Childless Couples on Television Essay - 650 Words

Childless Couples on Television Throughout the evolution of television, there have always been TV shows of childless television couples, such as The Honeymooners or King of Queens. As television has changed throughout the decades, so have television’s childless couples. In the beginning of television series with childless couples, the wife was the one that stayed at home, cleaned, cooked, and did the laundry. The husband was the one that made the money by going to work. Television series always portrayed women as the weaker characters. â€Å"Women in the early 1950s family were weak, secondary characters, and as such were usually dominated by their husbands and their own conceptions of marriage† (Hastings, 1974). Certain episodes of†¦show more content†¦They always went to work and seemed to have to come home to clean up after the wife’s messes or mistakes. â€Å"The empowerment of men, and the attendant marginalization of women, did not extend to working-class television families. Instead, husbands such as Ralph Kramden (The Honeymooners), were portrayed as inept, immature, stupid, lacking good sense, and emotional† (Douglas, 2003). Men on television had the power in the beginning of television throughout the 1950s a nd ‘60s. Television series of childless couples did start off with this type of format, but have changed for the present time. Throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, television started portraying couples in the middle and working class and showed that both women and men could work together. This was the start of making the wife and husband equally work at jobs, at home, and anywhere else. Despite the fact that there still was slightly more power with the male, the couples could still argue and work together equally. â€Å"In contrast to middle-class couples, working-class spouses seem unhappy and discontented, even though their marriages are generally stable. Hence, television portrayals of spousal relations explicitly advocate the merit of the middle-class experience, suggesting not only the middle-class couples enjoy a more comfortable life together, but also that they develop more effective, affectionate, and satisfying relationships† (Douglas, 2003). This was the era that showed how television couplesShow MoreRelatedAre Childless Couples Happier Than Couples With Children?1580 Words   |  7 Pa geswoman together with children. However, the new â€Å"normal† is becoming more vague and open to diversity in societies. We are beginning to see couples not having children. Couples are not reproducing for numerous reasons. One reason is children induce a high amount of emotional distress to coupling parents which affects all aspects of the couple’s lives. Couples are losing relationships with their spouse or partner and losing friendships along with the birth of a child. 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