'Farmer Wants a Wife': Vintage in a Bad Way
The CW aired the season finale of Farmer Wants a Wife last night, and I still haven’t figured it out.
I’ve caught a couple of episodes over the last month or so, and each one had moments that made the feminist in me cringe, but then reeled it back in and provided a situational explanation. Or, more precisely, I was able to provide an explanation. Which, really, just leads me to believe that I have spent far too much time thinking about this show–so, actually, hey–good job, producers!
Farmer’s saving grace is how upfront everything about it is. It’s not called Farmer Wants to Fall In Love, or Farmer in Missouri is Lonely! Help! It’s called Farmer Wants a Wife.
And, if you’re on a competitive reality show about a farmer who wants a wife, well, you’re probably going to expect to do traditionally-defined “wifely” things. It just . . . rankles. And I think the show’s existence shows that the average television viewer has a different value set from mine; I was raised to value a career of my own, not to want a career as someone’s wife.
I do have to admit though that, practically speaking, if you live in a tight-knit community and everyone in town has a hand in everyone else’s livelihood, well, it makes sense to take into account your fellow townspeople’s opinions of your potential other half. And sending the last two remaining contestants out to run errands, calling them “wife things,” does make some sense when you realize that the farmer has to, well, farm. It’s his livelihood. If he brings the two contestants out into the field to help him work and they make a big mistake, it will affect his life. Although I don’t know exactly how much damage they could possibly have done, so clearly even I see the hole in my own argument.
The banner at the end that said “Farmer Takes A Wife” exemplifies the problems I have with the show, which is Farmer’s archaic tone. This program could have aired 40 years ago and no one would have questioned the women’s positions on it. It’s a throwback, but not in a good way.
And I think it’s pretty much cleared up the question of whether or not I would ever become a farmer’s wife.
Doug commented:
Jes - I think you missed the point about the banner. The issue is not whether women are happy to be farmer's wives. The issue is the parlance of saying the man "takes" the woman. It implies that she has no choice in the matter and that the patriarchal society of the past still dominates. And that's just lame. Maybe it should have said something like "farmer found a wife." Though I did not watch the show, I would imagine that this tone -- of the farmer being a man's man who is gonna find himself a little wifey to take care of -- was constant theme throughout the "competition." If the woman on farms are as important as you say, then maybe Farmer Wants a Wife could have done a better job of showing that.
Jes commented:
"The banner at the end that said “Farmer Takes A Wife” exemplifies the problems I have with the show, which is Farmer's archaic tone. This program could have aired 40 years ago and no one would have questioned the women’s positions on it. It’s a throwback, but not in a good way."
Having lived the country life myself, it IS in a good way. while I realize you have your right to your opinion, I'm just not understanding Many people who live it are happy with what feminists have a problem with, aren't bummed out or feeling chained. I'm not a farmer's wife, but have many female friends & relatives who are. They chose to marry farmers, they weren't forced. All that I know say they love the life. Farmers often work many more hours per week than a good many people do, and it really doesn't matter if they marry a female, or are living with a male, or just have a paid assistant -- someone's gotta keep the house running. The women I know married to farmers are not interested in taking on all that their husbands do on the farm, and instead take on other roles in the farm, most notibly - in the house. So, I'm just unable to understand why you have a problem with a show that depicts a farmer'rs life. The role may not play out so well in city life, in which case, I would probably understand where you're coming from. But the show is about a farmer, his life and his search for his wife. It's not the city, it's not anywhere else. So?