I think Darren Stevens was completely unreasonable in not wanting Samantha to practice witchcraft.

[Bunny]

If I married a warlock, I would take full advantage of his powers. Yes I would. There'd be none of this 'mortal' crap in my house.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

1. Ah but the contradiction is that he DID want her to practice withcraft but only when it suited him

He agreed to let her use witchcraft more than once to let the family get out of a tight spot (for example when Endora gave Tabitha the power to play the piano like an adult concert pianist and Samantha's piano teacher thought she was a child prodigy and wanted to take her with him on tours around the world) or when he and she shared the same goals (like when Mr and Mrs Kravitz split up and Darren encouraged Samantha to use her powers to allow them to reconcile so that one of them wouldn't be living with them)

He was also not adverse to her using withcraft to prevent him from being inconvenienced. There was an episode were Darren and Samantha fought about her use of witchcraft and she promised not to use it. Then, Darren's tire went flat in the pouring rain while they were driving to a dinner and he wanted her to use witchcraft to change the tire but she refused because Darren had been so insistent just a few seconds before that she not use witchcraft. So Darren had to change the tire and got all wet just before meeting an important client

So he did want her to use witchcraft in some cases. It's just that he wanted a say in when and how she used it

[caty]

2. Don't you know

that women back then were supposed to give up their hopes and dreams and play down their talents in order to feed their husbands egos? Thank goodness, times have changed. If Darrin had told Sam today that she could not use her powers, she would have called off the wedding and gone to Vegas with her friends, or simply turned him into a frog.

[Kaleva]

3. Maybe it was Samantha's hope and dream to be like a mortal housewife.

The only power Darrin had over Samantha was the power of love as Samantha was in no way dependent on Darrin or inferior to him in any way.

[XemaSab]

7. This is the right answer

Samantha's powers are useful insofar as they help her do the dishes and keep the house clean.

That's a woman's place, you know.

Outside the domestic sphere her powers were to be downplayed.

[swimboy]

12. I Dream of Jeannie more closely modeled the ownership/sexism paradigm

"Master"! for real.

Bewitched is an interesting model for keeping your differently abled friends and relations "in the closet" in order to avoid embarrassment when your pedestrian and unimaginative neighbors learned of their fabulousness.

[dawg]

16. Maybe he just loved her ...

Maybe he just loved her, and was trying to protect her. Misguided? Probably. But maybe he was doing it for a sweet reason.

And for all those who wondered what she saw in him, maybe there are some women in this world that judge men by a different standard than just the superficial. I feel like I am probably a "Darrin", but I hope that someday someone sees something more in me. For God's sake people, at least leave some hope for guys like us.

[tblue]

4. And stupid. I'm glad Endora was there to keep Sam witchy.

But Darren didn't want to arouse people like nosy Gladys Kravitz. That was dumb.

[gimama]

5. I could never figure out..

what the heck does SHE see in HIM???

Sam was a 'BABE', with special powers..
Darrin was kinda ..'wormy'..
BOTH Darrins!

[Forkboy]

6. Oh the things I could do with a witch with a wrinkly nose.

[MorningGlow]

14. That's what YOU think

:evilgrin:

[old mark]

8. I never understood what she saw in him...She deserved so much better......nt

[Richard Steele]

9. Agreed. That was some total late-50's "wife= personal property" mysogyny.

I don't care who you are, that's pretty fucked up right there.

[lunatica]

10. It's a metaphor for the sexism of the day

couched in cuteness and humor. The man had to be the boss, even if he had no desire to be, because society would judge him for allowing his wife to be herself in all ways. It wasn't always that men didn't want their wives to get a job, it was that people would say he wasn't a real man if he didn't do two things. Be the breadwinner and appear not to have control over his wife. Sexism in society cuts both ways. Everyone is forced into roles that nowadays seem very unnatural to the generations after the Boomers.

Yesterday at UC Berkeley I saw a man carrying his 2 year old daughter in one of those slings that you can tie so she was secured close to his chest but still gave her the ability to move around. That's nothing new. What struck me was that a man who delivers cooler water to offices was taking out the empty bottles and the men greeted each other and stopped to talk. The delivery man smiled and talked to the little girl just like women do and the father beamed. I imagined that the delivery man was talking about his own kid or kids. This is normal now. At least in this part of the world.

[peekaloo]

11. Both of 'em were real Dicks.

:hangover:

[Richardo]

13. Sure. You'd just get him to do lawn-mower repair and other stereotypical "man's work"

:D

Wait - that's not necessarily a bad thing now that I think about it. :think:

[Bunny]

15. Oh, he'd do the 'man's work' alright. He'd also do the 'woman's work',

and, well, pretty much all the work. All he'd have to do is blink an eye or twitch his ear or something and POOF! everything's done! Wouldn't that be so awesome??? :woohoo:

[raccoon]

17. She should've married Gomez Addams. Betcha HE wouldn't have had any

problems with her doing witchcraft.

Plus, he's better looking and sexier than Darren.

[LeftinOH]

18. Gorgeous wife with supernatural powers: Dude, quit your job at the ad agency.