Haralovitch, Mary Beth. “Sitcoms and Suburbs: Positioning the 1950s Homemaker.”

Thesis:

In the 1950-60s certain television sitcoms were made after the war to represent a modern middle-class white family. There were specific gender roles that took part in the televised family, and realistic scenes to create that warm, comfortable and stable family environment. More so, the social formation of the suburban family emphasizes its ability to naturalize men’s and women’s place in the home. However, this articles attempts to show that women are established homemakers, and that this is the life that they are to follow. Thus, through the description of two sitcoms Haralovich is concerned with the institutions important to social and economic policies definition of a woman as a homemaker.

Government’s intervention to promote the image of the home
Certain institutions wanted to show society that the suburban middle-income family was the primary locus of this social formation. The way the home was established, with it specified gender roles, with a warm and comfortable environment, was a new was to look at the postwar American economy. More so, government’s policies supported the suburban development in a variety of ways. One was the development of the Federal-Aid highway Act of 1956 contributed to the gender-specific space for the suburban family. The FHA was empowered with defining “neighborhood character”. For example, they tried to establish neighborhood stability, and attractiveness, and did not choose to support housing for minorities. Thus, “these government policies were to create a homogeneous and social stable communities with racial, ethnic and class barriers to entry.”

The American economy did anything in its power to promote this type of home as the image of the new postwar era. After the war the government also took initiative in prioritizing the new postwar period. This included removing woman from their jobs and giving it to men, and building more homes. The development of new homes pushed woman towards being homemakers since there was no other way they could work.

Situation Sitcom
Is a genre that presented “the daily trails and tribulations of American families and workplaces from a humorous perspective.” Also, these shows also feature breadwinner fathers, homemaker mother, and their various children. The suburban family sitcom is dependent upon this displacement of economic determinations onto imaginary social relations which naturalize middle-class life. Usually the people within these sitcoms are white Americans. This was a social and economic arrangement which was valued as the cornerstone of the American social economy of the 50s. The two that were presented within this article were Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver.

Consumer product industry has an impact on the positioning of woman as homemakers. That is, creating certain appliances that will allow woman to do housework that is not too confining or exclusively time-consuming.

These sitcoms provided a way to advertise certain consumer products. These may have include, television sets, furniture, certain appliances, etc. People that watched these homemakers battle with proper room arraignments and usage of different products caught their attention. Seeing these homemakers use these appliances that allow for leisure time, got other homemakers want them. This then provided many
companies with great sales on furniture.

Father knows best/ Leave it to Beaver

FKB Is a family life of Jim and Margret Anderson and their children Betty, Bud, and Kathy. Father knows best concentrated on drawing humor from parents raising children to adulthood.  Leave it to beaver was the life of Ward and June Cleaver whom raise two sons Wally and Theodore( the beaver) in a single family suburban home.

The two of these films establish middle-class home life. At times the sitcoms will provide rare examples of the demarcation of good and bad neighborhoods.

Similar home designs

Father knows best is less repressive in its association with familial roles. The woman in the sitcoms exemplifies the housewife as being a sexual being through the way they dressed.  As Father knows best, Leave it to Beaver was constructed around an appeal to the entire family. Margret and June are two representations of the definition of the homemaker in that they are contained and liberated by domestic space. They fit the roles in which society perceives a homemaker as. The signifying systems of these sitcoms invested in the social subjectivity of homemakers put forth by suburban development and the consumer product industry. Though both mothers are homemakers, there characters are very different. The three woman in Father knows best were intelligent, proud and resourceful. In contrast to this easy going family traits, Leave it to Beaver tells another story about gender relations.

June does not share Margret’s intelligence. June is structured on the periphery of the socialization of her children, in the passive space of the home.

Examples for the different Characters

Margret: In one episode, Jim overhears Betty and her friend, Armand, rehearsing a play, and assumes they are going to elope. Margaret has more faith in their daughter and good-naturedly tries to dissuade Jim from his anxiety: "Jim, when are you going to stop acting like a comic strip father?" In the same episode, Jim and Margaret play Scrabble, an activity which the episode suggests they do together often. "Dad's getting beat at Scrabble again," observes Bud. Kathy notices, "He's stuck with the 'Z' again." Margaret looks up Jim's Z-word in the dictionary, doubting its existence. Margaret is able to continually best Jim at this word game and Jim is willing to play despite certain defeat.

June: In a discussion of their sons' academic performances, June remarks: "We can't all be A' students, maybe the boys are like me." Ward responds: "No, they are not like you" and then catches himself up short. Nor does June share Margaret's witty and confident relationship with her husband.

She typically defers to Ward's greater sense about raising their two sons. Wondering how to approach instances of boyish behavior, June positions herself firmly at a loss. She frequently asks, mystified, "Ward, did boys do this when you were their age?" And Ward always reassures June that whatever their sons are doing (brothers fighting, for example) is a normal stage of development of boys, imparting to her his superior social and familial knowledge. Like her sons, June acknowledges the need for Ward's guidance. Unlike Margaret, June is structured on the periphery of the socialization of her children, in the passive space of the home

Conclusion

The contribution of the television homemaker to harmonious family life was underscored by the ease with which she negotiated her place in the domestic arena. Homemakers were developed in terms of the social and economic policies of society. Through television programs, and government interventions, woman had no choice but to be seen as a homemaker. More so, the consumer product industry and market research, woman were “defined in terms of her homemaking function for the family and for the economy, her life could only be made easier by appliances. To ensure the display of her family's social status, experts assuaged any uncertainties she may have had about interior decor by designing with these problems in mind. By linking her identity as a shopper and homemaker to class attributes, the base of the consumer economy was broadened, her deepest emotions and insecurities tapped and transferred to consumer product design.” Haralovich showed the multiple ways woman were defined, and given gender specific roles that are still encountered with today.