The Modern Family : The Myth Of The American Family

This essay, The Myth of the Model American Family, is a discussion of the concept of an ideal family in the different perspective specifically social, cultural and economic. This is also an attempt to identify the structural changes in relation to the global development and the international economic crisis that immensely created impact on their lives. However, the discussion will limit itself on the different identifiable and observable transformations as manifested in the lifestyles, interrelationships and views of family members and will not seek to provide an assessment of their psycho-social and individual perceptions.

Stephanie Coontz in “The Way We Weren’t: The Myth and Reality of the Traditional Family” emphasizes that the traditional and ideal nuclear family widespread in media and textbooks are false and far from reality. In fact, it is common to see more similarities to the traditional family consistent of “male breadwinner and nurturing mother” (1) today than in the past.

The United States is a country based on equal opportunity; every citizen is to be given the same chance as another to succeed. This includes the government providing the opportunity of equal education to all children. All children are provided schools to attend. However, the quality of one school compared to another is undoubtedly unfair. Former teacher John Kozol, when being transferred to a new school, said, "The shock from going from one of the poorest schools to one of the wealthiest cannot be overstated (Kozol 2)." The education gap between higher and lower-income schools is obvious: therefore, the United States is making the effort to provide an equal education with questionable results.

There’s an old saying that goes, “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present”, by Alice Morse Earle. The world has become a place taken for granted. Humans are beginning to wish they could live in the past, while others just want to skip over to the future but what ever happened to living right now? Or living in the moment? In the story, “The American Family”, by Stephanie Coontz, she discusses why so many individuals believe American families are facing worse issues now than in the past. She discusses how in the previous years, it was far worse and explains why those people are wrong to assume they are facing worse problems now. In addition, Robert Kuttner and his text, “The politics of family”, supports Coontz’ argument about the dilemmas facing the turn-of-the-century American families and gives the resolutions to those problems; such as talking out problems, women having the right to walk out of unsatisfactory marriages, and lastly, the emancipation for women.

The traditional American family comes from the 1950s, when TV shows like Leave It to Beaver and Ozzie and Harriet were released. They were the model to follow and create the family that the myth promotes. Parents happily married, nice house in suburbia, and a harmonious home are common traits of the model American Family. The myth of the American family creates a template for other families to follow; however, it only reflects to Caucasian families and creates a disappointment on today’s society.

In this paper, I will compare two artworks that share a similar theme of the portrayal of family meals. Also, I will evaluate a contemporary issue shown in artwork that relates to the theme of family meals. The first work of art, The Merry Family was painted by Jan Steen in 1668 and in this painting, it depicts the theme of the portrayal of a family meal in a joyous and amusing setting, but Steen was known for integrating subtle hints into his work. These hints warned the viewer about what is depicted in the painting. The second work of art, The Potato Eaters was painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1885 and it depicts the portrayal of a family meal but in a more straightforward and somber setting. Van Gogh wanted to truthfully depict the people and their lives. My comparison of the two, chosen artwork will show how they may share a similar theme of the “portrayal of family meals” but differ in the meaning, tone and emotion being projected by the artists. I will also explore how this theme is expressed in modern artwork, particularly Eric McCandless’s What ‘Modern Family’ Says About Modern Families.

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.

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.

Is it worth going back to the 1950s and experience the workplace of woman and men going to War or staying in the present time. Many people in today’s society see the morals and values of the past of the fifties. Nevertheless, the fifties had its nuclear family to where everyone was set for in life already. The woman became homemakers and men worked at an occupation. In the 1950s men were going to War, so the mother had to do both work and raise the family. However, after the War the woman wanting to continue to work, but the men were overpowering the woman in the past. In today’s culture everyone works and raise a family together. From the past to the present time of the 1950s the culture has changed. The woman finally got rights to do more activities now then it was in the fifties. Therefore, people have opinions to go back to the past to experience of what had happened to the nuclear family. America has changed by the culture and the environment from the 1950s to the present time of men and woman raising a family.

Times have changed; the nuclear family is no longer the American ideal because family needs have changed since the 1950's. This American convention of a mother and father and their two children, were a template of films and early television as a depiction of the American family life. Now seen as archaic and cliché by today’s standards, but the idea is common throughout many of the first world nations in the world. This ideal was a vast departure from the past agrarian and pre industrial families, and was modeled and structured as the ‘American dream’ father working, mother maintaining the household and children molded to be simulacra of the parents. This portrayal was not the standard; many communities throughout America had a different

n the upcoming page’s I will answer the following questions. Why is family the most important agent of socialization? What caused the dramatic changes to the American family? What are the changes? I will discuss the differences in marriage and family, I will discuss how they are linked to class, race, gender, and personal choices. The purpose of this study is to explore the many different family functions and the paths that people are now choosing. I will give my opinion on whether these changes have had a positive or negative affect. I will finally discuss the trend of the modern family, back to pre-World War II family structure, how would that effect the strides that have been made in the progression of women rights.

This paper will discuss the differences between families from the 1960’s and the families of today. There are many differences between the different times. I have focused on the parentage portion of the families. I explained what the ideal family is and how it is different today. I’ve also included ways that will help these families of today become stronger as a family.

In The Way We Never Were, Stephanie Coontz suggests that society romanticizes past generations of family life and points out that these memories are merely myths that prevent us from “dealing more effectively with the problems facing today’s families” (Coontz x). Coontz proposes that researchers can take empirical data and create misleading causality for that data, thus feeding cultural myth and/or experience. Coontz believes that “an overemphasis on personal responsibility for strengthening family values encourages a way of thinking that leads to moralizing rather than mobilizing for concrete reforms” (Coontz 22). She calls on us to direct our attention to social reforms, which can be accomplished by avoiding victim-blaming

Modern Family is a sitcom that first aired in 2009 that focuses on many prevalent issues including cultural differences in families. The US was a nation founded upon immigration and now embraces the term as “melting pot” (National Review). The Pew Research Center reports that currently about ten percent of children are mixed race (VOA News). Many children have the influence of two or more cultures within their families. Yet the influence of culture can extend in the environment as well. Growing up with Chinese parents but living in America I can feel the impact of both cultures and I am appreciative of both. There are moments in Modern Family where we can see both the “melting pot” of the Delgado-Pritchett marriage and the tension caused by the different cultures, and I find there are reasons why the sitcom portrays both perspectives.

The ideal American family was transformed in the 19th century in large part due to the great changes taking place in the American society. Many family groups fit this changing mold while some did not. In this essay I will show how this concept of the ideal American family changed. I will also try to explain which groups of Americans followed this concept and why.