Throughout the year, I have heard about the middle class feeling ignored and left out. For awhile, I've been reading a lot about this issue and realized it involved several different matters to this claim. One small issue, in particular, is the lack of acknowledgement on TV.
Does this matter? Yes, I think it does. Thinking back in my hey day, there were a plethora of middle class/family/blue collar television. We had Maude, Good Times, Family Ties, Valerie and Valerie's Family, Mama's Family, Family Matters, Cosby Show, Alice, Roseanne, Thea and more. Although those families were different, most people or families could identify with one or more of these shows. Somewhat regular families were visible and diverse on the tube. But all of that seemed to vanish several years down the road. Now the TV world is full of rich, white, myopic, sassy, ghetto, pimp-ish, superheroes with bad acting chops. But nothing about the family, barely anything at all.
CNN.com asked about lack of family comedies. But it's deeper than that, there is a lack of family funnies, but there's nothing on the "average" family. I'm talking the single parents, the big mama famlies, the families with an extra cousin and others who have bills to pay and real problems. Because they are not seen, it sends a message that this type of family is not interesting or valid. And this could make middle class/blue collar families feel left out. Now, this may be a long shot, but I think it plays a part in the ills of our middle class. It's very small compared to the major issues that beset their family's lives, but it can have an impact.
i got here from a link in the cnn "from the blogs" section after the story.
ReplyDeletei grew up during the heyday of ABC's "Thank Goodness It's Friday" line-up, with everyone looking forward to their end-of-the-week dose of "Family Matters", "Boy Meets World", "Full House", "Step by Step", "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper", all that good stuff.
you're quite right that it's not just the middle-class family that isn't being represented anymore, but every family. according to that article, CBS considers "Two and a Half Men" to be a family show! are you freakin' kidding me? i get a good laugh when i tune in, but it's a pretty guilty pleasure - so very dirty. if two guys experiencing and discussing sexual misadventures while grappling with their extremely abusive mother is a family show, then i'm popeye the sailor man. but that seems to be the new broadcast idea - it's all either freewheeling, "edgy" stuff, like "Malcom in the Middle" - which i enjoy but don't see as being healthy for kids - or stuff in which the family is a pair of spoiled 30-somethings who never grew up, like "The King of Queens". or stuff in which the family is anyone who isn't biologically related to you, because those people are all bad and will always cramp your style and screw you up, like in anything by joss whedon (fred's parents on 'angel' being the teensy exception to this rule).
there's been some good, non-sitcom explorations of family for us grown-ups - "Supernatural" is a personal favourite, and the short-lived "Journeyman" also had a very strong and realistic family matters element. i'd say that, at this point, a show giving a positive, kid-friendly (this does not have to mean stupid, as so many producers mistakenly believe) presentation of ANY type of biological family - i specify biological because there's been an okay amount of non-biological positive family representation - that kids and their parents/guardians can watch together would be very welcome.