Tim is not the typical sidekick/partner who are not her equal; he turns out to be a manipulative criminal with a motive: he wants too be the professor and professor does not give him a recommendation he wanted.
The show takes place in a place that represents the ideal all- American small town. Most individuals are white, middle class with one or two minorities. This can be seen by their comfortable looking homes and the fact that all of the young college adults are driving descent cars. The town is suddenly disrupted by the murder of the professor. When Veronica solves the case the town returns to “normalcy.” This is shown when the episode ends with Veronica, for the first time, having dinner with her father. This environment reflects the demographic it is trying to target: young, white, middleclass females. I say female because it is through the narration of Veronica and she often deals with romantic, womanly issues that guys can not relate to.
The marriage and family structure portrayed in Veronica Mars is unstable. In the episode there was not one example of a nuclear family. That is; the suburban, 2.5 kids, soccer mom scenario usually allied with the suburban life. The wife of the d, Mindy is having an affair with the professor, the main suspect. As soon as he is killed, she collects the insurance money and buys a boat (way to celebrate your husband’s death). She is shown as relentless and dauntless of her husband’s death. Veronica in this episode is living with her father and no signs of a motherly influence. Yet she is strong and independent not the typical representation of a product of a dysfunctional family, partly because she is raised by a strong man. The other depiction of a family is the stripper mom scenario raising her son on her own. In this case, she looks like a single parent and is struggling financially, because she is a female single parent, in raising her son. Therefore, the son is a teenager who is easily convinced into giving his address over the phone when Veronica acts like radio show and lures him with an ipod. When she goes there he answers the door with a video game in his hand, not very intellectual compared to Veronica. This is because Veronica’s father, who holds a better position in society as a sheriff, is a man and is stable financially. While the stripper, because she is a women struggles more financially to raise her son. This shows that the message of the episode is that men are represented as having the upper hand in positions in society and mentality to raise a child, unlike women.
Veronica mars shows how a women use their sexuality whether it is to solve a crime or get paid. The hero of the show is this extraordinarily smart, college freshman girl who solves the crime despite of being in male dominated profession. Although she has the brains and capacity to solve the crime, she uses her sexuality to get access to information or out of trouble. There is a scene where veronica steals the criminals file from the cabinet which is against the law. When her father reprimands mans her, she smiles and gives him “puppy eyes” and gets away with it. Most people will be probably in jail for that behavior while she brushes it off with her cuteness. In another scene, the stripper uses her sexuality to get money to take her of her son . Whether it is to seize the day and solve a crime or pay bills a women, according to this show, use their sexuality to get somewhere.
Veronica is taking over a male centered occupation because of a male. The relationship between her and her father is also crucial to understand the content of the show in relation to gender. What is important to know is that Veronica does not actually hold this detective position; rather she has access to information and sources because of her father. Although she has broken the mold by being a women detective amidst all detective/ cop shows dominated by men, she is there because of guys: her father and Tim. As I mentioned earlier, she gets access to important files through the use of her sexuality and through the high position of her father. In current circumstances like the present election, for the first time we have a candidate who is a woman: Hillary Clinton. However, part of Hillary Clinton’s raising to the top is because her husband got there first. We constantly see the pattern between successful women because of a close male counterpart. It is important to note that the show is implying that women get their ways because of their sexuality and their affiliations with men.
The Utopia of an all-American setting with all American people is because there are not many colored people. Veronica has one African American friend who has almost no lines than a brief encounter at a restaurant. He is what we call the “token black guy” who is just there to diversify the show and make it more realistic, representing what could be an urban flare. However, everything about him clothes, style dialect seems out of place. Eliminating minorities and immigrants was no accident. The purpose of this is to show how a town is perfect and returns to perfect with out minorities and immigrants. Like what America would be like without them: ideal. When veronica solves the crime there are no more issues and worries. With minorities and immigrants there will be poverty, gangs, drugs; all stereotypical aspect always associated with minorities and immigrants. Even the minimal amount of weaponry marks the non-existence of minorities and immigrants contribution to the show. Only once is a gun used and not even properly used, slightly tilted to the side the stereotypical way a black man holds a gun. The professor kind off waved it around, not pointing at anyone, to show how unfamiliar and out of place it is for him. There is no sign of a poor society because everything is perfect in Neptune. When problems arise, Veronica solves it and life remains perfect.
At times in order to grasp what agenda the producer its trying to convey to their audience is by substitution and replacement. The reason behind the fact that the episode sets in a college rather than say, high school is for several factors. First in a high school environment the people that surround and influence a person, are other immature teens that wouldn’t have the drive Veronica mars has. Also if you are in high schools, assuming you are under eighteen, by law and because of your parents you would not be able to go to places and have access as an adult could. Like go to 21 and over club to investigate someone or a crime scene. Also, any other age, race would change the demographic it is attracting.
Veronica Mars portrays the stereotypical American blond girl. Although she faces the pressure of a teenage girl like sex, boyfriends and parents she rises above it to save the day, of course with the help of her daddy and sexuality. This show may seem to to portray a powerful woman taking the role of a man and proves that she is better than her father, the sheriff. In actuality it promotes the stereotype that a woman in any profession is given that title through the use of her sexuality and her male counterpart. It is important when watching the media and pop culture that we read between the scripts and grasp the true message it is conveying to the public.
