Reference no: EM133414789

Father Knows Best and similar programs televised from the mid-1950s through 1960s propagated ideas about family life and gender roles that were both illustrative of prevailing attitudes and at odds with families' experience during these years.

In this discussion assignment, please answer the following questions in your Initial Post after closely analyzing the image above, "The Anderson Clan from the TV series 'Father Knows Best.'" Be sure to use all that you've learned from our assigned reading for this module/week and from earlier analyses of visual images as historical evidence.

Then follow-up with two meaty, substantive responses on the work of others in this forum. Note the deadlines at the top of this page. Good luck!

Questions to Answer

The Andersons was the name of the family in "Father Knows Best." Describe the Anderson's living or family room. What is missing from the room?
The members of the Anderson family are engaged in a variety of activities in the picture. What do these activities suggest about gender roles in the 1950s?
What social class does the Anderson family occupy? What pieces of evidence (some subtle) help you determine this? Does the assigned reading in the textbook help you here?
Examine the placement of the subjects and their relationship to one another in the picture. What do their position and placement say about their importance and roles within the family?
Using your own television viewing experience, how does this depiction of the American family at mid-century compare with that portrayed in our own time in such programs as "Blackish," "The Goldbergs," "Jane the Virgin," and/or "The Fosters"? (Supply your own examples if you wish.) What historical developments would account for these changes (or lack of them) in depicting American families then and now?