How many people today watch family sitcoms to imitate or compare values with their own? Probably not as many as there were in the 1950s. In Stephanie Coontz's "What We Really Miss about the 1950s", she discusses why people feel more nostalgic towards growing up in the 1950s, and how she disagrees that 1950s wasn't the decade that we really should like or remember best. Apart from economic stability, family values played an important part then. Through television sitcoms, such as "Leave it to Beaver", "Father knows Best", families watched them to make sure they were living correctly. It was like guidance and somewhat reassurance. However, values of families have changed, and this is shown on sitcoms today. We watch sitcoms today for …show more content…
In today's sitcom they show problems that children have at school, with family and friends. Rory has problems with worrying about getting into college. She has troubles with relationships and she never always get along with Lorelei. These however are not shown as much on sitcoms in the 1950s. Children then were seen as always happy and whenever they had problems, it would always work out fine.
Reality is never really shown on television. Especially in 1950s sitcoms, reality situations such as economic and race were often hidden from audiences. On sitcoms, poor people made enough to have essential belongings. There was never unemployment or major financial problems. The truth as Coontz states, "Throughout the 1950s, poverty was higher than it is today" (Coontz 40). This sort of reality is often apart of the plot shown in today's sitcoms. In "Gilmore Girls", Lorelei would be considered middle class, and she had financial problems when she wanted to open an inn. For awhile, being unemployed she had to borrow from her parents and friends. This gives audiences a sense of reality that can be seen in happening to somebody watching the show. This makes sitcoms today much more believable.
Different cultures and race are also widely accepted in today's sitcoms. Sometimes, programs may show racial difficulties like we see in real life. In "Gilmore Girls" Rory has friends who come from different
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
Today, Film and Television are among the most internationally supported commodities. Financially, their contributions are enormous: both industries are responsible for the circulation of billions of dollars each year. Since their respective explosions into the new media markets during the mid-twentieth century, film and television have produced consistently growing numbers of viewers and critics alike. Sparking debate over the nature of their viewing, film and television are now being questioned in social, political, and moral arenas for their potential impact on an audience. Critics claim that watching films or television is a passive activity in which the viewer becomes subconsciously
In the 1960s, they begin to blend a family together and the viewer begins to see a small change. The children start to argue and disagree with many things, the father is still the only one working and still the man of the house. The family begins to have arguments and situations but learn how to solve it by communication. In the 1970s, the children begin to think more modernly and start to think for themselves. The parents are older and the children are younger. The children begin to wonder; my parents are older and they do not understand me. The values of the children are liberal while the parents are more conservative. In the 1980s, the families begin to show humour, choices, and diversity. The shows begin to have dark coloured skinned characters, and freedom of speech. The children begin to engage in extra curriculum activities and have their separate social lives. The parents are strict but still loving, and the family thinks modern and up to date but the husband is still the man of the house. In the 1990s, the families represented in the TV show, become disoriented, their values are mixed up, eat unhealthy, and do not follow any morals or rules. The parents do not seem to care or worry about their children. The children begin to disrespect their parents and not pay attention to the rules. In the 2000's, the family is more dysfunctional, and less sophisticated. The
Entertainment in the twentieth century is everyone sitting down in front of the television to
The 1960’s was and important time in American history. Television became popular. John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as president and a few years later was assassinated. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was introduced. The psychedelic movement 1960’s. The Vietnam War. Despite all the things that was happening in the 1960’s it was still a great and bad time of that era.
Suburban sitcoms coming out in the late 50’s early 60’s portrayed usually an average family with average problems it solves by the end of the episode, most sitcoms including “Leave It To Beaver” followed the same formula; two white parents, a mother, and father, and 2-3 children; every episode followed the same steps, there’s a problem, the problem is solved by the end of the episode, and a lesson is learned by the main character. This held up perfectly in the 50’s and 60’s society, but sitcoms needed to adapt to fit their society, as time progressed, more important issues showed up in the shows, and as the US became more diverse so did the sitcoms. Today suburban sitcoms couldn’t be more different. As society became more diverse, more sitcoms were made to cater to the new audience.
What role does television play in society? For decades we have seen many parts of our world rapidly going through changes in technology. Today’s society has been transformed by means of communication and the available information through mass media. Most Americans rely on television for news, sports, and entertainment. Television is just one of the many examples of how technology has changed our lives. Since the invention of the television in the early 1900’s, it has played a very important role in our lives. Having a television set in the home has become very essential in today’s society. We depend on it to entertain us with its sitcoms and to inform us about current world issues. The
In modern day, women are equal to men and feminism is decreasing. Four sitcoms, Leave It To Beaver, What’s Happening, The Wonder Years, and Malcolm in the Middle, portrayed the relationships and values of families during different decades.
For Americans, the 1960’s were a time of both unnerving turmoil and exciting change. Following on the heels of the 1950’s themes of tradition and conformity, the contrasting events and attitudes in the sixties constituted a perfect storm leading to a reconstruction of American social, cultural, and political ideals. Although each decade has experienced identifying features, events occurring during the sixties provided for a definitive coming of age era for the United States. While much of this revolution can be attributed to the events themselves, the medium used for disseminating these ideas bears some of the responsibility. Throughout the decade television replaced radio and newspaper as the primary source of news and entertainment.
The ‘Golden Age of Television’ is what many refer to as the period between the 1950s and 60s when the television began to establish itself as a prevalent medium in the United States. In 1947, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), and the Du Mont Network were the four main television networks that ran stations with regular programming taking place. (Television, 2003) While regular television programming was a new innovation, the television itself had been commercially available for over twenty years prior to the 50s. It was conceived by many worldly innovators and went through several testing stages before it was finally completed in the late twenties. The
Can T.V. shows be the reflection of our society or influence the behavior of the members of our community? Since 1936 when television broadcasting begin, it priority was to inform and to entertain our society; subsequently, a massive amount of rules and regulations were created to control the material presented in TV, which principal goal was to safeguard the moral and ethical standards of it time. Nevertheless, from its beginning to the present home entertainment television standards contents have change; likewise, the moral an ethics values of our society have change and continuing changing from generation to generation. TV shows from the 50’s, 80’s, and the present exposed many changes in the way human role are exposed, the language
History of television and its influence on people lives. How did television revolutionize the world?
Over the last forty to fifty years, television has been a major topic of discussion. Specifically, many debate societal benefits to television watching. One widely accepted opinion is that watching TV makes people dumber. People have referred to it with terms like the “idiot box” and do not feel that watching TV has any benefit at all. They feel that it is a waste of time and people need to spend their hours more wisely. Others are of the opinion that TV is actually has societal benefits. From this perspective, they claim that the development of the structure of the programs now requires one to intellectually participate in watching television. Essentially, the argument is whether TV is a beneficial societal force or is it simply a
What do we really mean by television? The way we watch television has drastically changed over the last fifteen years due to new technologies such as digital television and services providing on-demand access. These drastic changes have had a huge effect on viewers and have “allowed online streaming platforms to dominate and revolutionize the way the audience consumes” (Aliloupour) media, ultimately allowing the viewer to be in total control of how, when and where they want their content. The idea of only being able to watch television on a television set is now a thing of the past. Due to technology, the audience now has a vast variety of options on how they can access content. By using scholarly articles, research in new media and Internet sites I will be analyzing current television and where the future of television will be heading.
Television, a telecommunication medium some may not survive without. Today’s generation may refer to television as a technological norm; delusional of a world where television was non-existent. Notably, television unites the nation through local or world events, politics, education, and entertainment. Philo Farnsworth, “Father of Television,” invented the television; the electronic transmission of fixed or mobile images. Furthermore, Farnsworth’s invention influenced a new form of media. Young Farnsworth’s scientific, technological imagination as well as, competitive battle with a major-league corporation, RCA, enticed the growth of one of the most popular media mediums; television.