Why Are Sitcom Dads Still So Inept?

getpocket ^ | Erica Scharrer

[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.

[Allegra]

Last Man Standing had a good father character.

That’s the only sit-com I watch these days and I agree.

[Arcadian Empire]

Straight White men, especially those who are fathers, are portrayed negatively because that allows other groups to be portrayed positively in contrast.

[wardaddy]

There is that too

And fat video games america laps it up