I’m not really sure what made me think of this, but for some reason today I was thinking about I Dream of Jeannie. A couple of years ago I found this animated gif of Jeannie on the web and I saved it because I liked it. I liked the show a lot when I was a kid, without really thinking about what Jeannie stood for. So, on the one hand, I think Jeannie is one chick who seriously needs a copy of The Feminine Mystique. On the other, I think it’s delightful that the psychiatrist, Dr. Bellows (now there’s a pun for a name) was pathologized and neuroticized. How funny is that.
And I like the point that feminist critic Lynn Spigel makes in “From Domestic Space to Outer Space” (in Close Encounters: Film, Feminism, and Science Fiction, ed. Penley et al.): The patriarchal splendors of the space project are ironically cast aside as a woman is able to accomplish the same task with mere wishful thinking.
Or, Jeannie puts it more simply when she says to Tony:
My ancestors were flying carpets while yours were still hollowing out canoes.
Jeannie Links
I Dream of Jeannie: The Web Page
I Dream of Jeannie: E-cards
I Dream of Jeannie Theme Song (RealPlayer)
