Lillian and Beatrice. To do so, he takes each one on a date to see who impresses him more, which causes a rift between the sisters who relentlessly compete with each other to become his princess. In the end, he chooses neither, but this episode directly criticized the objectification exhibited in The Bachelor (Wicks 2016).

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One of the most satirical aspects of the program is Beatrice Bellacourt Downsy herself. Depicted as the most idiotic of the characters, other than her twin brother Frederick, Beatrice periodically exhibits characteristics of above average intelligence. However, the men around her, who are confused and frightened when she uses ‘big words’, frequently stall her intelligent remarks. In the earliest episodes, her mother Dodo says that by marrying into a certain family, their infinite wealth would double, to which Beatrice responds, “Mother, infinity cannot be doubled as it is defined by its limitlessness.” Frederick responds, “Beatrice it scares me when you use big words like that,” because of which she points to the sun and shouts, “Look! The day moon!” In the second season of the series, Beatrice solves Albert Einstein`s equation and helps him discover the foundation of his theory of relativity. When he offers to take her with him to Switzerland, she stays and pretends to be stupid when Frederick begs her not to leave. (SPOILER ALERT) Beatrice and Frederick, who are twins, have an incestuous relationship.

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Sex and Sexuality

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Sex is satirized most prominently in the inclusion of an incest plotline. In the early 20th century and earlier, families would inbreed with cousins or other relatives to preserve family bloodlines. However, in this program, the relationship is between siblings and the act is consensual. Sibling incest is not consensual (Carlson et. al. 2008), so to parade incest to publicly as a topic of the program is somewhat humorous, but also quite disturbing to watch. Incest is only captured through the relationship between Fredrick and Beatrice. When Sigmund Freud psychologically evaluates Frederick to fill the vacant seat of Rhode Island Senator, Freud diagnoses him with homosexuality.

 

After unsuccessfully undergoing gay conversion therapy, Frederick is about to have incestuous sex with Beatrice when Freud walks in on them and determines that he is “cured of homosexuality.” However, when Frederick asks Freud if he has a problem with him having intercourse with his sister, Freud responds, “That seems perfectly natural to me.” Another Period criticizes here the outrageous aversion to homosexuality, hyperbolizing it to say that Americans would socially accept incest over homosexuality.

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The series also plays with the idea of sex for pleasure.

In the beginning of the series, the audience learns that

Lillian and Beatrice are required to “have procreation sex

with their dumb husbands” once per month according to their

marital contracts.

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However, in the second season, Lillian learns of the innovative

invention called the ‘condom,’ only then discovering that

women can have sex for pleasure and not become pregnant.

However, vendors would not sell the condoms to women

unless they performed sexual favors.

 

Homosexual sex is also epitomized in this program. Early on, we see a less explicit scene between Lillian and Beatrice’s husbands, who are in a committed relationship with one another. In addition, Beatrice and Eleanor Roosevelt, who was rumored to have had an affair with a women friend in real life (Lessard 1999), have sex with each other.

 

Finally, rape is explored for both men and women in relation to sex. In the second episode, one of the male servants is raped, or ‘ravished,’ by a woman visiting the home. Ashamed, he tells other servants that he had been ‘ravished.’ Blanche (Beth Dover), the servant bullied the most by the other servants and recently released from an insane asylum, said that “Men cannot be ravished,” which is a common belief held among some women in society today, although not the majority (Calida 2015, Vagianos 2015).

 

While some women perceive that men cannot be raped, this is an opinion made fun of in Another Period. In the same episode, when the servant reveals that he had been ravished by a noblewoman, the Mr. Peepers, the Head Butler, says that he should be grateful to have been ravished. Another servant says that if he did not want to be ravished, he should not have been wearing an inviting little valet’s uniform, and that it was his fault. This comment highlights a controversial and incorrect slight towards women rape survivors in the United States. Oftentimes, bigots say that rape victims “were asking for it,” because of what they were wearing (Goff 2011).

 

Marriage

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Another Period jeers at marriage for the purposes of uniting fortunes and attaining greater status, which is not unlike the modern day. Men were paid dowries to marry the daughters of rich businessmen. As Lillian’s husband says, “The dowry is very valuable. It’s like a prize for enduring something terrible or something that makes you want to vomit.” In the second episode, Lillian and Beatrice, who do not love their husbands, learn about divorce. Wishing to have a divorce, Lillian and Beatrice also learn that the only way a divorce could be granted was if their husbands died, were unfaithful or assaulted them. Lillian first attempts to have her husband arrested for battery, and even fakes his own death. In the modern day, women who are married have a higher status than those who are not. There is long-associated stigma and shame associated with being unmarried, especially unmarried with children (Cook & Dickens 2014).

 

Conclusion

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Another Period is an unconventional program that aims to emphasizes social issues in the United States in a way that hopes to inspire realization of certain idiocies. Gender roles and inequality, sex and sexuality and the institution of marriage are all criticized for being archaic. While the show takes place in the 1900s, the references are applicable and configured to relate to issues in the modern day. Women continue to be praised for loyalty and silence, objectified for their beauty and are shunned for being single.

 

The issues, while series, are projected in Another Period as a means to introduce uncomfortable or controversial topics in a humorous way to avoid the discomfort. While the discomfort cannot be avoided in the scenes regarding incest, the show has a clever plotline and a brilliantly funny cast who emphasize that working to resolve social issues and tensions is the key to sustainable social progress.

 

References

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Leggero, N., & Lindhome, R. (Writers), & Konner, J. (Director). (2015, June 23). Another Period [Television series]. New York, New York: Comedy Central.

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Carlson, B. E., Maciol, K., & Schneider, J. (2006). Sibling Incest: Reports from Forty-One Survivors. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 15(4), 19-34. doi:10.1300/j070v15n04_02

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Cook, R. J., & Dickens, B. M. (2014, April). Reducing stigma in reproductive health. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 125(1), 89-92. doi:10.1016/j.ijgo.2014.01.002

 

Goff, K. (2011, March 15). Of Course She Was Asking for It. Retrieved November 22, 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keli-goff/of-course-she-was-asking-

_b_835782.html.

 

Kamps, L. (2015, March 25). Aggressive or Assertive? Bitchy or Blunt? 3 Women on

Overcoming Sexist Feedback at Work. Elle Magazine. Retrieved from

http://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/advice/a27473/aggressive-or-assertive- bitchy-or-blunt-3-women-on-overcoming-sexist-feedback-at-workand-rising-up-through- the-ranks/.

 

Lee, B. Y. (2016, November 8). Why People Vote Against Their Own Interests. Forbes.

Retrieved from http://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/advice/a27473/aggressive-or- assertive-bitchy-or-blunt-3-women-on-overcoming-sexist-feedback-at-workand-rising- up-through-the-ranks/.

 

Lessard, S. (1999, September). First Lady of the New Deal [Review of the washington monthly Eleanor Roosevelt: Vol. 2]. The Washington Monthly, 31(9), 47-49.

 

Whiteford, L. M., & Gonzalez, L. (1995, January). Stigma: The hidden burden of infertility. Social Science & Medicine, 40(1), 27-36. doi:10.1016/0277-9536(94)00124-c

 

Wicks, A. (2016, June 30). Another Period Shows How Antiquated The Bachelor Really Is.

Paste Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/06/another-period-shows-how-antiquated- the-bachelor-r.html.