The American situation comedy Essay Example

The American situation comedy Essay Example The American situation comedy Essay The American situation comedy Essay The American situation comedy, Leave It to Beaver, is a display of gender and the family dynamic that swept the nation after World War II and the Great Depression. Nuclear families were small; most households consisted of two adults, male and female, and no more than three children. Sitcoms presented wild antics by children and wives that disturbed a quiet family life headed by an indomitable father. Gender roles in sitcoms such as Leave It to Beaver were clearly defined and the family dynamic was traditional; the father worked, the mother stayed home, and the children were content and happy.Contrary to popular belief by the following generations, the quiet and simple American dream lived by sitcoms families never existed outside of the television studio. Television emerged in the 1950s as a dominating force. Watching television in ones own home seemed much easier than going to the movie theater. While most of society was at home watching television, movie ticket sales dropped dramatically. This was the birth of the sitcom.People wanted to see lighthearted entertainment on television after the tumult of World War II and the Great Depression; this gave way to television families and their zany world. The 1950s is usually regarded as quiet and happy, and Leave It to Beaver reflected back to America this calming sense of happy normalcy. As depicted in Leave It to Beaver, Ward Cleaver worked a nine-to-five job and saw his family at night and on weekends. Fathers were the disciplinarians and controlled all financial matters in the household.Fathers also offered sage advice to his children. June Cleaver, on the other hand, was a housewife and mother. Mothers, like the children, received a weekly allowance from their husbands and they made sure the house was clean, meals were prepared, and children were happy and content. Wally and Theodore Beaver Cleaver were well-adjusted children with relatively happy and content lives. Sitcom families set a national standard for families everywhere. However, a sitcom life was often plagued with troubles for the families who tried to achieve the perfect life.The rise of middle class required the breadwinner, usually the father, to be away on business for extended periods of time while the mother suffered troubles of her own. While June Cleaver mopped the floor wearing pearls and pumps, real women suffered not being able to sign a legally-binding contract or have a credit card in their own name. After World War II, millions of soldiers were discharged from the military. House developer William J. Levitt touted the houses he built in 1950. They were identical box-like houses.The soldiers and their families then moved from the city to these suburbs. The neighborhoods where Levitt built his houses were orderly and identical. There were to be no fences built, laundry could only be hung on rotary racks and only during the weekdays, and lawns were to be mowed once a week. Leave It to Beaver was set in this middle-class suburbia. Their home, like other homes on the Cleavers block, were comfortable, but modest. Television portrayed suburbia, filled with only young, white couples, most with well-adjusted children, as the perfect place to live.Television, however, did not mention the culture and diversity that was missing. Everything was white-washed; the houses all had the same layout and everyone had the same goals and economic status. These suburban neighborhoods was the perfect setting for non-dysfunctional, happy families where the mother could lead a quiet life cooking and cleaning during the day, the father could have a warm place to come home to after a hard day at work, and the children could safely ride their bikes up and down the block with their friends.