Posted on 05/26/2021 8:59:13 PM PDT by algore
Dads are taking parenting much more seriously. But according to a new study of sitcoms, the stereotype of the foolish father remains stubbornly in place.
From Homer Simpson to Phil Dunphy, sitcom dads have long been known for being bumbling and inept.
But it wasn’t always this way. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, sitcom dads tended to be serious, calm and wise, if a bit detached.
In a shift that media scholars have documented, only in later decades did fathers start to become foolish and incompetent.
And yet the real-world roles and expectations of fathers have changed in recent years. Today’s dads are putting more time into caring for their children and see that role as more central to their identity.
Have today’s sitcoms kept up?
I study gender and the media, and I specialize in depictions of masculinity.
In a new study, my co-authors and I systematically look at the ways in which portrayals of sitcom fathers have and haven’t changed.
(Excerpt) Read more at getpocket.com ...
TV cares about results- as measured by ad sales.
Ad sales pay for sitcoms, as they pay for ‘news’.
Do we really need a ‘study’ on situational comedies from television?
The next thing you know....some idiot will go and do a study over the amount of gunfire and reckless handling seen on Gunsmoke, or someone reviewing the number of times that Mister Ed clearly outwitted Wilber.
I never watched those stoopid shows.
It's politically safe to laugh at White men.
not all....just the white ones
My Dad was saying this back when My Three Sons was on.
” the amount of gunfire and reckless handling seen on Gunsmoke,”
Did you ever watch the show ?
It is a textbook example of what a peace officer should aspire to be.
I totally get your point, but I think it's popular and funny because it mostly IS true! I don't have any (close) black dad friends, but my white buddies are all esteemed professionals until they come home! At that time, anything goes. My dad was a highly respected District Court Judge, nominated to Reagan by Senator Armstrong for the Supreme Court, but at home he was Silly City! Gawd I miss him!
You would think with all that ineptitude that they would more frequently be hardest hit
.jpg?width=590&height=370&fit=bounds)
Sponsoring FReepers are contributing
$10 Each time a New Monthly Donor signs up!
Get more bang for your FR buck!
Click Here To Sign Up Now!
The sitcom about a wise family man, Jim Anderson, his common-sense wife Margaret and their children Betty, Bud and Kathy. Whenever the kids need advice on anything at all, they can always turn to their father, because father knows best. Ran 1954 to 1960. I was born in 1951, so this is one of the first shows I remember...along with “I Love Lucy.”
But it didn’t sell enough soap to women...
TV cares about results- as measured by ad sales.
A great example is Star Trek... what products would that show sell?
One of the best shows ever... because Robert Young was a great actor, better than Fred McMurray in My Three Sons. Robert Young does not get enough credit.
We all know that sitcom Dad’s are lame, the Mom’s in Disney movie die, and truck commercials are silly.
No, I wasn't born yet.
I didn’t view Mike Baxter as ‘inept’...
Erica Scharrer — “I study gender and the media, and I specialize in depictions of masculinity.”
Whoo boy...what a fun date she would be. Have dinner with her wondering the whole time how she is depicting your masculinity in her mind’s eye.
Is she a spinster cat lady? Lesbian? Or married 40 years?
I agree that the dads in a lot of 1950s-’60s shows (Father Knows Best, Leave It to Beaver, The Donna Reed Show) were strong, morally grounded men - not fools like the dad in Home Improvement. But if you go back further to radio shows of the 1930s and 1940s, some of the husbands, like Dagwood in Blondie, or Fibber McGee, were the foolish ones while the wives were the steady ones.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.