My wife and I watch a lot of Food Network, so it’s usually the first thing we see when we turn on the TV. Consequently, Pioneer Woman is sometimes on. Even watching a few minutes of the show makes me angry and I’ve reached a point where I genuinely want to see if others agree or if I’m just crazy. Here’s my best try at articulating my feelings:
In Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond plays the role of a house wife whose existence revolves entirely around cooking for her family and making her husband proud while he works hard on their ranch. Not so bad, right? Many men and women fulfill a similar role in their families and are essential in, if not responsible for, their families’ successes.
BUT, Ree takes this to an extreme in her show that is so unnecessary, especially when you consider her real situation. She appears on the show as a dumbed down version, a caricature, of a housewife from the 50’s. She’s an extremely successful woman and she should be allowed to act like it. A little extra confidence here and there would not only make the show less cringe, but it would also send a much more empowering message to the people whose actual lives are similar to the one she pretends to live on the show. Instead, we just have a woman that made a great life for herself and for her family, but perpetuates the opposite for her fans that could benefit from the real her.
She uses voices and grammar that make her sound less intelligent. She’s not dumb. Not even close.
She acts like her husband is out there on the ranch putting his blood, sweat, and tears into his work and it’s the least she can do to make sure he has a nice meal when he’s done. In reality, he’s just playing cowboy and SHE IS THE BREADWINNER.
She acts like she has no clue how to do things outside of the kitchen. No clue about technology. No clue about farms. She found her early success in blog-writing, so we know she’s not genuine about any of that either.
What are your thoughts? Do you watch the show? If so, how do you stomach the points above? Is it an escape of some sort? I’m genuinely curious. I need to hear some other perspectives on this because from my point of view it shouldn’t even be on TV.
EDIT TIME! (aka address my mistakes time): Many of you have called me out on the “breadwinner” and “playing cowboy” comments. These comments didn’t add to my overall message in any way. I can’t take them back, but I can tell you that I know more than I do now about Ree and her husband’s backgrounds. I respect them both for their successes. What I was trying to say is that she didn’t get as far as she has without some grit, some backbone, that is not displayed on the show and that I think would make the show much more watchable.