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I chose to discuss the aspects of the readings in comparison with the Showtime TV show //WEEDS//. With a provocative and controversial storyline revolving around the main character Nancy Botwin and her dysfunctional fellowship of friends, the Showtime series never has a dull moment.

Learn about the characters.​

** Johnson **

When Johnson talks about gender issues in the workplace I think of season four. In this season Guillermo Garcia—Nancy’s sort-of boss at the time—instructs her that she can no longer deal, but she has to run a maternity store instead. Nancy is not happy with this, but goes along anyway. One of the first days she worked, she went into the back room to find a secret trap door to a long tunnel, and Mexicans bringing stuff (drugs, guns) in and out of it. Guillermo immediately comes up the tunnel and tells her she better not dare go down in that tunnel, and to go back to the store. Come to later find out it was a tunnel to Mexico. I think that this sequence and some of the other ones that take place in the maternity store in season four is a good example of these gender issues that Johnson talks about. First of all, Guillermo is the typical patriarchal man, who gets paid more and gets to boss Nancy around. Nancy is just run by the patriarchal man, working hard, but barely getting paid enough. Not satisfied with what the big-shot man is making her do, and not satisfied with her pay. In the business that Nancy is in, which is mostly males, is extremely run by patriarchy. All of the biggest dealers on the show are males who have a big ego, and aren’t going to let anyone get in their way. They put out their masculinity for everyone to see, they flaunt their guns, toughness, wealth, and usually have other people do their dirty work for them—because they can. This aspect of the show is much like when Johnson talks about how almost all positions of authority are positions of authority.

The one thing that goes against this view by Johnson is when the subject of ‘head of household’ comes up. What is very interesting with the show //Weeds// is that Nancy Botwin is indeed the head of her household, which goes against everything that Johnson is saying about the subject. Even when Andy Botwin (her husband’s brother) shows up, he doesn’t show much patriarchy. For a while he was just mooching off Nancy, and so finally she made Andy start doing things around the house—cooking, cleaning, watching Shane and making sure Silas stayed out of trouble. Basically throughout the seasons, it was always Nancy calling the shots—especially when it came to her household and her family. She stuck to her ground and was fiercely protective of her family. She worked hard in the very patriarchal dealing society, and proved many male’s wrong who thought that she was a joke (which in the beginning she was for a bit, until she learned the tricks of the trade). And so, in a way Mrs. Botwin shows that not in all situations do women have to follow in these footsteps behind the patriarchal man.



** Kearny ** In the reading, one of the main ideas that Kearny puts out is the forms of popular culture that challenge the consumer. I think that with this topic, the show //Weeds// can definitely fit in. With culture right now, Marijuana is and has been for a few years, a big topic of debate. There have been certain groups protesting against Cannabis, preaching that it only does more harm than good; and others protesting to have it legalized for medical use (which it has been in a couple states in the west, California being one of the biggest supporters). In fact the other day I read an article in our own Wausau Daily Herald about the medical marijuana bill that is pending for Wisconsin. With seeing all of this controversy about this subject around the government in the last few years, and that it is such a controversial subject; the fact that the //Weeds// series came out on Showtime is a pretty big deal to a lot of people. Although the show is so controversial with marijuana/drug dealing, violence, sex, and foul language; I have personally noticed that viewers who are highly against drugs and violence are into the show. For example; I walked in and caught my mother (who is highly against any type of drugs or violence, used to lecture me all of the time) watching the show. At first when I asked her if she liked the show, her face turned red in embarrassment because she knew that it went against all of her values. She told me that one night she decided to give it a chance and she got hooked. So sometimes as Kearny talks about, some forms of popular culture greatly challenge the consumer, and many times it is a great tactic to looping someone in.

On the first page of the article Kearney talks of female youth culture being, “centered around heterosexual romance and the consumption of mainstream cultural commodities.” This can be directly related to weeds because first of all, Nancy Botwin is extremely materialistic when it comes to mainstream cultural commodities. There is barely an episode when you don’t see Nancy in fashionable dress with some kind of trendy coffee latte in hand. Also she almost always can afford her cable, internet, cell phones, big house, Prius, and on top of that have money to buy her next shipment. Also, Nancy is always in a heterosexual romance much like any other TV show. She goes from man to man, having promiscuous sexual relations and moving on. Almost everyone else in the show finds some kind of sexual relations at some point. When it comes to any of the main characters including Andy, Silas, Shane, Celia, or Dean they all at some point have some kind of sexual relations with a person(s) of the opposite sex. The one part of weeds that doesn’t go along with Kearney’s article is Nancy’s employee Sanjay, who is gay; and also Isabelle Hodes, who comes out to be a lesbian in the second season much against her mother’s dismay. I don’t think that this belongs with Kearney’s principals because it seems that in his writing he seems to emphasize heterosexual relations instead of just any kind of relations. Isabelle’s situation it seems fits better with Kearney’s principles because Celia gets quite flustered when she discovers her daughter is a lesbian and tries almost anything to convince her daughter to be straight against her will. The whole idea of youth culture being steered towards a common trend in media for everyone to see, the main characters almost always have strictly heterosexual relationships, man and woman.

​ ** Parsons **

I made an immediate connection in this article with the statement on page 137, “women must suffer, if not be humiliated, before they are rewarded.” Nancy gets into a situation in the earlier part of the show where it is her first time meeting Guillermo and to get her brick (marijuana) she has to do a brick dance for him. At first she argues, but once she realizes that this guy is not going to back down she gets up on the pool table and does her brick dance. During the dance there was fiesta music playing, and Guillermo was also hollering at her when she wasn’t sexy enough. She was embarrassed doing that brick dance, and she didn’t want to do it. But why did she? To get something. This quote explains exactly what happened in that scene; Guillermo rewarded her with the brick after she did something for him, which happened to be embarrassing for her.

The show weeds also relates to the Parson’s reading because Nancy Botwin is like a Cinderella type herself. She went from having a big house, nice things, and a beautiful family to being an in debt widow trying to get herself and her family back on their feet. Nancy suffers like Cinderella with loss. Cinderella lost her family and was sent to live with her evil step-mother. Nancy on the other hand loses her husband and during her mourning period has to deal with basically raising her kids, Andy, and her immature gang of friends. Eventually she turns into a somewhat Cinderella when she meets her drug lord/politician husband in the fourth season. By season five, Nancy is once again in a big house not having a care in the world about her money situation at all. Because her new husband has so much wealth, she is spoiled with everything she desires, much like the princess Cinderella. Nancy and Cinderella finally reach the state of luxury and comfort that most people could only dream of.

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** Do Rosario ** Do Roario uses the term femmefatale, which made me think of Nancy Botwin. Nancy is a widow, she has two children—Shane and Silas—and has recently stumbled upon dealing marijuana as the source of her household income. With this, she has remained femmefatale in her fight to keep her family on their feet. Whether its standing up to drug lords like Guillermo Garcia, making a deal with a DA agent to keep herself out of jail, or taking every last measure to keep her family safe with her risky job; Nancy is in my eyes a pretty fatal woman. Nancy’s a sarcastic, intelligent, strong, and determined woman, which is fitting to the femmefatale term used in Do Rosario’s text.

In comparison to Do Rosario bringing up how all of the princesses all have dead moms, Nancy’s children have a different story. Her husband died of a heart attack while jogging with her youngest son Shane. So her son’s have—in a way—the same story of the princesses. Growing up in childhood with only one opposite sex parent telling them what to do or suggesting what they think is best. Nancy being the mother she is always tries to protect Shane and Silas, she tells them what to do but its all usually for the best.

The note about modern princesses rejecting parental authority can also relate to Nancy’s children. After Silas learned to grow with Conrad in season two, he used his skills to go against Nancy’s no-grow rule at the beginning of season three. When Nancy found the stash in the bathroom she said enough was enough, yet Silas felt the need to reject her authority and instead hid it in the van—which was later found again. I see the sense of rejecting parental authority in almost every kid’s life at some point, I know I experienced it in my life.

Nancy Botwin definitely shows signs of rejecting patriarchy like in the Do Rosario readings. Just the way she talks to men of power, you can sense the feminist vibe of her personality. She also rejected patriarchy in season two when she took a male role, being the commander and supplier of the grow house.

** Hassel ** The first thing I thought of when I read Hassel’s article is related to when she talks about Extra-filmic Activity. The film //Monsters vs. Aliens// is advertised fully camouflages the feminist message in the film. The advertising was geared towards young boys instead of young girls. In comparison to this, //Weeds// is advertised in the more recent seasons embracing the main character and her sexuality. Nancy is on the main cover of the two most recent seasons dolled up pinup girl style. This way of portraying the main character is definitely catching the eyes of the male consumers. On another perspective, the fact that the show itself is called ‘weeds’ and all of the written out titles usually are made complete with a cannabis leaf somewhere in the mix is a major advertising tactic towards marijuana smokers, ‘hippies’, ‘stoners’, etc. It is typical stereotypes that make up all of this advertising, but in the end it works. Weeds has obviously gained in popularity because of advertising, going on its 6th season now.

In the film, Susan doesn’t initially realize how much potential she actually has until she gets rid of her man and realizes that the funny looking group of monsters are her friends, and she realizes she has much more strength and determination than she realized. Susan ends up realizing that her new destiny is what she’s going to embrace. This is a similar situation with Nancy who originally found herself in a rut and as a total underdog. Eventually Nancy realizes that she is a lot smarter and has a lot more power than it looks like. Soon enough she is the head hauncho of her own grow house with a group of men under her supervision and control. She rises up to be major competition to the marijuana industry in the area they’re in, and continues through the seasons to only reach further stairs up the ladder. This all proved to many men who told her she couldn’t, that they were wrong. She also totally went against patriarchy because she was in charge of men, whereas men usually are in charge of women in these circumstances. In fact, in the marijuana business it is basically run by men—so she changed the whole game by being the boss of the grow house producing the infamous MILF weed that everyone was asking for. The big men had to start coming to her to keep their business going with the high demand for her specific strand of marijuana, proving that she is a woman who has authority, and knows how to run her business.



** Brumberg **

The first thing I thought about after reading //Sanitizing Puberty// was an episode in season two where Nancy gets put in quite the position with having to confront Shane about his changing body. One day the plumbing gets clogged and Nancy finds out from the plumber that there were socks—most likely ‘jerk’ socks—in her pipes, and if she didn’t talk to her son that he would most likely be back in a couple days. With Shane’s father not there, Nancy was obligated to try to talk to her son about his penis and how it might be changing. Shane ends up getting upset when she confronts him, because it was uncomfortable for him to have his mom tell him about that kind of thing. This relates to Brumberg’s article because I would believe that most girls would be more comfortable talking to a woman about their period than a man. And so, Nancy realized that Shane would most likely rather be talking about his body with a man and sends Andy to go talk to him about masturbation. Nancy felt it was the family’s obligation to inform Shane about his changing body. This relates to Brumberg’s article because they go over the old traditions about how doctors would usually inform the girls about their periods, and then in later years their mothers started informing them instead. Much like how Andy informed Shane.

In the reading it was always the male doctors to tell the women about how they should prepare for their periods and so on. In weeds, it is always Nancy telling her boys about growing up and what things are okay for boys and girls to do and what things aren’t. At one point in season 4 Nancy finds out that one of her boys had a picture that they found of her naked in their room. She assumes that one of them is using the picture to masturbate, and decides to have a [|serious discussion] with both of her boys about what is proper to fantasize sexually about. It may be weird to have a male doctor talk to you about your period, but it may be even weirder to have your mother talk to you about the fact that you cannot masturbate to her picture. The Brumberg article makes me think of all of those awkward conversations that you have with your parents or guardians at some point, and there is no avoiding them. They are always uncomfortable for the child being informed, as well as the parent informing. Although I think that at the time of the Brumberg article it may not have been too awkward to have a male talk to you about your period because it seemed to be a pretty normal thing to do in society back then.

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**Zipes** In the Zipes story they discuss how Rowling is a divorcee who all of a sudden went from rags-to-riches. This is where I think of Nancy Botwin—a widow raising three kids and a brother-in-law on her own. In season one she could barely afford her rent, but by season five she is living with a big-shot Mexican politician/durg-lord who buys her whatever she wants, which entitles her in a way of having a rags-to-riches story also. Another aspect is that no one really knows besides what they say in the news and media about J.K. Rowling; also no one in town really knows much about Nancy (season 1/2) besides certain rumors that float around.

On the flip-side, there is a character on //Weeds// who has the opposite story that Botwin and Rowling had. Celia Hodes was once married into a lot of money. Until one day her husband realized she was a total bitch—he even said it—and he told her to leave. So of course Celia didn’t know what to do and showed up on Nancy’s doorstep, to use her house as a place to hang out for a while with no money and no job. The thing about Celia is, that she is an extremely materialistic protagonist, which is exactly how Zipes describes the Dursley’s.

In the article, Zipes writes about Potter saying that he is, “the little guy who proves he’s bigger than life.” When I read this I thought of Nancy Botwin because throughout the seasons she is quite frequently being judged as the ‘little guy.’ Almost all of the drug-dealers, Mexicans, and plain-old mean people that she deals with—mainly men—judge her as just some prissy little weak girl. But this is not the case with Nancy, she’s a tough woman who sometimes has to deal with the wrath of others just to get by. She sticks her ground every time that she gets in a tough situation, and always finds a way to figure things out or do something miraculous so the situation resolves. Eventually she catches on much more to the tricks of the trade as she experiences more with her dealing and some of the dangerous situations she gets in. She quickly adapts the language, the gestures, what to do and not to do, how to act, and uses her intuition—although it sometimes doesn’t always work out for her. One by one she slowly started gaining respect from some of the people in her business, and if she wasn’t respected by them she was definitely known of by them. This in a way is how Nancy proves she’s bigger than life, adapting to her dangerous lifestyle, proving people wrong and being under intense pressure; just to support her family.

When Zipes talks about how the plots in HP have twists and turns, and are mysteries to the reader; I think of one specific episode in season three. In this episode Nancy has gotten herself mixed up in a bunch of stuff because her son took the marijuana out of the safe at the safe house. This was not good because U-Turn and the Armenians show up to get their share. When she opens the safe and it’s not there all of these men pointed their guns at her demanding where it was, telling her if she didn’t find it soon that she was going to die. Soon enough she finds out that Silas put it in his car trunk, but Celia had the cops arrest him for stealing, and somehow Celia ended up driving Silas’s car home because she left her car at the police station. In all of this Celia has to fill up gas and ends up opening the trunk instead of the tank. Nancy goes home to get it and finds Celia there by the pool and the pool full of her product (which, Celia obviously threw in there because she thinks that she is helping Nancy pull her life back together). That made up just one part of one particular weeds episode that can relate to having the reader be like the detective because everything seems so unpredictable.

​

**// Inness //** In the Inness reading she discusses the fact that American Girl dolls provide as a good role model for young girls. In contrast to these genuine girls is Nancy Botwin. Nancy is not a role model for a normal social environment, although I think in some ways she is a good role model. Nancy is a bit promiscuous; she dabbles into some hefty crime, works with drugs, and gets herself into many sticky situations. The American Girls represent innocent girls who are heroes, whereas Barbie loves fashion and boys—much like Nancy. She relates to Barbie because she is always in the newest fashions, sipping her expensive coffee drinks, and she likes flirting with men. Barbie is rather ditzy, yet Nancy is the same way. It seems that in almost every TV show or movie the main woman part always has an inner-Barbie as I like to think of it. Nancy’s inner-Barbie really comes out when she has ready access to men and money. She loves to splurge, have nice things, and pursue the hunt to find her dream man—sometimes taking a test drive along the way.

On page 170 Inness talks about how, “childhood is the period when young people are learning how to be what society regards as correctly socialized women and men.” Reading this passage made me wonder, what does this say about Nancy Botwin’s children? Shane, her youngest son, found out about her dealing marijuana when he was still in elementary school. He grew up knowing that mommy did illegal things with bad people, and he also was put in danger because of that. Growing up in a crazy situation like Shane did, with having experienced many socially unacceptable things; was he not ‘correctly socialized’?

In the politics of advocacy section it talks about how books such as the American Girl books put America on a pedestal, because America is a land of opportunity. To some people America is seen as a land of wealth and success, and that is why many immigrants come to America. This situation arises in //Weeds// because the setting of the show is in southern California by the border of Mexico. In one episode, Doug decides that he and Andy are going to start a smuggling business for immigrants so that they could earn money. Needless to say all goes well until the border patrol show up. In the mix of it all, Doug was starting the business to also find the woman of his dreams who he saw swim into the beach and get busted by the border patrol. Eventually he finds her and protects her to keep her in the states. She tells him about why she wanted to go to America, because of all of the wonderful things she heard about it, and from so many people, it had to be true.

**// Gaunt //** On page 12 of Gaunt’s article there is a passage that says, “In the rope, if you’re good enough, you can do anything and be anything you want.” This relates to all of the African American girls and women who participate in double-dutch competitions and traditions. I think that this can apply to almost anything in life, including the show weeds. Nancy is compelled to make money for her family somehow, and so she starts out at the bottom of the drug latter and slowly works her way to the top. Celia is always convinced that she is good enough to do almost anything, and that she does when she puts her mind to it. When Celia is diagnosed with cancer in season 2, she decides she’s going to beat it—and eventually does. But also she decides that she is going to run for city council. It turns out to be a long road for her, which ends up with her eventually achieving her spot on council. It is women like the ones in the rope and out of the rope that are really inspirational to the remainder of women around the world. All it takes is one individual with enough confidence to prove themselves like Celia or Nancy in Weeds who start out as underdogs, but by season 5 they are getting the hang of things. Both of them put their mind to what they wanted to do, and did it. These women in Gaunt’s article put all of their time, effort, and practice into these songs and dances and it all proves to be worth it in the end when they’re proud of their work and their confidence is thru the roof.

Oral-kinetic practices differ greatly between cultures, for example the black and white culture. With their intricate song and dance, in the article the women are holding to their cultural traditions that they’ve known since they were born. Even the men I’m sure have their own way of song and dance. One thing that is culturally looked to be more of a black thing to do would be rapping. In weeds there is a particular episode where Shane writes a rap and gets in trouble for it at school. The thing about [|Shane rapping] is it just doesn’t flow the way that it does for the boys that grew up with songs and singing and rapping in their culture like the black traditions. Oral-kinetic practices of whites are much more different, I’d say the closest practice that white-folk get to rapping is singing at Sunday church. Being white, I don’t believe we tend to express ourselves musically as other cultures. Which in the case of weeds, little Shane looks very out of his place rapping badass things in his elementary school, and he gets in trouble for the way he expresses himself—although I think it is quite hilarious.

**// Lamb and Brown //**

In the article, //Pretty in Pink: What Girls Wear// Lamb and Brown go through the problems that are occurring in the choice of girls clothing today. Young girls are being introduced to all kinds of media which are telling them to dress sexy, wear pink, have lots of matching accessories and shoes, and to have perfect bodies. I think that Nancy Botwin is a prime example of what the media is portraying as sexy. Especially into the later seasons, Nancy always is dressed with the most fashionable clothing and accessories that one can buy. She usually is wearing all of the newest and trendiest fashions, and not to mention she always has a flawless body. On page 14 the authors say, “how she looks is more important than what she can do” in relations to modern young girls dress being irrational for actual play. At the same time, Nancy tends to be very irrational in the way she dresses. In season one in particular there is an episode where Nancy is supposed to run and do an errand for Guillermo in Mexico. She finds herself having a problem at the border explaining why she was only in Mexico a few hours, and creates a fictional story about how she came to get face cream—which she doesn’t have with her in the car. It all turns out to be a mess at the border for her. What she later finds out is this episode was a test for Nancy to teach her the ins and outs of the border. What Guillermo teaches her is that she has to look the part, which in this case would be as a tourist or more mother like as to not stick out—which Nancy tends to do in her high class dress. And so, the next time she is sent to Mexico she is ready and dressed in khakis, a polo, and a visor. This is all very unlike her to dress, but is much more motherly which got her thru the border with no problems the next time thru. This all relates to the reading because all of these young girls are in the stages of picking what kind of impression to put out there about themselves whether it be princess, sassy, or an alternative look. Nancy is doing much of the same thing by transforming her image to make her look more maternal and unimportant that her normal flashy attire.

[|Another scene] that makes me think of young consumerism is when Shane Botwin—the youngest—decides that he’s going to have a three-some with two other 13 year old girls in his class. But the thing about these girls is that they would be under the part of the article where they talk about hot topic. These girls are exactly how Lamb and Brown discussed on page 37, they have an alternative look that says I don’t care, yet it is still attractive to some of the boys in their peer group—like Shane. They have matching Goth outfits, their hair dyed, heavy makeup, and piercings—most likely fake. They fulfilled the young girl sexy potential by choosing the alternative way to do it, which apparently helped them in their quest to find a boy to lose their virginity with. The article really highlights the fact that sexuality is becoming a big thing to young girls that shouldn’t have it a part of their life yet. I think that the emphasis on being sexy is only hurting the way that young girls view themselves, like these girls who dress and portray being sexy to have sex before they’re adults.