The series All in the Family produced by Norman Milton Lear from 1971-1979 is one of the most controversial and groundbreaking television shows ever created. The successful sitcom has covered many touchy subjects involving race, ethnicity, homosexuality, rape, and religious beliefs. Towards the end of the third season, episode 20 which was called “Archie is Branded”, aired on February 24th 1973 touched many subjects that were heavily debated on the fact of whether or not it was appropriate to air on live television. The lead male characters Mike and Archie get in a heated argument about the Vietnam War. This sensitive subject caused and led several additional current historical issues and events.
The original hit show, All in the Family featuring Carroll O’Connor (Archie), Jean Stapleton (Edith), Rob Reiner (Michael) and Sally Struthers, (Gloria) is an American sitcom that challenges numerous controversial topics during its era. This specific episode “Archie’s Branded” aired on February 24th 1973 and was about the bunker family being “branded” with a swastika painted on their front door. When going to retrieve the news paper, opening the door, Archie, realizes someone has painted a swastika on his door with a note that said, “This
DeMark 2 swastika was just the beginning, we’ll be back”. After receiving such a serious threat from this anonymous person/persons, Archie and the others decided to call the police. With several minutes passing, the doorbell rings. Thinking it
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
Each has similar portrayals of their characters in and can be found on Netflix as fan favorites. Commonly, both illustrations are heavily portrayed by adults making careless, uninformed decisions, showing little apathy towards the repercussions that come from their actions. The characters in each show reveal their lack of maturity and play profoundly into the stereotypes they display in the two productions. Accordingly, the quality of the messages contained in primetime television content is a consequential issue, as research has long demonstrated the small but significant influence of media exposure on the attitudes and beliefs of audience members (Tukachinsky, Mastro, & Yarchi, 2015). In an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, two main characters find a baby in a dumpster, and concocted a plan to use the baby as a model. When they took the tiny child to a modeling agency they were told that the agency was looking to further their venture to a more urban demographic. The two main charters then took the baby and covered him in shoe polish to pass the child off as a colored child. This is an example of cultural appropriation. Although it is very tasteless, it is a memorable scene played out to attract the audience’s attention on taboo occurrences presented in the show. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia loves to play off vulgar racial stereotypes that can easily
Living by the restrictions that society places upon us, humanity is constrained to follow rules. Television writers were forced to write a certain way and were forced to leave out information that society would deem as improper, rude, and even racist. However, in 1971, a groundbreaking American television sitcom broke through societal boundaries and transformed the way that the American audience viewed television. Engulfed by the Vietnam War, Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, fight for women's right, and the Watergate scandal, Norman Lear persevered through stereotypes and entertainment norms with his show All in the Family. This show approached its audience in a very blunt and crude manner; it made conflict the center of its comedy. It dealt with contemporary cultural issues in a relatable way, which blue allowed blue-collar workers to learn about their current everyday issues and concerns. Through his show All in the Family, Norman Lear highlighted sensitive topics such as racism, bigotry, and sexual relations to prove that they are still alive in our country; thus, Norman Lear is an agent of change by bringing awareness to social issues.
Released in 2001, Disney Channel’s The Proud Family was a Black cartoon frequently watched by children who grew up during its airplay. Not vulgar or satirical, The Proud Family centered around Penny Proud and her family as she grew up through her years. As a child, I innocently watched this show, but picked up on unintended implications based off of the character’s skin color. The main character Penny was a lighter skinned girl, who appeared to possess “more Eurocentric phenotypic characteristics (Steele),” exhibited more intelligence, wealth, and virtue, as opposed to her darker skinned best friend, Dijonay, who was associated with deviance and sassiness, while speaking with a more Ebonic style of talking and possessed a more “ghetto” name. Although the show attempted to provide an accurate representation of a “traditional African American family,” it still regardlessly instilled these stereotypes of the African American community into my mindset, which were not disproved in my mind until later in my life (Steele).
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.
Edward Good enlisted in the Union Army on 14 July 1862 in Clarksville, Indiana as a Corporal in Company “I” in the seventy-fifth regiment of Indiana volunteers. By the end of November 1862, he was dead in hospital at Louisville, Kentucky of pneumonia.
During the early eighteen hundreds, many southerners entangled themselves and their families in the Civil War. The Civil War caused many men to turn against one another, and the war affected family life as well. “Approximately 620,000 soldiers died from combat, accident, starvation, and disease during the Civil War.” Most of the battles took place in the South, though some did take place in the North and the West. Southern politics and government changed greatly during this time with the new focus on winning the war. Women grabbed onto new opportunities opened up to them by the war. The members of the Barry / Bradford family strongly supported the Confederacy and actively involved themselves in the politics of this time as well. The Barry
John (1735-1826) and Abigail (1744-1818) Adams were the second President and First Lady. John Adams served as the first vice president to George Washington, United States minister to the Netherlands, United States envoy to France. He served in congress for three years and served one term as president. Abigail Adams was a fairly active first lady, and was involved in some of the politics.
Since its start, the television industry has been criticized for perpetuating myths and stereotypes about African-Americans through characterizations, story lines, and plots. The situation comedy has been the area that has seemed to draw the most criticism, analysis, and disapproval for stereotyping. From Sanford and Son and The Jefferson’s in the 1970s to The Cosby Show (1984) and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the 1990s, sitcoms featuring black casts and characters have always been controversial. However, their significance upon our American culture cannot be disregarded. During the 1950s and 1960s, 97% of the families were Caucasian. In the first five years of the
The television show Black-ish has caused many controversial discussion and opinions. The sitcom features three generations of an African American family, the Johnsons, which includes a successful executive Andre; his wife Rainbow, who is a doctor; their four kids: Andre Jr., Zoey, Jack, Diane, and Andre’s parents Pops and Ruby living in a predominantly white suburban neighborhood in Los Angeles. The theme centers around how Andre came from a poor black neighborhood and his kids don’t seem to realize their culture. With this being the basis of the show, it has caused an uproar, with just its name alone being said to perpetrate racial stereotypes, leaving some with feelings that the show should be canceled (Peyser). The sitcom has even received tweets from Presidential candidate Donald Trump about being racist. This is as far from the truth as possible. Black-ish is not only non-racist it, but it is also a great show, providing laughs, life lessons, and diversity. Therefore, Black-ish is a good family sitcom and meets several aspects to be judged as one.
Ever since 1997, South Park has revolutionized the cable TV scene as a profane and obscene program that isn’t afraid to mock religious, political, and cultural topics and not get away with at least offending somebody. Throughout its twelve seasons, some of the most prominent events in pop culture have suffered the wrath of ridicule from the show’s creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, and succeeded in making millions of Americans laugh until they cry. The creative genius behind these cultural and controversial statements has exalted the series to iconic status in our entertainment industry for its satirical voice in each episode. Throughout its ten years on air, South Park has broken multiple political,
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.
not be as good as we imagined. We are shown quick little images of all
How does one show his or her pain? Jonathan’s agony from the death of his father is
The role of the audience is to infuse the fire in the popular culture movement. It appears that Hollywood was caught between the wall and the blade in the 1950’s, on one side you had the dominant culture flexing their muscle to have Hollywood endorse this family ideal and help the containment effort and for no reason ignite any friction that would agitate the already