Ah, Political Correctness. What a touchy subject. It seems that in our humane attempt to please everyone, we are more or less pleasing no one. People get riled up about political correctness on every end of the political spectrum, some say we need more, others say we need less, and I don't really know of anyone that thinks the current amount is good and well.

Obviously, since I am writing this article, I am not a huge fan of political correctness. That being said, I can understand its origins. My beloved country of America has some dark spots in its past. Throughout our almost 240 year history, we have pretty much been openly racist or prejudiced against nearly all gender, racial, and ethnic groups..other than Protestant Christian white Anglo-Saxon land-owning middle class heterosexual males. So now, quite logically, it is becoming increasingly difficult to be a person that fits those above qualities.

So how does this relate to pop culture (more specifically: TV shows that I like)?

Well, for much of human existence, there have been archetypes of males and females. The traditional "man" is strong, courageous, protective, risk-taking, smart, and providing. The traditional "woman" is nurturing, supportive, and emotionally balanced (to contrast the man's tendency towards emotional aggression). Older movies and TV shows tend to play these roles straight, with little variation, but more modern examples are trending towards breaking the archetypes altogether.

Now, this is due to a lot of reasons. The first and probably easiest to identify is that people simply got bored with the traditional archetypes. The entertainment industry, trying to be original, began to tweak the roles and give people something different. Over time, this can lead to dramatic changes in gender roles (at least, portrayed on screen). You can also make the argument that social movements have caused the entertainment industry to see a "strong man and supportive woman" as "politically incorrect," and thus avoid its use.

Whatever the case, you can see pretty clearly that the male characters of today are a bit different than the male characters of the past. Let's look at a few examples (which I admit, are mostly from shows I enjoy, and do not represent an extensive study of every TV show produced in the past century). These are also pretty famous examples of family sitcoms from several generations.

Leave it to Beaver (1957-1963)

First, we will start out with the quintessential '50s show "Leave it to Beaver." It follows the shenanigans of the young boy Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, his older brother Wally, and Wally's mischievous friend Eddie Haskell. Beaver and Wally's parents play frequent roles as the voices of reason as well. If you've never watched the show, you should sometime. It draws back to an era where people didn't need outrageous storylines or scandalous situations to keep their attention.

Everyone is so happy even though their lives are void of color. Photo Credit: The Bees Knees Dally

In the show, Ward Cleaver, the father, is portrayed as basically the average American dad/man. He wears a suit, goes to work at an unknown job, comes home, kisses his wife, and talks to his kids about their day. He also provides fatherly wisdom and insights on problems his kids are having, and is shown to be a genuinely good guy. The mom, June Cleaver, is also a fairly textbook mother who stresses that her kids be clean, do their chores, etc. and provides motherly love and advice throughout the show. We can see by this early example of the "average American family" that the parents play their gender roles more or less straight, and they have few if any character flaws.

The Brady Bunch (1969-1974)

Another great example of an American family sitcom, "The Brady Bunch" took things into the '70s with wild new situations and clothing styles. The show, by nature, was a bit more progressive, as it featured a blended family, but the plot lines were more or less typical of a wholesome family sitcom. The father, Mike Brady, is portrayed as a successful architect (perhaps one of the first uses of this now overused profession in pop culture, but that's a different article altogether). He is a loving father who usually provides the needed fatherly wisdom for the situation, but is also sometimes corrected by his wife Carol. This goes to show that with the changing political environment, a male character could no longer be the end-all voice of reason, and flaws in both the husband and wife were explored to greater detail. The show also played with birth order roles, as the eldest children of each gender were popular and proactive, the middle children were intelligent and somewhat misunderstood, and the youngest children were playful and frequently got into trouble.

Home Improvement (1991-1999)

The era between the '70s and the '90s saw a lot of changes in the "traditional American family." Sitcoms started to get a little less wholesome than their early counterparts, but were still nonetheless family oriented. "Home Improvement," a show that I really enjoyed growing up in the '90s, played a little more with the gender roles of the husband and wife, while keeping the same three-child (all boys) birth order formula of "eldest = strong and popular, middle = intelligent, youngest = naive." Perhaps the highlight of the show, though, is the funny antics of Tim Taylor, the father figure and ultimate protagonist. In both his job and family life, he provides comic relief through his bumbling incompetence, and at the end of every episode seeks guidance through his wise neighbor Wilson (whose face is never seen).

Unlike shows of the past that featured strong male fathers who always knew what to do, shows like "Home Improvement" began exploring themes in which the parents didn't really seem to have it all together most of the time, as well as father figures who increasingly gave way to the opinions of their wives. This stands to reason, as the '90s were an era where feminism had gone from simply a movement to a generally accepted norm, and therefore a fatherly figure who always got his way would have been seen as "not politically correct." This is, of course, my take on things, and not necessarily the motivation behind shows such as this, but it is something to think about. All that said, despite his shortcomings, Tim Taylor would frequently jump in and play the role as a disciplinary no-nonsense father, so the show is not void of that element.

On the less "family oriented" side of things, the '90s also saw the emergence of "The Simpsons", which takes the "bumbling, incompetent father" and "voice of reason mother" to a whole new level.

Modern Family (2009-Present)

As the name suggests, "Modern Family" takes the traditional family sitcom to more progressive extremes. The show features not one, but three American families: one a traditional family with 3 kids, another a blended family featuring an older man and a younger (and super hot) Latina woman, and the third a gay family with adopted children. For the purposes of this article I'll focus mostly on the traditional family, which features Phil Dunphy as the father and husband. He is perhaps the best example I know of a father figure that goes to great lengths to be a "cool dad" and is frequently involved in childish antics. While I think the character is hilarious and definitely my favorite on the show, I do find it a bit disturbing that he is frequently the butt of the jokes, and portrays a male head-of-household as basically a grown-up kid. There is a lot of contrast made in the show between him and his father-in-law Jay, who is a more masculine father/grandfather figure. Perhaps the main takeaway is the difference between the "old" ways of Jay and the "new" ways of Phil, showing the progression of the American male in modern society.

One thing to note is that even though Phil is frequently shown as a "big kid", he is a fairly successful real estate agent and provides for his family, which is actually a theme common to all the shows I mentioned, along with a stay-at-home mom. This isn't exactly realistic, as most modern families feature two working parents, or even a stay-at-home dad, but it may be a few years before that element works its way into family sitcoms. I think it is also a bit funny to note that even though "Modern Family" is very progressive with the featuring of a gay couple, it still sparked criticism from the LGBT community for the portrayal of the characters and how they do not show affection towards each other on-screen. It goes to show that you can't please everyone.

Conclusion

So what did I seek to accomplish by this other than my love of over-analyzing TV shows? Do I think TV shows should only feature strong male fathers who always know what is right? No. Society is not shaped by pop culture, pop culture is an effect of society. It is also an effect of money, so when market research shows that goofy dads are funny, the industry will go forth and give the people what they want. That's the way it is, and I don't think you should try to fight it, because you will probably lose and look dumb in the process. I also really like all the shows I mentioned, and I don't think they should be changed because the characters don't fit my image of ideal people.

What I DO think we should do is be the best people we can be, and not look to TV for guidance. Just because it is funny when Tim Taylor electrocutes himself does not mean we should electrocute ourselves in front of our kids for a cheap laugh. This seems like it should be obvious, but a sad reality in America is that many people grew up only knowing about families and fathers through TV and not reality. Don't take parenting lessons from a TV show any more than you would take financial advice from a homeless person.

And as for political correctness: I enjoy comedies because they make fun of people, and they make fun of life. If the world comes to a point where the only group of which we can make fun is middle class white males, then that will be a very sad time...and not very funny. It's fine if a loving father is the butt of a joke, but don't make him the only one who is the butt of the joke for fear of offending anyone else. Last time I checked this was America, the land of free speech, not "free speech as long as the speech doesn't step on the toes of sensitive issues because we are trying to boost ratings and avoid lawsuits."