How Are Families Portrayed In The 1950's?

‘Ahhh, the good ol’ days.’ When people hear this, they think back to a time when they remember happiness in the 1950’s. However, people tend to only remember the happiness that the media portrayed and not the negative aspects of this time period. Looking at texts, and comparing them to the television shows from this time period shows that the media is an unreliable portrayal of the majority of family living and gender roles from this time period. The families in the televisions shows are conformists; a happy suburban home, a father who works, a mother who stays at home, and the three children who rely on their parents. The show, Father Knows Best, the book, Homeward Bound, by Elaine Tyler May, and the book The Way We Never Were, by Stephanie

The father goes along with whatever the mother said to do since that is her job. In the episode New girl at School, in the show Father Knows Best, Bud, the son, wanted to impress a girl, and decided to wear a nice suit to school. Bud’s mother, Margaret, told him to change, and Bud looked to his father to try and gain backup. However, Jim decided to tell Bud to change as well, since this is not his “role.” Jim may have only said to change because he did not want to start a fight between him and his wife. However, the fight would have started since he was going against her word, and taking care of the children is her ‘job.’ While Margaret’s role in this family is apparent, other mothers, especially minority’s during this time period had very different lives. “The homemaker role was not available to the more than 40 percent of black women with small children who worked outside the home” (Coontz 30). The nostalgia of this time period remains with the homemakers who got to stay home with their children. Minorities worked hard and could not fit the mother’s

To cook, clean, take care of their children, and occasionally their husbands. The mothers, and even girls, could not be independent. “Hollywood fell short of pointing the way toward a restructured family that would incorporate independent women” (May 42). Hollywood did not have many television shows with a woman attaining a job, living on her own, or being able to be the breadwinner within her family. There were very few shows that allowed women to do their own thing, and even then, they were minor steps towards being independent. Having these television shows without any diverse characters and family lifestyle gave other family’s the feeling that they must follow what these television shows