Family Life In The 1950's Sitcoms

Simpler times, simpler minds, and unified visions of family life is what the 1950’s sitcoms brought to television viewers all throughout America. Situation comedies similar to Leave it to Beaver, I Love Lucy, and Ozzie and Harriet set the stage for how nuclear families were supposed to perform and live life on a daily basis. The issues with the sitcoms that were presented at this time were controlled and were not allowed to relay real world issues and portrayed a superficial vision of a family unit. Leave it to Beaver in particular presented a flawless husband known to many as Ward Cleaver. Ward was a white collared businessman and the bread-winner of the family. Ward, was the ruler maker, as were most men in the 1950’s sitcoms. Not only …show more content…
Strive to be the ideal wife that will be submissive to the dominant fella. Follow his rules, take care of the children, clean the home, and look at it as an occupation. No other aspirations in life besides to live and work hard to keep the family moving in the right direction. Moreover, there were courses that helped and taught women how to get equipped for marriage and provided women with the skills to lower her hopes, improve on her presence, and how to land the perfect man. During this time if a women’s husband crept around, had an affair, drank too much or beat his wife, it was the women’s fault and they were lead to believe it was their problem, not their husbands personal issue (Tartakovsky.) The sad truth is that all women during this era took full responsibility for the pitfalls of their spouse. In fact, the wrong wife could make or break a man’s career, if a boss of a company did not perceive that the women was a fit wife to his male employee it could hinder a promotion or career advancement. Women had to fit in to this ideal image that was set forth by the social order in the 1950’s, and if they did not fit the role they were an out casted or frowned …show more content…
If anything, numerus individuals that decide to share a home may not have a designated role in the life that they share together. In fact, it may not even be a man and a women that decide to share a life together, it could be two men or two women that make up the unity. There may or may not be a plan for having or caring for children. The goals of individuals are far more tailored to each person in the household. Currently, if children are in the make-up of the family, both parent figures contribute to the care and discipline of the youngsters. There is not one sole provider and not one sole