MP likes to watch TV while he works (yes, he can definitely do both.)  Since we don’t have cable, we don’t get a lot of channels, so he usually watches that channel that plays shows from the 50s and 60s, some from the 70s.  But all really old shows, some of them even before my time.  Father Knows Best, for goodness sake.  Dennis the Menace.

Sometimes, they catch my attention as I pass his open door, and I pause to watch a little bit before I shake my head – in amusement,  dismay, or occasionally disgust.  And I move on.  Occasionally, I am so fascinated and appalled that I end up watching longer than I intended – just like a train wreck, I think, as I tear myself away.

It’s a cultural potpourri, from the Patty Duke show to The Beverly Hillbillies to The Rifleman.  All the shows of my youth.  I know the theme songs, recognize the music and can sing along.  Sad to say, I remember some of the episodes.  (“Oh, isn’t that the one where Patti sells her necklace and then Cathy wants to borrow it…)

So it wasn’t unusual today when I heard a particular musical phrase and knew immediately that it was Bewitched.  That sound they would play when Samantha would wiggle her nose and do some magic.  Of course that made me think about Darren, her irritating husband who didn’t want her to do magic at all.   And she mostly went along with that. Her reward for that was what?  She got to clean house the mundane way?  She got to be married to him? Yikes.  It never had seemed like a good trade off to me, even back in the day.

Today, I had just finished reading the latest post on Smiling Through the Evil, so I had D/s relationships on my mind.  And it struck me that there is an element of power exchange in Bewitched.  Samantha has power, as we all do.  She agrees to let Darrin control it, she tamps it down and keeps it under wraps, because he wants her to. Purely consensual, even though it’s harder for her to do things, even though there are things she’s sacrificing.  Interesting, isn’t it?

And then I thought about I Dream of Jeannie – there’s another one who’s required to give up her magic.  She even calls Major Whatever-his-name-was “Master.”  Ok, she’s a genie, and BDSM was probably all leather back in those days and maybe it even seemed normal.  But still – could the M/s of that be any more clear?

True, she isn’t a very good submissive, or slave, even in her harem outfit, since she’s always using her magic to get him – and herself -into and out of trouble.  But it’s the same idea – like Samantha, she’s expected to hide her power – to give him the control.  Darren and Master are only pleased with them when they’re not exercising their abilities.

I don’t quite know where I’m going with this.  I mean, from my perspective, making yourself smaller, denying your own power, isn’t the goal of D/s, and probably isn’t what most couples are working for.  It always seemed to me that my ability to serve in a D/s relationship increased my ability to be who I am and made me more complete, not less.    And I think that whatever power I have in my life increases my ability to serve in a D/s relationship.  But then what do I know.

And maybe Jeanie and Samantha felt that way too.  It’s just interesting…