Analysis on House MD, Research Paper Example

Introduction

When it comes to determining who should be the boss, it is often responded to by debate and argumentations that entail to put one specific gender above another. Men believe that they are supposed to be the ones to take the higher ranks as ‘it has been defined through divine appointment’. Women on the other hand specifically call on the attention that must be placed on the idea that women can do all sorts of things that men can do, and at some point even better. This competition among individuals coming from opposite genders continues to thrive and affect the life of every individual. In media, such concept receives attention especially in consideration with the desire of producers and program creators to manifest particular facts about the society as they entice their audience to relate fully to the stories they establish. Considerably, such theme is focused upon determining the values that the current society specifically gives attention to especially when it comes to managing the intellectual reaction of the people towards the show that are created.

Among the television series produced in this era that specifically determines this specific theme is that of Fox’s House MD. This particular series presents the ins and outs of how a hospital is ran and how medical cases are being dealt with under the direction of a woman who is sitting as the Dean of Medicine and an oppositional subordinate in the personification of a man who does not intend to recognize authority. Besides dealing with all the ethical issues presented in the field of medicine, the series intends to explore how the conflict between genders actually entails to create a deeper tension on how the characters of the series intend to function. In the discussion that follows, the issue of gender differences presented in the series under the concept of sexism shall be given specific attention to.

Background on Series

House MD was an eight-season running episode between the years 2004 towards 2012. The show features Dr. Gregory House played by Hugh Laurie (Gibson, 2008). Standing as the head of the Diagnostics Department in Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, he handles the most critical medical cases that the hospital needs to handle. Most of the said cases are complex in nature. One of the reasons why the cases are presented under House’s team is because of the fact that no other doctors can identify the situation that the patients are in. With some symptoms unexplainable, House, his team and at times the head of the hospital need to undergo the need to define their stand in particularly complex decisions that are hard to contend with.

Most of than not, the cases present Dr. Lisa Cuddy [the Dean of Medicine] to be challenged in her position when Dr. House presents her with almost impossible decisions to make especially when it comes to determining the life of a particular patient. Clashing with his fellow physicians, House is basically hard to manage; however, with the capacity of Lisa Cuddy to contain the situation, she often brings out the best in the doctor; although most often than not in an uncanny situation. Determining the her authority over house is a hard matter to indulge into especially that her power is not recognized by House as practically the source of absolute command in the hospital. Smart as he is, he is also a drug addict who is excellent in utilizing sarcasm as his form of defense.

With such picture painted, the discussion on gender play that is to be defined in this presentation shall be focused on the power play between Lisa Cuddy and Gregory House. Although there are a lot more other remarkable characters in the series, the focus on Cuddy and House would be much able to pertain to the required argument on showing how the concept of sexism is presented in the program as a retaining factor that makes the audience hate or love the said main characters.

Gender Bias versus Authoritarian Hierarchy

Gender bias is defined as the manner by which the institutions in the society view men to be more powerful against women because of their strength, their physique and probably some of the characteristics they posses that make them more stabilized than women. On the other hand, the women argue that they ought to be given the same opportunity as those given to men simply because they have the capacity to engage in activities that men could and at some point even improve their way towards success at a much higher and faster pace compared to the men. Nevertheless, these arguments need to be proven, to be given specific evidence that supports the thinking and the opinion that each gender group presents.

Practically, people have become accustomed to seeing women rise to the challenge, to become what they were not expected to be. Having women leaders in particular institutions like medicine is seemingly considered uncanny and unusual (Bojarska, 2012). As noted in one of the episodes of the series, Lisa Cuddy is one among the only four women Deans of Medicine in the country. She points out that her position is not easy to handle, and yet even though she’s a woman, she gets to control her staff and is able to direct the hospital towards its success. Nevertheless, House continues to challenge such position. House and Cuddy are friends [and at some point even turned out to be lovers in season seven of the series], nevertheless, when it comes to work, on determining whose decision should be recognized as valid, the tension often rises and the connection between the two characters become extremely tensed.

Meanwhile, Gregory House is presented as a smart yet arrogant doctor. He is someone who would stick to what he believes in and would do anything, even matters against the law, just to be able to save the life of a patient or at least to solve the puzzle that comes with each case that he and his team need to resolve. Relatively, the motivation of House is to solve the puzzle, to repeatedly overcome the hardships of diagnosing cases that are almost impossible to understand. This motivation at times put him in a crunch that involves his desire to follow his will even though it meant going against the rules, most likely going against Cuddy, his boss.

When faced with tough decisions, House, although arrogant in nature, seeks to get the opinion of friends, subordinates and of course, Cuddy. When he does though, he makes sure that he does not come in like as if he is the needy person. He makes sure that he stands his ground, he establishes his power before he actually asks for her opinion. Often humiliating her, House makes Cuddy comfortable at times, but this is the very chemistry in their character that made it possible for them to end up together in season seven. Through utilizing such concept of gender differences, the creators of the series challenges the idea by which two people who [practically and professionally] have grudges against each other could actually fall in love and become fully acquainted with each other and share emotions. At the end of the seventh season though, such relationship ended tragically. Why so? The creators want to show how pride on the part of Gregory House played a great role on how he ended his connection with Cuddy. Perhaps even affected by his drug use, the inability of House to think well made it possible for him to neglect the fact that he was dealing with woman he loved and that in the end, he would lose her because of his actions.

This part of the series shows how people react to pride. The pride behind the existence of gender bias makes it even much harder for differences between people from different genders to occur. Such connection is the very reason why couples end up hating each other in the end. The complications arise when the situation between two individuals from different genders hold on to the supposed superiority or inferiority that is tied up along with their gender (Matsumo, 2012). The distinctive use of sexual innuendos from House directed to Cuddy is another aspect of sexism that entails to mandate a sense of command on the part of the one implicating the said actuations and verbal distinctions especially regarding the concept of gender discrimination.

Conclusion

The determination of gender-worth in the series of House MD definitely identifies well with the concept of putting one to be higher than the other because of the mere fact that he is a man or that she is a woman. Dr. Cuddy is seen to be a strong woman, given the authority to use strong command among her staff members in the hospital including Dr. House. Although considered as frien-emies, the two characters’ attitude and behavior towards work jive perfectly together as each one supports the other. Although there are several arguments and lashing of words as well as intruding actions that each individual lash-out towards the other, it could not be denied that they complement each other’s character. Gregory House and Lisa Cuddy are classic representation of gender biases and gender power-play that occurs in the society today. While the creators and producers of the series were able to determine such element to be fun, exciting and interesting in nature, its actual occurrence in the society is beyond such characterization of the said element of bias among people.

Works Cited

Bojarska, Katarzyna (2012). “”Responding to lexical stimuli with gender associations: A Cognitive–Cultural Model””. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 32: 46.

Feder, Jody and Cynthia Brougher. (2013). Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination in Employment: A Legal Analysis of the EmploymentNon_Discrimination Act (ENDA).

Gibson, Stacey (March 2008). “The House That Dave Built“. University of Toronto Magazine.

Kail, R., & Cavanaugh, J. (2010). Human Growth and Development (5 ed.). Belmont, Ca: Wadworth Learning.

Matsumoto, David. (2012). “The Handbook of Culture and Psychology”. Oxford University Press.