MovieChat Forums > Leave It to Beaver (1957) Discussion > LITB Opionion Girls are Rotten

LITB Opionion Girls are Rotten

posted 8 years ago by janet-conant
9 replies | jump to latest

From seeing all the episodes I've concluded that LITB put women in a rather frivolous and self absorbed light. I can name many times that they were not portrayed with any character. Except Jill Bartlett, Beverly Washburn, was a nice girl and a good actress, Linda Dennison and Violet Rutherford.

I guess I'm trying to say that most of the girls were out to get the Cleaver boys.

Shirley Fletcher was always bragging and making Wally nervous while driving.

Julie and her friends taunting Wally about his mustache.

Caroline Schuster couldn't have been more evil to Eddie when she was just using him in Eddie's Double Cross.

That girl, Carol, who used Wally to get back at her boyfriend in Tennis, Anyone?

Frances Hobbs who kept Wally's sweater so everyone would think she caught him.

Mary Ellen Rogers in My Brother's Girl who just used Beaver to get to Wally.

Penny Jamison in Wally's Girl Trouble who thought Beaver was a grubby little infant and she was the epitome of sophistication.

Mary Tyler who threw Beaver over for Wally.

Let's not forget Mayfield's own Judy Hensler and later Penny Woods. Both spoiled and rotten.

The list goes on and on.

[–] MichaelMartinDeSapio 8 years ago

LITB was pretty much a boy-oriented show. The purpose was to show the pitfalls that a boy encounters growing up. Now, if this were a girl-oriented show they would have no doubt included a lot of rotten boys, with the purpose of showing how a girl should steer clear of them.

[–] janet-conant 8 years ago

True but I tend to think the writers portrayed girls with no redeeming qualities. I thought they made Ginny Townsend into a horrible person when all she did was try to lose weight, stay out of the sun (allergy) and not much into sports. I think lots of girls were like her.

[–] RvaBread22 8 years ago

I never went through an "I hate girls" phase. Maybe its because I have 3 older sisters. I wondered why he didn't like girls. I know he wasn't a homosexual. I never felt that way about girls that I can remember, and they act as if its normal for boys to hate girls and vice versa. But I'm guessing it was played up for the comedy.

"Life is like a box of Krispy Kreme donuts".

[–] MichaelMartinDeSapio 8 years ago

I never went through an "I hate girls" phase. Maybe its because I have 3 older sisters. I wondered why he didn't like girls. I know he wasn't a homosexual. I never felt that way about girls that I can remember, and they act as if its normal for boys to hate girls and vice versa. But I'm guessing it was played up for the comedy.

I don't think Janet was referring to the younger Beaver's aversion to girls, but rather the actual bad behavior of girls toward Wally (and, in a couple of instances, Beaver). As for the "Beaver hating girls" motif, I think it was a little overdone. Although I suppose it's natural for boys and girls to be indifferent to each other at that age, I do think the writers of LITB exaggerated it for comic effect.

[–] janet-conant 8 years ago

Right. I think that Penny Jamison was about as bad as you can get for a young girl. She was always trying to get Wally to dance attendance on her with that whiny voice. Telling him he had eyes like Tab Hunter and getting him to go to the library for a book. She was manipulative in a way most young girls were not. They show her calling Wally and having this chipmunk sounding voice balling him out after opening the gift. She was just way over the top.

Alma's mother (Wally and Alma) was about the worst older woman except for Mrs. Murdoch coming over to the Cleaver's with (Chuckie's Shoes) Chuckie and crying like a loony. Can I say loony?

[–] Navaros 8 years ago

I don't think Janet was referring to the younger Beaver's aversion to girls

But Beaver's hatred of girls is strongly tied in together with the overall ethos of the show that "girls are bad." Beaver's hatred of girls is not a separate thing to the representation of many bad girl characters; it's just another aspect of the same one thing.

[–] Navaros 8 years ago

I agree, janet, that LITB often makes girls look very bad.

And don't forget that gold digger Mary Margaret Matthews.

And don't forget how they make Betsy look like a scoundrel just for giving Beaver what he deserved after he spread rumors about her behind her back and then asked her to write his paper for him! The real scoundrel was definitely Beaver, yet he unjustifiably gets represented as a benevolent angel who was duped by an evil girl.

Part of the problem is the structure of the show. LITB is a drama and conflict is essential to drama. Combine that with the fact that June is the only female member of the main cast.

So if the producers are going to pay money to bring in guest characters, they generally have to bring conflict/drama with them. Hence, since girl guest actresses are usually only brought in for conflict purposes, they end up looking bad.

However, I think they should have given Beaver girl friends (not girlfriends, just friends who are girls) instead of having Beaver randomly hate girls for no reason. That would have made the show better and Beaver would have been a more likable character too.

[–] MichaelMartinDeSapio 8 years ago

But Beaver's hatred of girls is strongly tied in together with the overall ethos of the show that "girls are bad."

I don't agree that there is any such ethos. I think that's a misreading of the show. To me LITB is about the minefield of moral dangers that every child faces growing up. It's about pursuing the good and avoiding people and things that lead you into evil - whether in friendships or romantic relationships. Because our heroes are two young boys, and building healthy relationships with the opposite sex is part of growing up, the antagonists in the show are often girls. If Wally and Beaver had been girls, then the tables would have been reversed. The show also presents positive female roles. June is first among them. How about Mary Ellen Rogers and Julie Foster? How about the girl who baby sat for Beaver in "No Time for Babysitters"? She was very warm and understanding and saved Beaver a lot of embarrassment with his friends. I'm sure the examples could be multiplied.

LITB is a drama and conflict is essential to drama.

LITB isn't a drama, it's a social comedy. And that's a key point. The malignancy of some of the characters is *comic* and based on exaggeration of human character traits. Granted, comedies need conflict as well as drama, and I agree that the "bad girls" often serve the function of creating conflict.

And don't forget how they make Betsy look like a scoundrel just for giving Beaver what he deserved after he spread rumors about her behind her back and then asked her to write his paper for him! The real scoundrel was definitely Beaver, yet he unjustifiably gets represented as a benevolent angel who was duped by an evil girl.

We discussed this at length in another thread, but Beaver did not remotely come off as a benevolent angel in that episode.

[–] janet-conant 8 years ago

If you think about it they used Penny Woods as a love-like interest in two episodes. In Beaver's Baby Buggy she gives Beaver the wheels and invites him for snacks. They actually show them getting along until the end when she finds he's given her wheels away. Same thing in Farewell To Penny. She doesn't want that horrible Beaver Cleaver invited to her party but the real reason is she likes him and will miss him. They agree they have mutual attraction until we find Penny is not moving then it's back to mutual hatred.