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The Male Head of Household in Sit-Coms - a target of derision

Ah but yet - some women do exactly that :shrug: I like anything that deals with the lives of people in ways I'll never experience (might explain why sitcoms are boring). I want the intrigue and daring individuals from both genders. . . a lot of men are portrayed in the same 'gung-ho over-the-top heroics' sort of way but, as with women, only few men in the real world are like that AT ALL. I know they're out there - I've yet to meet one. Most men I know are more like the sit-com character that started this thread.

I can play the couch potato with a ****ty family just fine. LOL

Yeah but more than anything it's an attempt to redefine traditional roles. If anything the culture, and not just the American culture but most cultures throughout the world, excepts the man to be the defender/protector. Sure, in real life we might see some women walking in that role are fully capable physically but most women I know are more interested in their hair, makeup and not breaking fingernails and in my opinion there's nothing wrong with that. When Hollywood does this i see it as blatantly trying to advance an agenda that seeks to get the public to see and expect no differences in genders. I think its funny.
 
Yeah but more than anything it's an attempt to redefine traditional roles. If anything the culture, and not just the American culture but most cultures throughout the world, excepts the man to be the defender/protector. Sure, in real life we might see some women walking in that role are fully capable physically but most women I know are more interested in their hair, makeup and not breaking fingernails and in my opinion there's nothing wrong with that. When Hollywood does this i see it as blatantly trying to advance an agenda that seeks to get the public to see and expect no differences in genders. I think its funny.

As Sangha pointed out - absurdities are ripe in the sci-fi genre. We expect it with the ultra-killing machine tropes. :lol: RAMBO!

Gender roles have been redefined, and never were as rigid as people imagined.

The stereotypical 'women do ___ and men do ___ gender roles' came along at some point in our European stent in human history - and some societies cling to it. I don't mean this as in 'opposing women becoming mothers' in some ultra feminist thing which rails against gender functions like having children and nursing - but just general views that exist in some countries: "feminine is soft, meek, sensual, sweet, caring, etc" - A lot of women are not, never were, and it's just part of who they are.

So, honestly, I believe that - though ridiculous tropes in various entertainment genres - it hearkens more to the fact that gender roles, as many know them and wish that we could cling to them, are falsehoods based on various ideologies and never did - never will - represent the average woman in any given period in history. The 'traditional gender roles as they are known by many in the US and some countries in Europe (etc) represent 'what certain people wish the average woman was' and not 'what the average woman is.'
 
Yeah but more than anything it's an attempt to redefine traditional roles.

No, more than anything, it's an attempt to make money

It's like saying the roadrunner cartoons were an attempt to make people strap rockets onto their backs.
 
Why is it bad I expect my future wife to work and have a university education? I also believe you can have two loving moms and two loving dads. There is also the reality of step parents and siblings that really didn't exist back in the 50s or 60s.

We knew about step-mothers back in the '30s. Have you ever seen Cinderella?
 
I kind of doubt it. The woman basically becomes a raging she-bitch from Hell in the later seasons.

If you lived across the Street from your mother-in-law can you honestly say you wouldn't?
 
Slapping the label "self-deprecating" doesn't change the fact that it portrayed the male head of household as a boob, nor does it change the fact that the Honeymooners was not the only sit com to do this.

It also does not explain why so many viewers who were male head of households enjoyed the show.

In I Love Lucy, Ricky was not particularly boobish but he was clueless and clearly not in control of his family. Not exactly very supportive of traditional gender roles in family life. Also, Fred was a boob.

If the Honeymooners were proposed today it would be rejected for projected domestic violence. The watching public have become so sensative lately.
 
Hmm - well. I've actually found this interesting. I read through the previous-give list I linked to (the 50). Shows given that are 'families' - with both a mom and a dad:

46. How I Met Your Mother - Never seen it, can't comment on the show with a solid answer but it seems that they're all well respected, successful people, generally speaking - they are all being made fun of at time person individual and lifestyle choices.

44. That ’70s Show - Red is portrayed as a successful business man / father. He's rigid, though. His wife, Kat, is a bit of a scatterbrain but in the end, they're decent people - with a bunch of idiots for kids.

42. Everybody Loves Raymond - They're all made fun of. Even the wife.

39. I Love Lucy - Lucy is often the one made fun of, but so is Ricky, just not as much.

35. Happy Days - Both parents are respectable and responsible. They all get into quirky situations from time to time, but mostly it follows the kids.

30. The Honeymooners - You asked why his self-depreciating humor is funny. Well, that's because it's just funny. The women also get involved in various silly issues. It is a sit-com, after all. without the comedy and a target to be laughing at, it's not a sit com.

28. Diff’rent Strokes - The parents (or step, whatevr may have been the case) were presented as respected mentors.

26. The Wonder Years - Presents both mom and dad as being employed, educated, and respectable. The funniness is aimed at the children.

23. Roseanne - Both parents are presented as being fat dopes with dopey kids.

22. Growing Pains - Both parents were successful and respectable, while everyone were at the center of various funny bits from time to time.

20. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air - Both parents were successful and respectable, while everyone found their selves at the center of various jokes.

19. Family Guy - so far, off this list, this is just the 2nd show that portrays him as being a dope, and her as being the opposite.


18. Modern Family - Both parents seem successful and respectable, while everyone were at the center of various funny bits from time to time.

17. The Jeffersons - This might fit into your questioning roles. George was intelligent and successful at the same time, though. They all just did stupid things. It is a sit-com like all the others.

16. All in the Family - Both were presented as dopes. Somewhat like Roseanne, but with racism.

13. The Simpsons - Same thing as family guy

10. Family Ties - Both were successful and respectable with the occasional situation because of what they did.

6. Married with Children - both were dopes

4. Arrested Development - I'm not sure where this falls. All are successful dopes? LOL

2. The Cosby Show - Both parents were respectable and successful

The only one I can think of that's not on this list is Malcolm in the Middle - both parents are successful dopes.

So - just from this list. There are 21 shows that follow a family and 7 follow, or somewhat follow, your point. (28%). Whereas 7 out of 50 sitcoms = 14% that follow your point.

In all due honesty - that's not very many, especially when you consider the number of those which present both parents, or everyone, as being idiots.

Is this far from reality? Well - no. It's not. A lot of families have the "respectable head of household" and a lot of families have "an idiot for a head of household" . . . just because males aren't presented as ALWAYS being the "rule enforcer, successful at work, and worth looking up to" doesn't mean that there's a problem

Why - on the other hand - do you expect otherwise? Why focus on "head of household being made fun of" and not "the Mom's being made fun of"

Or - more so - why do you look at the dopey parent as being "the head of the household" just because they're male? Did you consider that, in reality, what they're doing is presenting the OTHER one (female whose not the dope) as the head of the household instead?

I think it is important how these shows come about.

One writer or a group of writers use their experiences or a situation to create characters.

I don't think there is a group called "Hollywood" that writes all these shows.

If there are trends, that is because that is what creates more ratings and not what Hollywood wants you to watch.

If these shows didn't do well, the writers would write something else.
 
I think it is important how these shows come about.

One writer or a group of writers use their experiences or a situation to create characters.

I don't think there is a group called "Hollywood" that writes all these shows.

If there are trends, that is because that is what creates more ratings and not what Hollywood wants you to watch.

If these shows didn't do well, the writers would write something else.

Speaking of trends - it seems, considering the time frame in which all those shows that I bolded were popular - it seems that those types of jokes were more common in the past decades, and not shows that are created now. The only one that was piloted in the last few years was Everybody Loves Raymond - and they're all a bunch of idiots.
 
Speaking of trends - it seems, considering the time frame in which all those shows that I bolded were popular - it seems that those types of jokes were more common in the past decades, and not shows that are created now. The only one that was piloted in the last few years was Everybody Loves Raymond - and they're all a bunch of idiots.

That is very true. I mis shows like Will & Grace. It was an intelligently written show and that is hard to find.
 
Speaking of trends - it seems, considering the time frame in which all those shows that I bolded were popular - it seems that those types of jokes were more common in the past decades, and not shows that are created now. The only one that was piloted in the last few years was Everybody Loves Raymond - and they're all a bunch of idiots.

Have there been any sitcoms based on a family that have started in the last few years?
 
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