US Family

US Family

The Evolution of the Family Sitcom

Family is an institution that has evolved over time not only in real life but in situational comedies. In the last sixty years the structure and definition of a family has changed in many households. In the 1950s, with the birth of situational comedies, every family member had a defined role. The typical family portrayed on TV was the nuclear family with the head of the household and major breadwinner father, the nurturing stay-at-home domestic mother who cooked, cleaned, and took care of the kids, and of course the two to three kids. By the 1970s, Sitcoms broke the molds of the traditional 1950s family settings and new less traditional shows were created which began to show families which went against the typical idealistic nuclear family that was seen in shows such as Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best. Shows such as Growing Pains presented a shift in the roles of the typical parents. The breadwinning wise and knowledgeable husband with the sensible housewife was replaced by two strong parents with more equal roles in the household.

In such shows, parents worked together to financially support their family, contemporary mothers went from wearing pearls and aprons under their dresses to pants and business attire, and the father no longer had to wear the typical breadwinner gray suit. In the late 1980s, a new type of family was introduced to TV. It was not unusual to see Tony, the father in Who's the Boss, cleaning or cooking in the kitchen, while the mother was getting home from work. A few years later, the 21st century introduced a new type of family. This family was far from traditional. The 2009 sitcom, Modern Family portrays a much more diverse and evolved family than the one seen in Father Knows Best. It depicts today's modern dynamics of blended families, divorces, and gay parenting.

Family structure in the United States generally consists of two married parents raising one or more children. This structure has changed significantly since 1960, particularly because of divorce. In the past, only the father worked, which prevented this particular woman can be independent and thus have the opportunity to escape an unhappy marriage. Divorce at that time was not even imaginable. As we saw earlier, women are betting to work, and have income, Financial Resources. They can therefore earlier today to avoid a situation not desired due to their economic independence. So there have been several years since an increase in the divorce, which has lowered the number of official couples. Moreover, since the 1970s, the divorce proceedings are simple and quick. The resolution of divorce does focus on who is responsible for the couple, but rather on the solution to ensure that procedures are conducted as smoothly as possible. This therefore allows either spouse to opt for divorce, without having the consent of the other. Until the 1970s, if a marriage in ten ended in ...