Introduction
Very briefly explain the purpose of your paper and the direction you plan to take. Identify which families you will analyze in each part of the paper.
Body (There are three parts to the body of the paper.)
Part I: Family Structure and Interaction
Base your responses to Part I on ONE TV family (this family can be from any era–the 1950s, 1970s, or 1990s)
Choose any one of the families and describe them according to EACH of the bulleted structures below. For each one, name the kind of structure the family appears to follow in most cases. Define each structure and provide specific examples of specific interactions from the episode to support why the family is a certain kind of structure:
power-authority structures
decision making structures (e.g., accommodation, defacto, consensus)
interaction structures (e.g., centralized and decentralized types such as the wheel, Y, chain, or all-channel)
family rules (e.g., regulative, constitutive).
In other words, tell which kind of structure the family appears to follow in most cases. Discuss each concept in detail, and then apply the concept to the family experiences. Provide specific examples of specific interactions in the family to illustrate your points.
Then describe the family according to Olson’s model of adaptability and cohesion by telling what level of cohesion and what level of adaptability the family has. Again, provide specific examples of specific interactions in the family to illustrate your points.
In this same family, choose one sibling relationship OR one parent-child relationship Analyze this relationship using at least one major concept from lecture or the book. Discuss the concept in detail, and then apply the concept to the relationship. Provide specific examples of specific interactions in the relationship to illustrate your points.
Part II: Family Stress
Base your responses to Part II on TWO different TV families from two different eras
What kinds of stressors did the families have to deal with in each program? Describe them. How serious are they? Do you see a trend developing here (as you look at shows from the 50s, 70s, 90s, and compare them to shows today)?
Choose two families and describe the function of the stressor with Hill’s ABC-X model. Define and identify each component (A, B, and C), and then estimate how stressful you thought this would be for the family (X). Do you think that any of the other families that we saw would react differently (i.e., their X would be different). Explain.
Part III: How Do Our Own Families Affect Us and How Are Topics of Family Diversity Treated in Family Sitcoms?
Examine the effect your family has had on your communication behaviors with others by focusing on one communication term/concept from the class to this point. Examples of communication concepts you may want to focus on are: communicator styles, self-concept issues, ways of dealing with conflict, the fundamental attribution error, or any other concept from the book or lecture. It may be that your communication behaviors (effective or ineffective) are patterned after your family. Possibly you have learned what not to do when communicating with others based on the ineffective behaviors used in your family. Use specific examples of specific interactions.
Comment on the expanding portrayal of diversity in TV families today in comparison to the past century (e.g., whether there is a need for more diversity or whether you see any trends toward increasing diversity–you might even discuss an example of a current show that shows more diversity of people or family interactions). Are there more portrayals today of diverse family interactions (both positive and negative) and diverse treatment of topics that affect families? Feel free to give examples of shows. Are negative stereotypes still prevalent? Also what expectations do TV families create in real ones?
Conclusion
Provide a very brief summary of each part of the body of the paper. Last, provide a discussion of what you have learned (more generally) about family communication by analyzing and applying the concepts/theories to your family’s behavior.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION for some of the shows listed above in case you are not familiar with them.
Leave it to Beaver
PLOT: Beaver (the young boy) lives with his brother and parents. Each episode depicts his various adventures and mishaps.
CHARACTERS: Beaver (the young boy), Wally (his brother), Ward (his father), June (his mother), Miss Canfield (his school teacher)
The Brady Bunch
PLOT: The mother has three daughters from a previous marriage and the father has three sons from a previous marriage. When the father and the mother get married all eight of them live in the same house and become a big “family.” Each episode typically focuses on some event/problem in the life of one of the children or sometimes a subgroup of the children.
CHARACTERS: Mike (the father), Carol (the mother), Greg (the oldest son), Peter (the middle son), Bobby (the youngest son), Marcia (the oldest daughter), Jan (the middle daughter), Cindy (the youngest daughter), Alice (the maid), Mrs. Johnson (the mother of Greg’s friend), Tommy (Greg’s friend from school).
Good Times
PLOT and CHARACTERS: Florida and James Evans and their three children live at in a neighborhood in inner-city Chicago. Florida and James have three children: James Jr., also known as “J.J.”; Thelma; and Michael. florida’s best friend, Willona Woods, and her daughter, Penny, live nearby.
Roseanne
PLOT: Roseanne is a working class mother of three children. She is married to a man who has had a variety of jobs (such as construction worker, auto shop mechanic, etc.). Roseanne herself has been in and out of jobs and sometimes unemployed. Her two daughters are exact opposites of each other and do not get along at all. Their young son is treated like a pet by his two older sisters. Roseanne often has serious disagreements with her husband and children. Roseanne’s adult sister also spends a lot of time at their home (hanging out, eating dinner, doing her wash, etc.). Roseanne’s older sister has also held a variety of jobs and has been in a variety of bad relationships with men. Roseanne’s second child (Darlene) had a boyfriend who now lives at Roseanne’s house, even though he and Darlene are no longer boyfriend/girlfriend. The husband of her oldest daughter (Becky) also lives with them.
CHARACTERS: Roseanne (the mother of the house), Dan (Roseanne’s husband), Becky (Roseanne’s oldest daughter), Darlene (Roseanne’s second daughter), D.J. (Roseanne’s son, the youngest child), Bev (Roseanne’s mother)
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
PLOT: Will Smith is a teenager born and raised in West Philadelphia from a working-class background. After an episode of violence in his neighborhood, his mother gets worried about the environment he is growing up in and sends him to live in Bel-Air with the family of his upper class Aunt and Uncle.
CHARACTERS:
Will (the teenager from West Philadelphia), Philip Banks (Will’s Uncle and the father of the family), Vivian Banks (Will’s aunt and the mother of the family), Carlton, Hilary, Ashley, and Nicky are all children in the family and cousins of Will, and Geoffrey is the butler.
