[Culture Headlight]
Male Dominating Broadcast Circles
by Son Hee-jeong, Society Reporter,
shjshj88@mju.ac.kr
Let’s think about the popular TV programs
these days. Superman Comes Back, Leave Alone, Infinite Challenge etc…. Did you
find anything in common with them? All they have in common is the main casts
are men. At one point, we rarely can see the programs that are focused on
women, and programs that are focused on men are showing preponderance these
days. Now, let’s take a look at the male dominated phenomenon in broadcast
circles.
Male centered programs that treat their own stories are showing
predominance in broadcast. The main character who leads the program is almost
male, and the few women that appear on the programs cannot play a major role.
Also, considering that the women centered program (such as Infinite Girls and
Youth Never Lose) did not make a splash, successful TV entertainment programs
are all men centered surprisingly. It’s a simple reason. In the case of variety
show, most of them require long shooting time and high output of physical
energy, so producers prefer men naturally. Compared to men, it is not easy to put
women in variety show.
It seems that golden
days of male casts will be continued, despite the indication that there are too
many male centered programs. So, we can suggest a question that ‘Is it hard for
them to produce women centered program?.’ For this question Jung Hee-seop who
is CP at KBS entertainment station said, “Chances of success are much higher
when we gather male casts. Female casts have limitation in reality show because
they concern their appearance.” And another entertainment program PD said that when
viewers watch the female cast’s behavior without pretense, they think their
behavior is pretentious. Also, he adds that because female viewers are
interested in male reality show, men centered programs are comfortable ways to
get stable ratings. Furthermore an interested person of SBS entertainment station
said, “Male cast’s behavior is dynamic unless it is daily time practice. So
that’s why we prefer male casts.”
Golden days of male casts are related to
viewer’s mentality. Production crew usually set women for the main viewers.
Women seek for men centered programs which are unfamiliar with women rather
than women centered programs which are familiar with themselves. Production
crew fully understands with the women’s emotion. One example for this, we can
mention ‘Dad Where We Go?’ which is the first man childcare variety show. In
modern society, father’s role in the family is to take responsibility of
household economy. This parental role causes the problems that they don’t have
time to spend time with his children. As a result, ‘dad hanging out with kids’
becomes fewer and fewer. According to an investigation of employment
conditions, our society’s average working hours is about 72hours per week. It
makes fathers cannot spend much time with their children. So women have
considerable longing for a family man, and production crew includes a scene
showing family man. That is what women want to see the most, but cannot find
easily in everyday life. Finally it brings about vicarious satisfaction of
women, and also can act as an indirect experience about childcare.
.
Women
viewer’s attention reached the peak with ‘Grandfather over Flower’ and ‘Real
Man.’ These programs are focused on ‘newness.’ In ‘Grandfather over Flower’,
four gray-headed old men are traveling all around the world together. It gives
viewers both the longing for travel and impression. Men’s trip, especially the
aged men which can’t be seen easily, drew women viewer’s attention. In fact,
more than half of total viewers are women viewers. ‘Real Man’ is focused on
basic interest of the women about men. Women who have no knowledge of army see
the men’s army life, and they feel curious about world of men. Also, this
program’s more than half of total viewers are women.
Like this,
entertainment programs are focused on what viewers want to see and what viewers
starve for. In other words, TV programs are mirror of the society, and enable
us to look back our society’s basic values. Watching the process that dad who
has no time to play with his child hangs out with his child and the process
that four gray-headed actors travel all around the world, viewers satisfy the
desire that how to enjoy the second life. Consequently, to remind absence of
the ideal male image, most of entertainment programs are producing male
centered program. Also producers are well aware of how to express and what to
represent. Of course, in the situation that male centered programs are
pervaded, it is hard to take the initiative of female centered programs.
However, if the society’s consciousness could change, as TV programs reflect
the society, we can expect that female centered programs will meet golden days.
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