It's funny the things you consider while showering. I used to rail against Disney for it's portrayal of parents and family. Dumbo? No dad. Bambi? No dad. Ariel? Mom's dead. Jasmine? Mom's dead. Even Nemo didn't get to meet his mom...she's dies early in the movie. Then I began to think about how parents are portrayed on TV. It's a sad commentary that's for sure.Let's consider today's popular shows. Modern Family is about, well, modern families. Apparently that means mom is a neurotic, dad is a naive imbecile and grandpa is a randy old man making babies into his 70's. He's dooming that child to growing into adulthood without his father.
One of my favorite shows is Big Bang Theory. However, let's consider the parents of the adult children in this show. Hollywood's portrayal of devout religious women makes them appear ignorant and unreasonable. Of course, she is a divorced woman. No dad here, move along. Then there's Leonard's parents. Both are successful, well educated human beings that cannot be in the same room without spewing hatred and obscenities at each other. Meanwhile, Leonard is marginalized by his mother. Instead of growing up to be a scientist it is a wonder he didn't grow up to be a sociopath. Howard's relationship with his mother takes dysfunction to a whole new level, bordering on incestuous. At the least it was a very controlling one; he should be an emotional cripple if this were real life. Penny's family portrays Midwest inhabitants as backward and uneducated. How sad, I have family in the Midwest and this portrayal couldn't be further from the truth. It will be interesting to see what kind of parents Bernadette and Howard portray.What can I say about "Two Broke Girls?" One is the daughter of a fall from grace, jailed dad...not really sure whatever happened to mom; the other is the daughter of what can only be assumed as an absentee crack whore. Enough said.
Even one of my favorite dramas has very few intact families. NCIS has a man whose family was killed. His mother died of cancer when he was a young adult and his father was a blustery, angry store owner from some backwoods Pennsylvania town, thus again suggesting that if you're not in NYC or LA you're not anywhere. Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo has a con-artist dad and no mom...and most recently became dad to a little girl he did not know existed because Ziva didn't want him to know he was a father and upset the apple cart. Really? And while we're on the subject, Ziva's mother is dead, dad was head of Mussad and she killed her brother. Hmm...no problems here.
I defy you to list one television show (or movie for that matter) that show an intact family with two loving parents. Two parents that are IN LOVE and love their children. Moreover, a family that shows each other respect and dignity. Even "Roseanne" had two parents that loved each other. This family was full of warts, bumps and bruises; but at the end of the day Roseanne and Dan loved each other and tried hard to make things work and guide their children to good choices. Did it always work out? Nope. Were the kids more snarky and mouthy that they should have been? Yep. But they were an intact family. That being said, she was never too nice and caring toward her own mother.I don't, for a minute, suggest that a traditional family should always be portrayed or are in some way superior. I have tremendous amount of respect for people struggling with single parenthood, but even single moms (and dads) are portrayed as bumbling fools (or alcoholics, or emotional wrecks, or stupid idiots with kids far more savvy than they are). It's a sad commentary because children growing up today are learning that their parents are foolish and inconsequential. We are not. We are loving, intelligent, strong, flawed, wonderful, committed, proud people. We come in all shapes and sizes; we all have different types of relationships. I am married to the same man with whom I had children. That does not make me better, but it sure makes me under represented. I believe anyone who takes on the job of raising a child to adulthood deserves better treatment by the Hollywood elite.
Hear here! Good article!
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