American Families in TV - Culmination Blog

How the four goals of the University Studies Program were met in my American Family in Television course, and how I have been able to connect my learning to these goals.

Inquiry and Critical Thinking:


For the first time, this class introduced me to the concept of creating our own knowledge. Let me clarify that: this wasn’t the first time I’ve had to do it… but I enjoyed the wording of this concept that allowed me to think about it more often and determine whether I had accomplished it or not. Having been inundated with history classes over the past 25 years, it was nice to be able to critically look at historical events and make an assumption based on the facts that I’ve committed to memory. I really enjoyed writing the blogs that allowed me to further examine my own personal thoughts, feelings and concepts and to think critically about things that would have otherwise washed over me without a second thought.

Communication:


Our class may not have been the most vocal about questions and kicking off discussions, but I felt that the communication that did occur in class was very productive. I really appreciated the ability to get into small groups and discuss things that we had been talking about, be able to get more ideas, and to better solidify my current views of things. By incorporating the blog writing into our assignments in lieu of written papers, I also felt was a great touch. I enjoyed the opportunity to use my knowledge and hobby of blogging to expand on my topics a little more. It allowed so much more personal vision than a paper generally does.

The Diversity of Human Experience:


In this class, the experiences of people over time were brought to our attention via a unique media, television shows. Through these shows we were able to visually learn about the different experiences of people in different time periods and how their background, cultural heritage, and timeline affected who they were and how they conducted their lives. By watching television shows that portrayed different timer periods, we saw how people changed, and how their “reality” affected them at a much more intimate level. We saw everything from varied races to varied religions, and varied economic statuses to different political beliefs. Through these different “realities” we were better able to get a larger picture of our country as a whole and all the different (or diverse) people that make up this unique nation.

Ethics and Social Responsibility:


This goal was a slightly more difficult goal to match with this course. We spent a significant amount of time discussing historical facets of the decades we were studying, and through this examination, I believe that we touched on the responsibility that each of us has to leave the world better, or more complete, than it has been in the past. I felt that the further along we went in our timeline, the more specific the groups of people became, and in turn, the more realistic. By continuing to look at each person as an individual, as opposed to a nation of depth-less clones, we continue on the path that leads to more understanding of our society and the members that make it up. By studying shows, such as “Will and Grace” we are introduced to groups of people that may be outside of our immediate circle, but simply by learning more about it, we have contributed to our society and our responsibility to look after those that comprise it.

How the goals of the Family Studies Cluster were met in my American Family in Television course, and how I have been able to connect my learning to these goals.

Viewing the family from multiple perspectives:

We had the opportunity of watching many television shows that portrayed families in very different ways. I appreciated the ability to watch a similar time period and the extremes among the people who lived during that time. “All in the Family” shows us a very prejudiced man who is completely ignorant about how people (unlike himself) live, and believes that they are much less than he is… and how angry this makes him as a person. In “Good Times” we see another family who appears equally prejudiced, but in the opposite way. They appear to believe that “whites” are better than they are, and they must actively work to bring themselves “up” to the whites level. We see, however, that this has not made them angry, but instead they appear determined and still able to love and care about others. Seeing families in the same time period from different perspectives is something that I really appreciated. I enjoyed seeing the different ways that parents interacted with their children, with each other, and within their community. I also liked seeing how different families dealt with the same things occurring in the nation; some actively worked with it, some worked against it, and some allowed it be simply a backdrop that was rarely discussed.

The impact of family on individual development:

Many of the TV shows we watched included children as an integral part of the family. In many of the earlier shows, the children are seen as a single unit in purpose: to provide children-based storylines. As time goes on, we see children developing their own distinct lives, and in turn their own storylines that become important to the fabric of the show. In the “Cosby Show” we see how each child is very distinctly different and has their own, very different, ways of looking at the world. We see that by allowing the children to have their own situations, the parents are able to interact with each of them on a different level; there may be one way to deal with Theo, and a very different way that they interact with Vanessa. This is something that allows television shows to more closely resemble real life; very rarely do parents deal with each of their children in the same way… it is generally always equal and fair, but isn’t always the same methods.

Family diversity:

As I have said before, this class gave us a lot of opportunity to see how different families can be, not only from other families, but how different the members of a single family can be from one another. In “Family Ties” we see how vastly different the 3 (later 4) children are from one another, and how they are just as different from their parents. This is another fact that very closely resembles what a real family is going to be like. Although children are raised in the same home with the same parents, it is very likely that they will grow up with their own experiences, perceptions of their childhood events, and with their own beliefs about the world. This class gave us the opportunity to examine these differences and relate them to our own lives to better see the reality of this occurring. I know that in my own life, this couldn’t be any truer. My sister and I are 18 months apart, both girls, who shared a room until we I was 15 years old. We attended the same schools, lived in the same neighborhoods, attended the same church classes, and were raised by the same parents; so much so that many of our friends were siblings, so we even played at the same homes. She and I could not further apart on the “sameness” scale; we are polar opposites in every extent of the word: weight, height, coloring, hobbies, moral values, passions, religious beliefs, personalities, adult experiences, etc. Seeing this concept in this class did not surprise me in the slightest because I lived it, and I have NO doubt that members of a family can be as diverse as they are from the family next door (or in the next time zone).

In conclusion, I loved this class. I have always had a passion for television and I’ve loved being able to explore how it has affected our lives, and how our lives have affected television. I always get a kick out of hearing people say that they “don’t watch television” or didn’t watch as a child. That seems so absurd to me. Mind you, I didn’t plant myself in front of the television as a child… but I definitely didn’t miss ANY shows either. Thank you for teaching a class where my years (and endless hours) or television watching have paid off, and where I’ve been able to take it to the next level through analyzing what I watch.