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As we were watching family ties in class the other day, I couldn't help but notice that the family that is portrayed in the show is hardly at all what the family really looks like. For one thing, the brothers and sisters get along too well. also, the point that was made in class about the mom being a working mother and still having the time to clean and cook and make everyone happy was a good point. that was definetly a little too unrealistic. how could a mom, that is an architect for one, still find the time,or have the energy for that matter, to do all of the things that a stay at home mom or a made does. i find that a little too hard to believe.

To say that a working mother can't do all the things that a stay at home mother does is a little extreme. My mother is an elementary school principal, and my whole life, our house was never messy (with the exception of the play room). We even had white carpet in almost every room and it never had footprints or stains.

The family on Family Ties is highly similar to my own except for the way the children interface with the family. Malory, I think she's the oldest, acts as if she doesn't have the mental capability to handle the comon stereotypes associated with being the oldest child. One would think that an oldest child would be most responsible and not always fascinating themselves with new fads, such as the massage technique she was practicing in this particular episode. Generally, we see the older siblings and their side-plots to the main story in a manner that demonstrates spreading wings to leave the nest. Even with the Brady Bunch, Marsha and Greg were the oldest and quite obviously the most responsible, and near the end of the series, they both dealt with issues of needing privacy away from their younger brothers and sisters and weren't able to share rooms anymore. Even if Malory isn't the oldest child and she's the second oldest, she still is at about the same mental level of development as the youngest child who seems extremely intelligent when compared, relatively, to the rest of his siblings.

In the introduction of "The Way We were" Stephanie Cootz makes an intersting point. "Pessimists argue that the family is collapsing; optimists counter that it is merely diversifying. Too often, both camps begin with an ahistorical, static notion of what 'the' family was like before the contemporary period " (p. 1). I believe this to be true. How can we analyze the effectiveness, or ineffectiveness of our family by a standard that never really existed? We must first consider the notion that the 'traditional' American family was and remains an ideal. To measure our success by an ideal is, in this case of the American family, and many others, erroneous. If America is theoretically unique and progressive in its diversity, then judgement by one, invalid, single standard is logically, nonrepresentative. What is successful in my family as an African American female can be totally and radically different than what is succesful in yours, as a white male. Herein lies the controversy: Family functionality is a relative concept - and one standard, 'ahistorical' ideal denies this relativity.

The family in Family Ties is certainly not what most of the families I know look like. The way they greet one another when they walk into a room and engage in conversation with one another is far more mature and sophisticated than the families I have seen in my life. Oftentimes I will be in the same room as one of my family members and we will not engage in conversation at all, other than acknowleding one another's presence. Also, the family's physical appearance is unrealistic. They always look and dress their best, while I know, at least in my family, is extremely common to walk around the house in sweatshirts and jeans and no makeup. They also seemed to be together a lot of the time, as a whole family. Oftentimes it is rare to be able to collect the entire family in one room for more than ten minutes because everyone has their own things to do.

I agree, that the family on Family Ties is not an accurate portrayal of the american family as we think. An american family can be blood related, extended, or just friends. So when I see the family on Family Ties, is seems to be fiction to me. The house was entirely to clean to have working parents and a small child. If everyone in the family helped out, that house still wouldn't be that clean. The family gets along too well. Even the arguments that they do have, do not seem realistic.

When thinking over the episode on Thursday,I thought that Steven was actually condescending when he said, " to every season...turn, turn, turn". He could have given concrete ways to help. Alex, on the other hand, given his penchant for not doing things that don't better himself, and not doing things that are demeaning, showed his support for his mother's plight by carrying his placard and protesting. Mallory is never taken seriously because she is always doing things that are "out of the box." She marches to a different drummer. Elise is driven and somewhat neurotic, for even though she loves her children, her first love seems to be architecture. Also, she doesn't mind making a fool of herself, even at the expense of perhaps losing the owner's respect for her work. Case in point, the second option she presents to the owner:a floating mini-mall. Totally ridiculous! Who would take her seriously after that? But it's a sitcom, right?

You will never find a typical family or even a typical group of families in America or anywhere else. Every family is different. You will find that any family you can think of could be both historical as well as “ahistorical,” because every family, no matter its composition, has a unique synergy. It doesn’t matter if both parents work, if there is only one parent, or even if the family is simply a group of very close friends. Every family works differently from every other family, and there is no guarantee that what works for one will work for any of the others.

I have known many families from many different cultures, and even though they showed great differences from each other even when only considering those from their own culture, they all seemed to work in one way or another. The family is neither degrading or diversifying. It is simply that we are allowing ourselves to see the differences between what is set before us and what we have grown comfortable with in our own minds.

Edited by author 04-01-2002 12:46 PM
Like many of the other thoughts posted here, I don't believe 'Family Ties' portrays the typical American Family. There are too many variables in this country on which to base the word 'typical'. However, most viewers of these programs get caught-up on the entertainment side, and overlook the things we detailed in discussion. I think some of the television programs can give viewers new insight, and possibly teach lessons of morality and values, but can also teach unacceptable pracitces of non-value. In the episode we viewed, the mother seemed to require a sense of accomplishemt to give satisfaction in her life, and didn't want to settle for being a mother and be remembered as such. This is how society and the world can sway our values and inner self-security, making you feel you are less of a person unless you accomplish things most others don't.

"Family Ties" doesn't exactly portray the typical American family. The television show does create this "ideal" family where the parents are both able to maintain individual relationships with each other and their children while maintaining thier own occupational and personal life. Elise (the mother) is a strong enthusiastic mother who is considered a good role model to her daughters. A real family doesn't solve problems in 22 minutes (avg. 30 minute tv show). My family isn't exactly like the Keatons, my family has divorces, arguments, homosexuals, etc...my family coined to term FUN in dysfunctional! :)

give me some