Gender Roles
Today’s television shows have made an effort to stray from the classic American family and the gender roles within it. While gender roles aren’t as evident as they use to be, that’s not to say they do not exist. The Brady Bunch is a perfect example of gender roles existing even in a non-traditional family in the 1970’s. In a more current show, Full House, we also see a non-traditional family without a mother, but after looking closer I found that gender roles are still there.
In the current show, Full House, Danny has three daughters that he is left to raise alone after the death of his wife and their mother. Two other men live with Danny, and help him with the day to day obstacles that come with raising three girls. While Danny has no trouble supporting the three girls financially like a single mother would, he does have trouble in talking to them about “girl things”. Jesse, one of the men living with Danny is married to a woman named Becky whom also lives in the house. Becky is shown to be the womanly figure for the girls, and we see her help the girls with things that Danny can’t. Also, as a role model for the three girls, Becky is always shown to be beautiful. Becky has a perfect figure, and a flawless appearance in which the girls strongly admire. I believe this show was meant to be an example that a good family doesn’t have to be the classic American family. Gender roles are at a minimum here, but couldn’t totally be taken out.
The older show, The Brady Bunch, tried hard to veer away from the common classic family show at that time. This show done a wonderful job in showing us that families can be combined and still be just as good as the real thing. Combining families wasn’t the underlying issue in the Brady Bunch though. Carol Brady, the mother of the three girls, was depicted as a housewife whose only job was to care for the children. Mike Brady was thought to be the head of the household and the “bread-winner” for the whole family.
While trying to
In the current show, Full House, Danny has three daughters that he is left to raise alone after the death of his wife and their mother. Two other men live with Danny, and help him with the day to day obstacles that come with raising three girls. While Danny has no trouble supporting the three girls financially like a single mother would, he does have trouble in talking to them about “girl things”. Jesse, one of the men living with Danny is married to a woman named Becky whom also lives in the house. Becky is shown to be the womanly figure for the girls, and we see her help the girls with things that Danny can’t. Also, as a role model for the three girls, Becky is always shown to be beautiful. Becky has a perfect figure, and a flawless appearance in which the girls strongly admire. I believe this show was meant to be an example that a good family doesn’t have to be the classic American family. Gender roles are at a minimum here, but couldn’t totally be taken out.
The older show, The Brady Bunch, tried hard to veer away from the common classic family show at that time. This show done a wonderful job in showing us that families can be combined and still be just as good as the real thing. Combining families wasn’t the underlying issue in the Brady Bunch though. Carol Brady, the mother of the three girls, was depicted as a housewife whose only job was to care for the children. Mike Brady was thought to be the head of the household and the “bread-winner” for the whole family.
While trying to