Modern Family Changing Sitcoms

Sitcoms today have completely done away with what was the “formula” for a sitcom, single parents, interracial couples, LGBTQ couples as the parents, as well as having multiple kids, 4-5, having foster children, interracial children even LGBTQ children have become the social norm for a Suburban

During the 1950’s the culture, trends, and demographics had a huge impact on television production.Leave it to Beaver, a popular sitcom during the 1950’s portrayed family life as it was during that time period. A period of elegance,family significance,and refinement. While watching an episode of Leave it to Beaver I quickly observed the difference

During the time of the 80s, there were many television shows that portrayed traditional families. A traditional family, which is two married parents of the opposite gender and their child or children. Even though, Full house doesn’t necessary mirror the traditional family values that all society knows, it’s one of the shows that helped break gender stereotypes. For example, the whole family tradition “norm” was that women would be the caregivers and men would provide for their family. In Bittney Davis article, “Recognizing Gender Roles in Nostalgic TV Series Full House” she mentions, “The expectation of a male’s purpose in the household is to provide for and

If people believed what is shown on television re-runs of classic shows from the 1950s, that would mean the conventional American family has two children, a stay at home mother, who cleans while wearing pearls, and a father who works hard and yet constantly has time for his kids. The big issue with the idea offered in those old television shows is that the classic family portrayed is actually nothing more than a miss myth. Stephanie Coontz claims that

The television shows from 1950 to the present are connected in many ways. The characters showed in the 1950s television show called Leave It To Beaver all have white coloured skin and portrayed as a happy, perfect family. As the decades increased, the nuclear families turned into blended families, and the television shows started to have coloured characters. The families started to have problems and social situations. The viewer sees the conflicts inside the family begin as the years progress. For example, in the 2000's we examined a television show called Arrested Development. The show portrays the characters as if they are troubled and have problems. The children do not listen to their parents but instead have

When society thinks about the stereotypical American Family what comes to mind first? Is it a dynamic multiracial diverse family with four children a mother that works the hours all week, and the father that stays and home at takes care of the kids? Or is it the “Leave It to Beaver” stay at home mom, stereotypical family that could be argued as today’s “regular” family? Whether it’s the standard or the dynamic media has changed the way that this is viewed and it has almost helped to form what is today’s “modern” family. Television is one of today’s biggest sources of media and has the ability to reach the vast majority of the American Population, with approximately 115 million households having television sets (Nielson.com).

The Brady Bunch were the ideal families in the 1960's and 1970's, and in the 80's, it was Family Ties. When the 1990's approached us, television shows took on a whole new outlook on American Families. There were shows such as Full House, which was about a single father raising three daughters with the help of his brother-in-law and his best friend. Roseanne was also another show that showed the "dysfunctional" side of families. American Families keep changing, and they will continue to change in our future.

As early as 1950, television families have depicted not only the way we live today, but also the way we ought to live (Tueth, 2003). Hence, television has continued to present comedies about family life that ranges from the didactic model of domestic conventionalist and gradually to non-conventionalist ways of life. By conventionalist, I mean the depiction of the “nuclear” family that consists of clear roles, responsibilities, and gentle lines of authority that flow from the wise dad and understanding mom to the obedient children (Kutalas, 2005). Examples of these types of shows between 1947 to 1990 that constructed more than 60% of family sitcoms included: The Cleavers, The Cosby Show, Father Knows Best, Family Ties, and Growing Pains

Family sitcoms have been the most popular and positively influenced television shows watched since the 1900s to today. Many of these shows have consisted of African American, Caucasian, and Hispanic families who all play a role that we as watchers look up to or perceive as the right way to run our household. Over time there has been an addition to biracial shows and family role changes throughout these sitcoms. For example, now observing single parent homes, homosexual guardians and even the changing of social interaction has both positively and negatively impacted real families who are watching.

Most modern family films highlight the hardships that parents face raising their children, which are often then followed by moments that make parenting the most rewarding. Films often sugar coat events of how parents may react to certain situation which is a misrepresentation of a family, but we must keep in mind that films are not real life stories unless they are documentaries. In this Essay, I will be using Marianne Hirsch’s work on the ‘familial gaze and Sharon Varallo’s piece on ‘family photographs’ as tools in order to analyse the film Leave it to Beaver. The film Leave it to Beaver released August 1997, is based on the successful Tv series comedy that was released in 1957. I will be drawing on both Hirsch and Varallo’s work which explores the representation of western and non-western families by using photographs, and using their incite to further strengthen my argument. Not all families are alike, most certainly not in values, religion, culture, race, just to name a few, but all families have hardships and it’s how those hardships are handled that make a family stronger. A stronger family often starts with the parents and how they treat one another. For example, parents are seen as role models to their children and those kids pick up habits, from their parents, whether they be good or bad. As I analyse the film Leave it to Beaver, I will be exploring the portrayal of parenting conventions that accurately represent

There are many ways that the idea of the “traditional” family has changed over the past several centuries. For instance prior to the 19th century family was often considered anyone who lived within a household whether related by blood or not. This included employees and extended family. Per Coontz (2010) “The biological family was less sacrosanct, and less sentimentalized, than it would become in the nineteenth century.”(p. 35) In society at the time it was socially unacceptable to be separate or not included as part of a family household. Over time, the term family came to encompass the immediate family, a husband, wife and their children. During the late 1800’s through the mid 1900’s there were emerging ideas of family that were not widely accepted as traditional or normal, these included single parent homes with only a Mom or Dad, Stepfamilies and same sex couple and parent households. Today, American ideas of what constitutes a family have drastically expanded to include these formerly “non-traditional” families

The definition of the "typical" American family has changed considerably over time. Ever since the age of television dawned on American culture, situation comedies have tried to portray the typical American family in an attempt to reach as many viewers as possible. In the 1950's, there was "Leave It to Beaver" which represented a generic view of the American family during its time. There was a father whose responsibility was to financially support the family and be a role model for his children. There was a mother whose job was that of a typical housewife, taking care of the home and caring for the children. And there were the children who had no responsibilities, except to respect their parents and listen to their advice when

The differences between gender roles are not so apparent anymore. Men are not always the typical breadwinners and many women are not stay-at-home mothers. An article by Beaupré, Dryburgh, and Wendy (2010) described the transition that many men are going through. According to Beaupré, et al., (2010), fathers were once considered the forgotten parent. “Until recently studies on the family focused mainly on the mothers” (Beaupré, et al., 2010). Fortunately, both parents are now being focused on. Fathers today are much more involved in the pregnancy and birth of their child and their child’s life in general (Beaupré, et al., 2010). Beaupré, et al., (2010) explained that women’s involvement in the labour force could be a factor to this change. Women are more educated than they were in previous years. And while women want to work more, men want to be more involved in their children’s lives (Beaupré, et al., 2010). Fatherhood is occurring later in adulthood. Research stated that the majority of men are very satisfied with their involvement in their children’s lives. (Beaupré, et al., 2010).

The families in America are steadily changing. While they remain our most valued and consistent source of strength and comfort, some families are becoming increasingly unstructured. In the past, the typical family consists of a working father, a stay at home mother and, of course, well-rounded children. Today, less than 20 percent of American families fit nicely into this cookie cutter image. American households have never been more diverse. Natalie Angier takes stock of the changing definition of family in an article for the New York Times.

Additionally, television shows on the late 80’s through the middle 90’s, present the same family concept but with a different topic. Comedy shows like “Married with Children” which illustrates a “white” family of four members living in a Chicago suburb area with an antisocial personality disorder, is a typical example of