Lucille Ball's I Love Lucy

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Women in that time did not have roles that portrayed them as being strong and opinionated. They were an extra background feature in television shows. The sitcoms hardly ever centered around them, instead the shows primarily focused on the children, the husbands, or the family as a whole, and in some cases the beloved family pet was the focus, such as the well-known series Lassie (Bell, 2010). It was not until the premiere of I Love Lucy that women began having starring roles. In I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball’s name is in the title, which emphasized her being the shows main concentration. Although I Love Lucy portrayed a lot of the social norms and ideals of the 1950s, by portraying a more modern day family, a majority of the show’s material was way ahead of its time. Lucille’s character was also ahead of her…show more content…
She was hilariously funny, and was the first female comedian to star in her own show where she was able to incorporate her slapstick comedy into the routine. She was the first woman comedian to appear on national television and participate in comedy routines where she used body movements and different facial expressions (Higham, 1986). By being the first female comedian to incorporate slapstick humor into her skits, she helped pave the way for many known female comedians in today’s society, such Carol Burnett, Tina Fey, and Kathy Griffin (Higham, 1986). Carol Burnett said during an interview with The Huffington Post, that Lucille Ball was her inspiration and mentor during the beginning of her career (The Huffington Post). Lucille was the first woman to incorporate her real life experiences into her comedy routine on the show, such as in the funny episode titled “Lucy Cries Wolf”. This episode focuses on Lucy crying wolf and making up an outrageous story about being kidnapped, which she was inspired to create from her own childhood recollections about the gypsies (Higham,
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