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Reconfirming Gender Traditional Representation as Seen in the U.S. and Indonesian Sitcoms The King of Queen and Suami-suami Takut Istri (Husbands Afraid of Wives) The representation of gender in television has been a globally ongoing discussion up to date. In fact, the lead female characters in TV comedies have been more popular than male ones (Douglas, 1995, p76). It follows the myth of female dominance and break-down of male authority which have been used as major themes in situational comedies, particularly in the U.S. It is based on the fact that women are the target audience of situational comedies (Cantor as cited in Walsh et al., 2008, p124). This fact might lead to the opinion that gender representation on TV has reached its goal to represent women and men equally. Nevertheless, quantity of the lead female characters on TV does not always guarantee the betterment of womens social standing. For instance, gender inequality is commonly shown in prime time serials and sitcoms in which women are described to be weak, passive, and inferior, emotional, dependent, young, sexy, and dominated by men; meanwhile, men are characterized to be knowledgeable, independent, powerful, successful, tough and dominant (Busby as cited in Villanueva et al., 2009, p86). Surprisingly, a number of recent sitcoms in U.S. and Indonesia have tried to represent women and men quite differently from previous positions by revealing the female characters to be dominant, powerful, and smart, whilst the male to be incompetent, weak, inferior, and immature. These sitcoms seem to break the old image of both genders. Nonetheless, on a closer look, these camouflages change actually still preserve the traditional gender constellations. The first constellation appears in laughter is used as a tool to reconfirm the absurdity of changing the traditional gender representation. In her study of Indonesian sitcom Suami-suami Takut Istri (Husbands Afraid of Wives), Djunjung (2010, p3) stated
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that the success of a situation comedy depends solely on how it can make its audience laugh by providing a situation that can readily be identified (by the audience) as something that violates the accepted norms. Yet, to be able to make people laugh, a comedy needs to deal with issues that are considered to be absurd and abnormal. Apparently, the occurrence of obedient men and overassertive women is regarded as something improper and against norms and values in some patriarchal countries such as Indonesia and even the U.S. For example, inappropriate condition which is the depiction of obedient husbands and dominant wives construct the basis of laughter in SSTI. This condition deserves to be laughed at since it is contradictive with the practiced norms in which wives should be submissive towards husbands as the head of the family. Similarly, in The King of Queen, even though Carry is portrayed as the dominant house-wife of Doug, who often orders him around, threatens him, corrects his mistakes, and makes fun of his obesity, the kernel narratives within most of the episodes show that Doug tricks Carrie, that she submits to his requests, and that he is correct about the whole situation (Walsh et al., 2008, p127). These plots finally make audience laugh at Carrie, a female character that deviates from traditional gender roles (Walsh et al., 2008, p128). In this case, laughter is not just an innocent act, as it depends on how well the audience is able to discriminate the abnormal from the normal when they laugh over the characters (Djunjung, 2010, p3). Berger (as cited in Djunjung, 2010, p3) explains that laughter is in fact a form of power: thus, the ability to direct laughter at individuals, groups, institutions, and ideas indicates the political aspect of the laughter. In other words, the generated laughter in SSTI and TKoQ to mock the absurd scenes is considered to be something sanctified by tradition.
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Behind the new depiction of women and men in SSTI and TKoQ, a clash of masculinity and femininity in terms of physical and verbal violence acts as the second constellation. The violent behavior appears in SSTI; for instance, Ibu RT usually punishes her husband by locking him in the bathroom or doing extra housework; Shiela usually pinches Karyos belly; Deswita would readily twitch Faisals ear; and Welas would go into tantrums (Djundjung, 2010, p6-7) and ridiculously threw her sandals at her husband. These characterizations definitely break the traditional stereotypes of women. At a first sight, the viewers might consider this a positive effort to raise the position of women. Nonetheless, for the critical viewers, the change of dominant icons from men into women does not assure the betterment in the womens image. The existence of domineering wives and submissive husbands are regarded as something absurd, ridiculous or abnormal. The absurdity of the situation occurs in the portrayal of physically less powerful women who can perform continuous physical punishments for their husbands. In SSTI, the masculinity dominance is attached to women, and femininity subjection is attributed to men. In another example, Carrie in TKoQ is characterized to be a wife who often verbally insults Doug and makes joke of his laziness and weight. However, in the end of each plot, Doug is always right over the whole situations; thus, Carries deviate actions deserve to be laughed over (Walsh et al. 2008, p127). Thus, to conceal its main goal, SSTI and TKoQ are presented to be comedies. As Walsh et.al (2008, p127) further stated, By following the jokes and laughing along, viewers may lose tracks of the overall message of these stories. In other words, the uncritical audience may find women domination and men subordination not more than a joke. Correspondingly, the laughter indicates absurdity in the domination of women and submission of men in the patriarchal society.
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To sum up, the reason why TKoQ and SSTI can uphold their popularity is that they work by using the acknowledged patriarchal structure. At first glance, it seems that the sitcoms propose women emancipation through TV, but on inherent scrutiny, they merely reproduce traditional gender regimes that perceive mens domination as something destined by nature. The illogical depiction of dominant wives and compliant husbands make both genders become the object of mockery, and consequently they are laughed at. The power of laughter in the sitcoms is used as a tool to sustain the traditional position of women and to avoid the feminization or oppression of men. References Djundjung, Jenny M, 2009 The Fear Factor in the Indonesian Sitcom: Suami-Suami Takut Istri, Retrieved January 26 2011 from http://repository.petra.ac.id/18292/ Douglas, Susan, 1995, Sitcom Women: Weve Come A Long Way. Maybe., Ms, Vol. 6, no. 3, p76. Villanueva, CF, Castro JCR, Bilbao RD, Jimenez LG, and Almagro A, 2009, Gender Differences in the Representation of Violence on Spanish Television: Should Women be More Violent? Sex Roles, Vol. 61, No. 1-2, pp85-100. Walsh, Kimberley R, Fursich, E & Jefferson, Bonnie R, 2008, Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast: Gender Role Portrayals in Sitcoms Featuring Mismatched Couples, Journal of Popular Film and Television, vol. 36, no. 3, pp123-132.

Annotated bibliography Djundjung, Jenny M, 2009 The Fear Factor in the Indonesian Sitcom: Suami-Suami Takut Istri, Retrieved January 26 2011 from http://repository.petra.ac.id/18292/ The article is written for researchers, academia, and public who concern in gender representation in media particularly TV. The author studied an Indonesian phenomenal sitcom Suami-suami Takut Istri (Husbands Afraid of Wives) seen form feminist
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perspective. By depicting the husbands to be submissive and the wives to be dominant gave impression that the patriarchal values are being challenged. She argued that the sitcom essentially serves as a corrective tool for the deviant behaviors of men and women, and behind the generated laughter, there is aspect of fear that highlights the gender relationship. This aspect is fundamental to reconfirm the dominant values and norms by disapproving of any division that might break the acknowledged patriarchal concept of gender roles. Douglas, Susan, 1995, Sitcom Women: Weve Come A Long Way. Maybe., Ms, Vol. 6, no. 3, p76. This article is written for academia and public who deal much with media, TV, gender, and women. The author figured out the significant numbers of lead female characters on the U.S. sitcoms in 1995 comparing to those in 1970. The characters vary from the white women up to the African American women. The latter group of people used to be invisible in the shows. Moreover, womens characterizations were more than only being passive, dependent, white helpmates, under 35, and having blond hair. Villanueva, CF, Castro JCR, Bilbao RD, Jimenez LG, and Almagro A, 2009, Gender Differences in the Representation of Violence on Spanish Television: Should Women be More Violent? Sex Roles, Vol. 61, No. 1-2, pp85-100. The article is written for people concerning on media particularly TV programs in Spain. The researchers used eighty-four hours of Spanish TV broadcasting stations during 2000 and 2005 which were randomly recorded to discover whether and how TV contributes to reproduce the traditional gender regime. They found that women are also the victims of more serious violence. Paradoxically, womens aggressions appear to have more positive consequences and to be less legitimized. Walsh, Kimberley R, Fursich, E & Jefferson, Bonnie R, 2008, Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast: Gender Role Portrayals in Sitcoms Featuring Mismatched Couples, Journal of Popular Film and Television, vol. 36, no. 3, pp123-132. The article is written for academia and people who concern in gender and media issues. The authors studied two recent U.S. sitcoms, The King of Queens (1998-2007) and According to Jim (2001-07) and compared them to older sitcoms. They revealed the contradictions within the narrative elements of plot, characterization, and setting sustains a repressive gender constellation in these shows which discursively preserve patriarchal system.