Appearances Might be Deceiving….

FACTS ABOUT TV IN THE 1950s: Average American family watched 4 – 5 hours of TV/day (currently we watch about 4hrs) New homes were built without formal dining rooms, but with TV rooms within these rooms the TV was the central piece of furniture (mentally think about your TV/family room – how is all the furniture arranged?) TV changed the nature of children’s lives and family interactions

POPULAR GENRES Variety Shows Cartoons Westerns Family Sitcoms

FAMILY SITCOMS: A reflection or refraction of family life? most women were shown as housewives and mothers shows focused on the American Dream – perfect home, perfect children, perfect father, mother, neighborhoods, neighbors, jobs, marriages plots focused on minor problems of life and showed easy solutions within the format of a comedy Most Americans viewed TV as a reproduction of reality – but Who’s reality?

“Family sitcoms dramatized the artifice of gender roles and uniformity in postwar life” APPEARANCES Men - clean cut, white, work to support family, make all decisions for family Women - marry young, cook, clean, raise kids, and support all of husband’s decisions

REALITY: 25% - 30% of married women worked more married women worked than single women the pressure to achieve the American Dream was expensive – meant for many women HAD to work! However, American pop culture refused to acknowledge women as anything but mothers & wives