Question

The Assignment: View an old episode of "Leave it to Beaver", a 50s TV sit-com. In a one-page single-spaced paper, compare the cultural values portrayed there with those represented in a current family-focused TV sit-com - like Modern Family or the Middle or Blackish.

Purpose: To show how cultural values have changed in a single culture (US) over time (about 50 years)

Answer 1

Lets compare Leave it to Beaver to Modern Family. Since there is about 50 years of difference between these sitcoms, there are a lot of cultural differences too between them. Below are a few of those

· The difference in idealized family- Both sitcoms show idealized versions of the American family, but they are hugely different. The family in Beaver is a closely knit white family with traditional American values. Their relatives are also all the same and so are the people who live nearby. They are extremely law-abiding, religious to some extent and rear their children by instilling those values in them. Modern family on the other hand has different families which are vastly different from each other. They also have minorities (Latinos) in the family and are often at odds with each other. Religion plays very little role and children are completely independent to follow their hearts and develop their own personalities.

· Different attitudes towards homosexuality- Beaver, both because it had a child as a main actor and because a sitcom in 50s, finds almost no mention of homosexuality in it. Modern family, on the other hand, features a homosexual couple and has no qualms about showing homosexuality.

· Different attitudes towards risqué jokes- Beaver never veered towards jokes that might be considered risky. Modern family has jokes that would be considered offensive in the 50s. And that includes jokes from children. Many young teens in modern family explore their adulthood with some partners. These were some things that would be never shown in a sitcom in the 50s.

· Role of minorities- Due to the demographics of the 50s, Beaver had very few minority characters. And even when they were there, these were mostly African Americans. But modern family, as mentioned before, contains 2 Hispanic characters in its main cast.

· Role of parents- In Beaver, parents’ word was law. They guided every aspect of their children’s lives. They taught the rules of life, the lessons and made sure the children had same values as them. In modern family, even little children (such as Lilly) are their own person and mostly decide for themselves. Parents are there mostly to get them of trouble in case they are in any.

· Safety- In Beaver, life seems much more safer for children. Beaver is often out and about on its own in the suburban landscape and there is little adult supervision during that time. Modern family shows that these times life is a little less safer (or seems so because of instant news) and hence little children are not often out and about alone and parents are constantly worried about them.

· A less connected world- Advancement in technologies mean that now everyone is far more connected, at least from the outside. There were no mobile phones or internet in times of Beaver, and very few landline phones. TV options were also limited. This meant that communication was a little more difficult and most of it was face to face. This increased the inherent connection between people and they seemed close to each other. Modern family shows that while modern technology has decreased the communication gap, people seem more distant as they meet face to face much lesser.

These are a few cultural changes that we can readily observe when we watch these two sitcoms from different eras.

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