Popular Culture Review Vol. 5, No. 1, February 1994 | Page 147

The Women of Norman Lear

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injected it with a rhetoric of race, class, and political dichotomy.
This had been the formerly innocent environment of television's most
beloved families-the Nelsons, the Andersons, and the Cleavers. In
his book. Comic Visions: Television Comedy and American Culture,
David Marc states that "Maude dispensed birth-control advice with
the same gusto with which June Qeaver had once offered brownies"
(Marc 184).
Like Archie, Maude had an opinion on almost every subject
imaginable, and she was generally angry on principle. Maude's
confidence in the accuracy of her world view was always tempered or
silenced by the unmanageability of the situations she dealt w ithher own pregnancy in middle age, her decision to have an abortion,
and her husband Walter's alcoholism, nervous breakdown, and
bankruptcy.
Maude was a character of great contrasts. Her self-absorption
frequently was in opposition with her zealous desire to help others
and change the world. This self-absorption also led her to suffer
indignities, and at the same time be oblivious to the sensitivities of
others. An example of this insensitivity is when she tells her
housekeeper that women are meant to be more than maids. Although
she clamored for women's rights, she never chose to take a real job
outside of the home.
Nevertheless, many of the plots in "Maude" revolved around the
central character's efforts to assert both her own independence and
the rights of modem women. In one episode, Maude is in charge of a
1976 bicentennial celebration. She decides that its theme should be
famous women in history. Walter and the other men involved
disagree; they believe that the results will be disastrous and that no
one will attend. Maude is pressured to change the theme and she
wavers briefly. However, she eventually remembers what the show
is all about. She believes that it is supposed to inspire women to
strive and struggle for their place in life. Adhering to her own
principles, she perseveres and refuses to quit. The show goes on as
scheduled and it is a huge success (Lichter et al. 72).
Although Maude was supportive of women's causes, she herself
did not firmly cling to the l^lief that women must bond with one
another in order to be unified. Throughout the course of the series, she
did not have one truly supportive relationship with another woman.
Her daughter Carol was her critic; Vivian, her best friend of thirty