mom was right

 Today, as I was searching for something new to watch, I stumbled on the I Love Lucy show. Our family didn't watch this show. Mother was an early feminist and felt that the depiction of Lucy Ricardo was horrible. When the show was on the air, she only had one daughter, but by the time reruns were airing, she had three daughters. She said that she didn't want any of us to see this ridiculous portrayal of a ditzy, scheming, immature adult woman whose husband sometimes spanked her for her "bad" behavior.

As I grew up, it just never occurred to me to try to watch it. And well into my adult years, I just never did. I did catch a few episodes of The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy along the way, but they didn't hook me. I thought they were less offensive and that Lucy's character was more mature, but it still didn't hook me.

Mom died in 2016. Since that time, I've thought about a lot of things that she said or did. In more than one case, I've found that my perceptions of certain people, places, or things have changed. So, today, when I saw the I Love Lucy show, I decided that I owed it to myself to watch it. I managed to get about five minutes into the second episode when I realized that Mom was right. The portrayal of Lucy Ricardo is ridiculous and misogynist.

I do want to separate Lucille Ball from the show, however. She was a brilliant woman who accomplished so many things. She often discussed the many men she met throughout her career who told her she would never be successful in show business. As a woman, she was the epitome of a woman succeeding in the world despite the many men who tried to stand in her way. And in that, she and my Mom had a lot in common!