Research Question: "How has the portrayal of the father figure in television sitcoms changed throughout the life of sitcoms?"
Scharrer, Erica. "From Wise to Foolish: The Portrayal of the Sitcom Father, 1950s-1990s." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 45.1 (2001): 23-40.
Summary: Over the years, the representation of fathers in television sitcoms has changed gradually but drastically. For example, jokes directed toward the man of the family used to be non-existent, where as today it is very common. The fact that sitcoms tend to follow the current economic and social states of a country, explain why this is true. Historically, when men were the main breadwinners for the family and women were stay-at-home moms, men were respected more than women. This idea of men being more important than women basically prohibited jokes being made against men in sitcoms. Today, women are much more present in the workforce and are viewed as equal to men, making jokes against men more appropriate.
An aspect that changes more randomly is when relating a man's portrayal in sitcoms to their economic class on the show. For the most part, more shows with a middle-class father will make fun of the character when compared to a show with an upper-class father. The idea being a middle-class father has less "power" than an upper-class one. Overall, sitcoms represent real-life society and allow a "weak" father character to be the basis of a joke, whereas a "strong" is the opposite. For example, in real-life tall men are usually seen as powerful and short men viewed as weak.
Author's Perspective: While reading the article, I got a feel of a feminist perspective without even realizing that a woman wrote it until after i read it. A majority of the article is not only about how a father's portrayal has changed, but a wife's as well. I feel as though Scharrer likes the idea that today's portrayal is not as unfair; that is something she points out numerous times. She definitely feels that the portrayal of fathers in sitcoms has changed quite a bit, and rightfully so. Her research led right to that conclusion.
How it helps me: This article provides a lot of information as to why the portrayal of fathers has changed and lays out how it occurred over time. I feel it will be useful for me when writing my own paper, especially from the "shift in power aspect."
Tyler, I had a really hard time reading this, so I hope you can re-paste it (and hopefully I can give you more substantive comments).
ReplyDeleteMy only quibble is that you don't want to explore "change." Perhaps you should just look at how fathers are portrayed in sitcoms? Remember, you do not want to ASSUME that there IS a change! (Maybe there isn't!)
So....try to investigate how fathers are depicted and then see.