Department of English and American Studies English Language And

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Zuzana Žilinčíková

The American Family of the 1950s and its TV representation Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Dr.

2014

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

……………………………………………..

Zuzana Žilinčíková

I would like to thank my supervisor doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Dr. for his valuable

advice throughout the writing process.

Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………….…..6

1. The 1950s era………………………………………………………………………..7

1.1. Demographic trends…………………………………………………………….7

1.2. Economy and politics of the 1950s: End of WWII. and Cold war…………..…8

1.3. Suburbia………………………………………………………………….…....10

1.4. Social division of gender roles………………………………………………...12

1.5. Perception of the family of the 1950s…………………………………………13

2. Television in the 1950s……………………………………………………………..14

2.1. Television spread………………………………………………………………14

2.2. Television and family………………………………………………………….15

2.3. Gender roles and television (TV representation of men and women)………....16

2.4. Situation comedy – sitcom…….………………………………………………17

2.5. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet…….…………………………….…..…18

3. Analytic approach…………………………………………………………………..19

4. The Rivals ……………………………………………………………………...... 20

4.1. Episode summary……………………………………………………………...20

4.2. Identities...……………………………………………………………………..21

4.3. Practices………………………………………………………………………..22

4.4. Significance……………………………………………………………...…….27

5. The newlyweds get settled…………………………………………………………29

5.1. The progress in Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet…………………………….29

5.2. Episode summary……………………………………………………………...30

5.3. Identities………………………………………………………………….……30

5.4. Practices…..……………………………………………………………………33

5.5. Significance……………………………………………………………………36

6. Comparison of the two episodes…………………………………………………...38

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………...…………39

Bibliography..…………………………………………………………………………..42

Introduction

The 1950s are an interesting era in the development of an American family, especially for the enormous popularity of marriage, peak of the baby boom and rising importance of family life. We aim to provide an overview of the demographic trends in the 1950s and identify the characteristics of the era that were connected to this rise of family importance. In particular we focus on economic and political influence on family, the expansion of suburbia and the social division of gender roles.

Moreover, in this era occurred an enormous spread of television in the United

States. It became part of the life of an average American family and the broadcast included many family oriented programs. Therefore, television is an ideal source for gaining information about this period and about the character of American families.

Television not only provides evidence about the family, but also contributes to the formation of an ideal that these families followed. The general features of television spread and its place in American homes are discussed in this thesis, as well as the typical display of male and female’s roles in the society.

Last but not least, the thesis aims to explore the representation of the 1950s family in one of the most popular sitcom at that time – The Adventures of Ozzie and

Harriet. We employ the tools of discourse analysis to identify the identities, practices and significance enacted in two selected episodes of this sitcom. First, we offer analysis of the first episode that was broadcast on the television in 1952 – The Rivals, and second we analyze an episode from the very beginning of the 1960s – The Newlyweds

Get Settled. Although the number of episodes is restricted to two, it should at least partly capture the span of this period.

1. The 1950s era

1.1. Demographic trends

The 1950s are considered to be The Golden Age of marriage (Možný 20).

Nostalgically, it seems that the 1950s were “the last gasp of the traditional values”

(Caldwell 2-3), but in fact the traditional values and importance of family was quite exceptional (Coontz 25). Most of the authors agree that the trends observed throughout the 20th century heads towards higher age at first marriage, rising divorce rates and lower fertility. These trends shifted in the 1950s and this era could be considered as a paradox to the long standing development (Hartman 84; Coontz 25). Moreover, this shift of the 1950s was for some scholars at that time quite surprising. Expanding job and educational opportunities, increasing birth control availability could have just as good led young people to postpone their marriages and childbearing (May 5). However, it did not. Instead, men and women got married at the very young age that was even record low: seventy per cent of women were married by the age of 24 (Mintz 179). Compared to the 1940s this number increased by thirty per cent (Mintz 179). The popularity of marriage was accompanied by the baby boom. The baby boom era is considered to be a period between 1946 till 1964, with the peak in 1957. During this period more than 75 million babies were born and the 1950s brought the greatest population increase observed in one decade (Monhollon xiii). Divorce rates, on the other hand, declined for the first time in 1947 after a period of eighty years of continual increase. From 1946 to

1955 crude divorce rates1 dropped from 4.3 to 2.3 and fluctuated between 2.1 and 2.3 until 1963. After 1963 the divorce rates returned to the trend observed in the previous era (U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare 9). These statistics, however, have to be considered with caution because at that time national divorce statistics did not exist

1 Number of divorce per 1000 population (U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare 59)

in any meaningful sense (Caldwell 9).

1.2. Economy and politics of the 1950s: End of the Second World War and Cold

War

The 1950s is a postwar (The Second World War) era as well as an era of the

Cold War. Both these circumstances had severe influence on the life in the United States as well as on family itself.

In the postwar period the U.S. economy was booming. The economic growth was primarily fostered by manufacturing, construction and defense spending and the advances in technology caused American business to growth even stronger (Monhollon xvi). The 1950s are, moreover, characterized by extensive spread of consumerism

(Ewen & Ewen, 35, Monhollon xvii). From the end of the Second World War to the beginning of the 1950s, consumer spending rose by sixty per cent (Spigel 32). Most importantly, the biggest boom in consumer spending was in household goods, such as household furnishings and consumer appliances (Coontz 25, Spigel 32). Spending seemed to reflect beliefs about a good life. The goods that the middle-class families were buying fostered family values and gender role division (May 15).

Moreover, vast majority of Americans improved their economic situation, and it was reflected in the significant rise of the middle-class. This term labeled population with income between 3,000 and 10,000 dollars per family. From thirty-one per cent in the 1920s the middle-class constituted sixty per cent of population by the mid-1950s

(Coontz 24-25). The economic situation that caused expansion of the middle-class was in large also translated to the growth of suburbia that was characterized by single family houses (Ewen & Ewen 174). By the end of the 1950s, seventy per cent of families

owned a house, eighty-seven per cent had a television and three quarters of families possessed a car (Coontz 25).

Despite the economic prosperity of the 1950s, not everyone was so well of.

Majority of the older population lacked medical insurance (Coontz 30). Moreover, approximately one quarter of the American population was poor and the poverty was much more widespread among minorities (Coontz 30). Indeed, the minorities were

“almost entirely excluded from the gains and privileges accorded white middle-class families” (Coontz 30).

The political reality was also connected to the movement towards domesticity.

May (12-13) argues that the Cold War had severe effect on people and most importantly on the revival of domesticity. The double-edged goal in this anticommunist period was freedom that should provide liberation from the hardship of the past, and security in the future. However, freedom that was represented by secularism, materialism, bureaucratic collectivism and consumerism seemed to undermine the security (May 13). May (10) terms it as a “paradox of anticommunism”. Domesticity seemed to be the solution that should diffuse consumerism and other disturbing tendencies that were supposed to undermine the security. Although rather the opposite was true, it was believed that within home these tendencies could be tamed and contribute to happiness. Family seemed to offer a “psychological fortress” that would protect them against themselves and domestic containment was perceived as a way of personal, but also political security (May 13).

1.3. Suburbia

After the war, in the late 1940s, throughout the 50s and 60s, the rise of suburbia can be observed. Between 1950 and 1970, the suburban population rose from 36 million to 74 million – the population of suburbs more than doubled (May 162). This enormous growth is also observable in the number of new housing units. During the 1940s, 9.8 million of new units were built. In the 1950s this rose to 14.9 million and in the 1960s to 16.8 million (Hayden, 38).

Before that, suburbs in the United Sates have been socially diverse. Only after the war better paid workers – the middle class were able to buy houses in suburbia in large, and thus constitute the majority of suburbs’ inhabitants (Harris & Larkham 22-

23). This was to great extent work of the U.S. government in cooperation with the

Federal Housing Authority (FHA). The policies aimed at supporting the development of suburbs in various ways. For example, thousands of miles of limited-access highways were approved by the Federal-Aid Highway Act in 1956 which enhanced the development of suburbia (Haralovich 65). But most importantly, the FHA regulated private loans for single house constructions (Coontz 77). Before the Second World War a bank loan for a house was inaccessible for many Americans – the loans were very often conditioned by fifty per cent down payment and were issued for five to ten years only. After the War, the down payments were lowered to five or ten per cent with maturity of up to 30 years (Coontz 77). Thus government with the Federal Housing

Administration played an important role in the suburban development because the purchasing of a suburban house was suddenly available for larger number of people.

However, with the new loan system for houses, the FHA was able to control to a great extent who could purchase a house in a suburb. First of all, multifamily dwellings and commercial use of the dwellings were prevented (Haralovich 67). Further, the FHA is

often criticized for extensive support to white middle-class families over other social and ethnic groups (Wright 246) and creation of “homogeneous and socially stable communities with racial, ethnic, and class barriers to entry” (Haralovich 66). Although there were efforts to change these practices, for example NAACP charged FHA for suburban discrimination, little actually changed in the FHA policy until 1968 (Wright

248).

Nevertheless, suburbs represented for many people a refuge from the cities.

They offered space and autonomy that many people longed for, and provided private and safe place for family life (Ewen & Ewen 174). The suburban houses should remind the 19th century estates and ranches (Ewen & Ewen 174). The houses were foremost single family homes and the design of the houses was also adapted to the needs of a single family as well as visions of gender division within the family (Hayden 40). The first floor was usually open – kitchen, dining space and living area formed one big room. Haralovich (67) terms it as the activity area where children could be at the sight of their mother while she was engaged in the kitchen. Father could have his own space in a workroom or garage. Bedrooms were usually in a quiet area of the house – perhaps on the second floor. Here children had their own space in smaller rooms, while husband and wife shared the bigger bedroom. Moreover, to the house usually belonged a yard where children could spend their free time (Haralovich 67).

Although the houses provided the luxury of private space, they were also criticized predominantly for their uniformness. As Ewen and Ewen (174) write, they were more “standardized parodies of independence, of leisure and most important of all, of the property that made the first two possible”.

1.4. Social division of gender roles

During the Second World War women were encouraged to take new jobs and indeed thousands of women did. By the end of the 1940s, enormous number of women worked outside their homes (Byars 79). At that time, most of the women expected to stop working after the war, but by the end of the war the situation changed and many expressed desire to continue in their jobs (Coontz 31).

However, with the end of the war the rhetoric shifted. Women were no longer encouraged to work, but contrary they were told to return to households (Spigel, 41). In the rhetoric of the Cold War, the traditional roles of women as “wives, mothers, and consumers” were stressed (Hartmann 86, Hayden, 42). David Riesman (19-21), commenting on the 1950s, argues that women’s inability to bear children was considered as a quasi perversion – motherhood was seen as irreplaceable source of happiness and fulfillment. On the other hand, women were also required to be as much wives as mothers (Riesman 19-21). The suburban wife should first of all make the home

“an oasis of comfort and serenity for her harried husband”(Chafe 187). Being fully engaged in the rearing of the children and at the same time “maintain passionate sexual excitement with her husband was a 1950s invention that drove thousands of women to therapists, tranquilizers or alcohol when they actually tried live up to it”(Coontz 9). Men were expected to take the role of a husband (Riesman 28) and a breadwinner (Mintz

184). Bachelors were considered as “immature, infantile, narcisstic, deviant, or even pathological” (Riesman 28).

The end of the war, the rhetoric of women’s domesticity and the downward movement of women in their job positions caused that many women opted to leave their jobs (Coontz 31, Spigel, 33). But many women continued to work (Byars 80), and

during the 1950s also continued to enter job market. Chafe (188) argues that compared to 1940, in 1960 twice as many women had a job, what constituted forty per cent of all women over sixteen years of age. Mothers of six to seventeen year old children were no exception – the number of these women at work increased from 1940 four times, to thirty-nine per cent in 1960.

1.5. Perception of the family of the 1950s

In the postwar era, marriage was considered to be essential for a happy life.

More than ninety per cent of Americans believed that an unmarried person cannot be happy (Mintz 180). Along with the importance of marriage, grew also importance of children, and families were considered to be child-centered (Mintz 184, Riesman 49).

Indeed, many people were convinced of “the positive value of having several children”

(May 132). Family and foremost nuclear family comes to the foreground in the 1950s.

The Great Depression and the Second World War strengthened the importance of extended family ties. However, these were often perceived as oppressive (Coontz 26).

That is one of the reasons why the economic improvement brought decline of the pattern of living with other relatives and gave way to the nuclear family (Riesman 48).

Marital loyalties were given more importance than those of other kin (Coontz 26).

Females, but also males were encouraged to identify with familial and parental roles.

The 1950s were the Golden age of marriage and for many families the 1950s were happy times (Coontz 37). However, Coontz (22) notes that the view of the 1950s as we have today, might be affected by nostalgia, and she warns against the overgeneralization of the familial reality. Many successful families were functioning at the high cost of female needs and aspiration and many families were unhappy. The estimates are that the proportion of unhappy families could be more than two thirds (Coontz 35). Moreover,

the cases of sexual abuse were often overlooked and marginalized (Coontz 35).

2. Television in the 1950s

2.1. Television spread

In the 1950s television gained an important role in the life of a family. It was a favorite pastime and a “dominant form of entertainment” (Mintz 190). At the beginning of the previous decade, television was only available for a few upper-class families. In 1940 there were less than four thousand television sets in the United States

(Mintz 190), and it was mostly perceived as a “rich men’s toy” (Spigel, 30). Although, television was presented to the public at the end of the 1930s, most importantly at the

World’s fair in New York in 1939, and during the 1940s (Spigel 47), the widespread promotion did not occur until the end of the war. The market opened up in 1946 when first black and white television sets were offered to the public (Spigel 30). The 1950s, the era of consumerism gave way to the enormous spread of television. In 1946 only

0.02 per cent of Americans owned a television set. This percentage rose to nine per cent in 1950, when television spread mainly to the Northwest, and to sixty-five per cent in

1955, as television expanded to all American states (Spigel 32). Spigel (33) sees behind this spread several factors among which the new cult of domesticity and the growth of the middle-class play the most important role.

There were three major broadcasting companies in the United States – National

Broadcasting Company (NBC), Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and American

Broadcasting Corporation. The first two companies were founded between 1926 and

1927. ABC was formed in 1943 by renaming one of the two branches of NBC. All of them were functioning as radio broadcast networks and after the Second World War made transition to television broadcast (Lucas 344).

2.2. Television and family

With the spread of television, television sets gained an important place in homes of many families. Television was a new center of living room, instead of former piano or fireplace. It was portrayed in the middle of the family circle and promised to bring family together. The advertisement presented television as a family heart, as “a catalyst for the return to a world of domestic love and affection” (Spigel 41). At the same time, the function of bringing family together had to respect the diverse social roles of the family members (Spigel 37).

Not only television as a tangible thing was a way of conveying meanings, but most importantly it was broadcasting through which the television had an enormous influence on the family of the 1950s. Television played a double role when portraying family in their broadcast. First of all, it represented part of the reality in the 1950s, although the images presented in television were often stereotypical (Mintz, 191), and second, it played an important role in forming the notion of an ideal American family by conveying strong and influential images (Mintz 191, Kunzel 321).

Films and other television programs were celebrating family (Byars 115) and domesticity (Hartmann 80). What was usually portrayed on television was the “good life” of suburbia that was isolated from the less pleasing images of America (Monhollon

57). Indeed, the favorite way of portraying family was image of a white middle-class suburban family (Spigel 33). “The motto was least objectionable programming which gave rise to those least objectionable families” (Coontz 30). These families were characterized by “breadwinner father, housewife-homemaker mother and growing children” (Haralovich 61). Parents were usually depicted as intelligent and sensible.

Typical plot of these series was a problem that involved one of the children, where parents could take a role of a moral guide, while helping their children to solve the

problems. Butsch (117) refers to them as “superparents”.

The real life was not as uniform as pictured on the television. The broadcasting of the 1950s is often criticized for ignoring the cultural diversity and making some ethnicities in the United States invisible (Coontz 30, Kunzel 321).

2.3. Gender roles and television (television representation of men and women)

Television and its programming were also portraying gender roles and again importantly shaped perception of gender roles by the audience. Images focused on the domestic ideal and celebration of the division of labor by male and female (Caldwell 3).

Woman’s place was at home as she was pushed out from the public spaces (Hartmann

84), and she was convinced that she must fulfill her familial obligations (Spigel 33).

Woman was most often displayed as white middle-class housewife who is staying at home, rearing children, cleaning the house and baking cookies (Caldwell 3).

Her main task was to maintain the domestic space for the other family members.

Household tasks were performed with ease and elegance, and the house was maintained clean and spotless (Haralovich 80). Women were often shown to perform the housework such as preparing meals, watering plants, dusting, doing the dishes or ironing. The troubles performing these tasks are entirely omitted, as well as untidiness

(Haralovich 80). What is visible is only the result of their work – shining houses and well-kept family members. The use of modern appliances is emphasized and the time that is spared by using them is spent on interaction with family members. To sum up, the typical women portrayed in the 1950s television programs is not a woman of leisure, but the housework is neither physically demanding, nor time consuming (Haralovich

80).

Men, unlike women, were associated with two worlds - public and private

(Byars 116). In most television programs, fathers were successful and affluent with respected professions. As a prototype can serve Jim Anderson (from the television series

Father Knows Best) who was depicted as a self-assured and successful father, admired by his wife and children. He represented the ideal of the 1950s middle-class masculinity

(Butsch 118). Nevertheless, many television shows in the 1950s displayed men predominantly in the domestic environment. Margaret Marsh (Spigel 97) argues that the masculine domesticity was a way of asserting the male dominance at home, while their dominance at work was weakening. But this fact had also contradictory reactions. In the

1950s, some critics were arguing that the male is playing a role of “a bumbling, well- meaning idiot who is putty in the hands of his wife and family” (Spigel 60) instead of the role of prince charming or a hero and thus losing his dominance, rather than reinforcing it (Spigel 60).

2.4. Situation comedy – sitcom

Situation comedy is a term that was created in the 1950s. The shortened term sitcom is used from the 1960s (Marc 15-16). Sitcom can be defined as a half an hour long series that is focused on individual episodes. These episodes are to a great extent independent from each other – the issue that is being a focus in the episode is usually resolved and closed within these 30 minutes. However, the characters are recurrent

(Mintz 114-115). The most important feature of sitcoms is its cynical nature of the normalcy, and it usually resolves with happy ending. Moreover, sitcoms are generally performed, filmed and taped in front of the live audience. Therefore, when watching a sitcom in the television the viewer is aware of watching a performance (Mintz 114-

115). Similarly Brett Mills (96) describes the comic impetus as the main feature of situation comedies. Mills (96) argues that this impetus can be made up from two main

types of joking. The first is category-routinised, and it is drawn from the characters and the kind of humor that is typical for them. The second type is setting-specific joking that arises from specific situations in the given episode.

Many sitcoms evolved from earlier radio programs that transformed to the television sitcoms. Family situation comedies gave foundation to the situation comedies in general, and at the earlier times family was a staple of a sitcom (Marc 3). The most famous situation comedies in the 1950s were Father Knows Best, Leave It to Beaver,

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners.

2.5. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet

Oswald “Ozzie” Nelson was born in 1906 in New Jersey. He started his career as musician – a saxophone player and a band leader. In the 1930s, Harriet, born as Peggy

Lou Snyder in Iowa in 1914 (Leibman 1628), joined the band as a singer. Ozzie and

Harriet got married in 1935 and had two sons – David Nelson born in 1936 and Eric

“Ricky” Nelson born four years later in 1940 (Dunning 11). After Ricky’s birth Nelson family moved to Hollywood where Ozzie and Harriet joined The Red Skeleton Show on

NBC in 1941. Three years later Skeleton was drafted from the broadcast and this gave opportunity to Ozzie Nelson to develop his own project – a radio show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (Dunning 11). The show was broadcast from 1944 to 1948 on

CBS, and from 1949 on ABC. ABC and Nelsons signed a ten year long contract

(Leibman 1628). The radio show stopped broadcasting in 1954, as far as it made successful transition to television in 1952 – also broadcast on ABC (Dunning 11).

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, a television situation comedy, was broadcast from 1952 till 1966 (Olson 3). Altogether 435 episodes were filmed and broadcast (Leibman 1628) and it was written and produced by Ozzie Nelson himself

(Olson 3). The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet was one of the most popular programs in television.

The sitcom featured family of Nelsons – Ozzie, Harriet and their two sons –

David and Ricky. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet portrayed a real life family –

Ozzie, Harriet and their sons were played by themselves. The Nelson family lived in

“a large, comfortable, two-story house in suburbia where they enjoyed all the prerequisites of the American dream – the house, automobile, and the latest electrical appliances” (Olson 3). They were perfect middle-class family – parents were kind, their sons “at worst innocently rebellious” (Olson 3). The main plot was usually created by

Ozzie who dominated the show (Leibman 1629). He is being described as bumbling father, unable to fix things in the house, but always cheerful. Harriet is, on the other hand, the responsible one (Olson 3).

The Nelson family was perceived as an ideal family, however, this picture became irrelevant during the 1960s and the show ended in 1966 (Olson 3). The broadcasting on the radio or television lasted altogether 22 years.

3. Analytic approach

For the analysis of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet discourse analysis is being used. Discourse analysis is, however, “not just one approach, but a series of interdisciplinary approaches that can be used to explore many different social domains in many different types of studies” (Jorgensen & Philips 1). Moreover, there is no clear consensus how to perform a discourse analysis (Jorgensen, Philips 1). Therefore, for the purposes of this thesis the approach described in Gee’s (2012) Introduction to

Discourse Analysis is used. He defines discourse analysis as “the analysis of language-

in-use” (Gee 8). He proposes that any spoken or written utterance constructs seven areas of reality, or in other words – seven building task of language (Gee 17). These are significance, practices, identities, relationships, politics, connections and sign systems and knowledge. In this thesis there will be emphasis on the first three: significance – how language is used to render or lessen significance of things; practices – how language is used for recognition of practices in which a person engages, and identities – the usage of language that builds a certain identity or role (Gee 17-20). Presented discourse analysis focuses on language which is also the main source of information in our analysis. However, as far as we analyze television sitcom, also other way of conveying meaning is available. This is the visual side of the program, and therefore we also include it in the analysis.

4. The Rivals

4.1. Episode summary

The Rivals is the very first episode aired on television in October 1952. David is

15, Ricky 12 years old. All the action takes place in the Nelsons’ house. The episode is a little atypical while laughter is missing entirely.

David and Ricky are arguing, David tells to Ricky that he will beat Will

Thornberry (neighbor). Ozzie comes into their quarrel. Nancy Baker (a girl David knows from school) calls that she will stop by in the afternoon and mentions a dance and Will Thornberry. Ozzie and Harriet assume that David and Will have interest in the same girl and that both want to take her to a dance. Meanwhile Thorny, their neighbor and Will’s father, comes to visit Ozzie and they talk about their past experience with girls and plan future for their children. Nancy comes at the afternoon and tries to make

David to ask her out to the dance. David is, however, more interested in football. David beats Will in the voting for a team captain and Ozzie and Harriet are disappointed that they were not competing for the girl. In the end it is Ricky who’s going to take Nancy to the dance (“The Rivals”).

4.2. Identities

Ozzie Nelson

The introduction of the characters at the beginning of the episode tells the viewer that the most important figure is Ozzie. He is presented as a man, with interest in pretty women, but nonetheless as a loving husband. He is also identified as a father greatly involved in the life of his children (“The Rivals”).

Ozzie tells Harriet about a girl for which he gave up a seat on a bus. He kept mentioning her during the episode, and when he thinks it could be Nancy’s mother, he wants to change his clothes to “be representative” (“The Rivals”). This shows that it is all right for him to be interested in different women. Nevertheless, he explicitly states that he is a faithful husband. In the discussion with Thorny, he says that Harriet is the only girl he went steady with. He is also very involved in the life of his children, and his identity of a father is very strongly enacted. He tries to be helpful to them; he educates them and plans future for them (“The Rivals”).

Harriet Nelson

Harriet is presented as a wife, mother and a housewife. Harriet is right at the beginning presented as “his (Ozzie’s) lovely wife Harriet” (“The Rivals”), what clearly identifies her foremost as Ozzie’s wife. Moreover, the viewer learns that she is lovely

what suggests that it is her main characteristic. Later in the episode she is also checking whether Ozzie is meeting with other women:

Harriet: You sure this girl on the bus did not worm your name and phone

number out of you?

Harriet: And there were no other girls during the week? (“The Rivals”)

This suggests that she acknowledges herself as Ozzie’s wife – the only woman that he should be interested in. Although, she pretends jealousy, she tolerates Ozzie interest in other women and trusts Ozzie.

She acknowledges her role of caring mother no less than the role of lovely wife.

Harriet states: “I was wondering why he hasn’t mentioned his little girlfriend to me. He hasn’t said a word“, and “Well, after all if he (David) is gonna start taking little girls to dances I want to hear about it” (“The Rivals”). She states that she is and wants to be involved in the life of her son.

Last but not least, she constantly confirms her role of a housewife – preparing meals, cleaning the house and taking it as her job and as a matter of course. Throughout the episode, she prepares lunch and lemonade, bakes cookies, cleans the house and knits. While working in the kitchen, Ozzie and Thorny are cast away, because she “has a work to do here” (“The Rivals”). She acknowledges that it is her duty to do that.

4.3. Practices

The gender role division of everyday practices is present throughout the whole episode. The division is very strongly present in the activities that are performed by

Ozzie and Harriet. Ozzie sits and holds the newspapers, talk to his neighbor, or comes to discuss some matters with Harriet. Harriet, on the other hand, devotes her time to various household tasks and even when talking to Ozzie or her children she does not stop the work. For example, in the scene that is presented in the Picture1, the viewer can see Ozzie and Harriet sitting in the living room. Ozzie holds the newspaper, although not actually reading them. The newspapers are present as a symbol. They symbolize that

Ozzie is the one interested in what is going on in the world. Harriet is, on the other hand, preparing the dough for the cookies what ties her to the chores and domesticity in general (“The Rivals”).

Picture 1. (Source: “The Rivals”)

Moreover, Harriet is always presented as being constantly at home – she does not leave the house throughout the whole episode, and there is not even reference to her being outside the house. Unlike Harriet, Ozzie is at the beginning of the episode coming home and in the discussion he mentions riding a bus and possibility of meeting girls during the week. Children are also leaving the house quite often, mainly to play outside.

The gender role division of the tasks is explicitly present at least in two cases at which we would like to look more closely.

Thorny: Well, helping Harriet in the kitchen Oz?

Harriet: No, but it is not a bad idea.

Ozzie: Did you come over here to make troubles Thorny?

Thorny: Sorry Oz, it was a mean thing to say. Especially, since I ducked out of

our kitchen in time myself.

Harriet: Look if you two are go allow, if you go to the other room and do it

because I’ve got a work to do here. (“The Rivals”)

In this case, the comic situation arises from the suggestion that Ozzie is helping Harriet in the kitchen. Although she express herself that it would not be a bad idea if Ozzie helped her, Ozzie calls it as making troubles, as he obviously does not want to or plan to be involved in the kitchen tasks. Thorny confirms that it was a “mean thing to say”

(“The Rivals”), as he is following the same pattern of behavior as Ozzie by leaving the kitchen in order to avoid doing kitchen tasks. Harriet in the end agrees to this gender role division by sending Ozzie and Thorny out of the kitchen, and all of them end up having a good laugh about the situation.

Another example of gendered division of activities is present when David and

Nancy talk about their hobbies:

Nancy: Don’t you think dancing is a lot of fun?

David: O, dancing is all right, but I like football better.

Nancy: Well football’s alright, but I like dancing better.

David: All the guys like football.

Nancy: I am a girl.

David: Yeah, I guess you are. (“The Rivals”)

David and Nancy talk about their favorite activities. David by saying “All the guys like football” (“The Rivals”), links the interest in this sport with male gender. Nancy confirms this pattern by expressing her interest in dancing, and objecting to his statement by saying that she is a girl, implicitly saying that girls like dancing better.

Another kind of practices they acknowledge they engage in were the practices of dating, marrying and starting the family. Ozzie and Thorny discuss their past experiences with women and the future of their eldest sons – David and Will. We focus on two excerpts of the dialogue. The first excerpt is about Ozzie and Thorny’s past experience with girls. After they describe them in unrealistic way (dating 4 or 5 girls at the same time), they start to talk honestly:

Thorny: Now just a second Ozzie, let’s be honest with each other. Now, how

many girls did you go really steady with?

Ozzie: (Laughs). Only one, Harriet.

Thorny: (Laughs).That’s what I thought.

Ozzie: And how many girls you did go steady with?

Thorny: Seven. (“The Rivals”)

Ozzie admits that Harriet was the only girl he actually dated. He says it in very loving voice. Thorny, however, wins the conversation as he is more experienced with girls.

Ozzie’s seems to be a little puzzled or even ashamed. Ozzie is here presented as a

devoted husband, nevertheless “being popular with girls” seems to be important. The second excerpt follows shortly after the first one:

Thorny: It will be just about Will’s senior year when he meets the girl. You

know the right girl, as I met Catherine.

Ozzie: Yeah, it’ll happen to David too.

Thorny: And then comes the wedding. (“The Rivals”)

Thorny, although before flaunted with his experience with girls, now states that eventually he did, and his son will meet the right girl, with whom he enters into marriage. He expects that this will happen at the end of his studies and Ozzie agrees that the same will happened to David. The standardized path to marriage is presented.

Although Thorny was more “successful” with girls than Ozzie, he also agrees on the same pattern – meeting the right girl and marrying her. There are expressed no doubts that their sons would follow their own footsteps and early marriage is considered as universal practice.

Last but not least, we want to remark on the perception of domesticity in the episode. More specifically we want to show how domesticity is displayed in this episode and what practices are connected to it. Domestic space is the only setting of the episode; therefore, it is worth mentioning. Ozzie is in the entire episode dressed in a suit and he also wears a tie. Harriet also wears a neat dress, although when working she wears an apron. Both boys are wearing shirts and trousers (see Picture 2). This suggests that home is not really a strictly private place where a family could relax from the social constraints and get casual, but also for the behavior in domestic space exists a social norm to be followed. Nevertheless, the relationship between the family members seems to be very relaxed and informal.

Picture 2. (Source: “The Rivals”)

4.4. Significance

The matter of significance is quite complicated, while there are many issues and things significant in the episode, for each of the character. Therefore, we choose only two things that seem to be most central in the episode – Nancy’s visit and the dance to which she wants to go with David and the contrasting interest of David in football, and importance of the family.

First of all, the visit of Nancy Baker is more important for Ozzie and Harriet than for David. After Harriet announces to him that Nancy is coming in the afternoon, he responds: “I’m supposed to play football this afternoon” (“The Rivals”). He also hopes she wouldn’t stay too long. On the other hand, Harriet is giving the visit quite an importance:

Harriet: … David has to get dressed.

David: Get dressed? You mean, like dressed up?

Harriet: Well yes, you want to look nice when Nancy gets here. (“The Rivals”)

By this she implies that it is important for David to look nice when Nancy comes. She is, moreover, taken aback by David’s attitude towards Nancy’s visit. Ozzie takes it even more seriously:

Ozzie: It’s just a question of family pride. I don’t want Will Thornberry coming

over here with his silk shirt and his fancy poetry and his white carnation taking

David’s girl away from him. I want to make sure Nancy goes to dance with

David. (“The Rivals”)

Clearly this attitude is connected to the discussion with Thorny about their past love lives. Ozzie projects himself to David, and the idea of the girl going to the dance with

Thorny’s son is also the matter of his own pride. He considers significant being successful with girls. The significance of the Nancy’s invitation is again underlined at the end of the episode, when David returns from the football match:

David: Our football, team they elected me a captain.

Harriet: Well that’s fine dear, but what about Nancy Baker? (“The Rivals”)

Harriet places more significance on the Nancy Baker and the fact that David would not take her to the dance, than to his success in the football team. She is mostly concerned about the fact that she won’t have anybody to take her to the dance. Ozzie is, on the other hand, worried that Will Thornberry would take her instead (“The Rivals”).

Nevertheless, both parents, unlike David, consider dating and dancing more important than football.

As far as The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is strongly connected to family life, the importance of the family is omnipresent. The main plot is evolving around the

visit of Nancy Baker. The whole family is involved in this event. Harriet cares for the good appearance of her son, Ozzie worries whether David makes good impression on her, Ricky assists David with preparing for Nancy’s visit and ends up entertaining

David and Nancy while they sit in the living room. What concerns one member of the family is central to all of them – the story line is focused on just one plot. Moreover, even more explicit instances of the stressing of family importance can be found in the episode. At the beginning of the episode, when David and Ricky quarrel, Ozzie steps into their argument by saying: “There’s an old saying you know, blood is thicker than water. Like to see you guys on the same side just once” (“The Rivals”).

5. The newlyweds get settled

5.1. The progress in Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet

The other episode that is analyzed in this thesis was broadcast on the television 9 years after the first television episode – The Rivals. The episode called The Newlyweds

Get Settled was aired on October 1961. The Nelson boys are now 22 and 25 years old.

David and Ricky Nelson changed from young boys to grown-up men. The on screen character of David finished college education and now works on his career of a lawyer.

Ricky also started to attend college and in 1961 he is still pursuing his education.

Moreover, in 1961 David Nelson married a girl called June Blair (Leibman 1629). The marriage occurs in the real life and also in the television. After the marriage, June permanently joined the cast of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

5.2. Episode summary

David and June are at their honeymoons. Ozzie, Harriet and Rick want to help them with moving David’s clothes and wedding presents to their new apartment. Harriet starts to unpack the gifts and put them to the right place. She finds out that they do not have any pots and pans for the kitchen, and therefore she asks Ozzie to bring some from their home along with some sheets and towels. After David and June arrive from the honeymoons they drop by at the Ozzie and Harriet’s house. They talk about getting settled in the new apartment, and June expresses herself that she is really looking forward to it and that they don’t want anyone to help them. Harriet feels guilty for meddling with their things, and together with Ozzie rush to the apartment to put everything back in the boxes. However, they do not manage to leave the apartment before the newlyweds arrive and they have to confess. David and June unpack everything again. They find out that the sheets do not fit, they forgot to buy potatoes, the pan is too small and the cake does not look like cake at all. Moreover, the light went off. Meanwhile Harriet worries about how they worked everything out. Harriet and

Ozzie go to check on them and they see that David and June dine caviar and champagne by the light of candles. They leave satisfied and pleased with their children. David and

June are actually eating peas and drinking ginger ale (“The Newlyweds Get Settled”).

5.3. Identities

Ozzie Nelson

Ozzie is still being central to the show – he is introduced as a first character at the beginning of the show. He is presented as a caring father and supportive husband.

He supports Harriet in her decisions to fix the apartment, but also when Harriet wants to rush there and put everything back where it was. He is also ready to help David with

getting settled at the new apartment and he is very much concerned about the well-being of the newlyweds.

Harriet Nelson

At the beginning of the episode, Harriet is no longer presented as a lovely wife as it was in the early 50s. This could be caused by the overall popularity and long run of the series that no need for such identity ascription is needed, or simply because the role of lovely wife is now ascribed to June.

Harriet is presented as caring mother, very concerned about the new situation of

David and June and the fact that they are on their own now. She wants to help them very much, but at the same time she is fighting with the idea that she would be perceived as “a typical mother-in-law”. (“The Newlyweds Get Settled”) She states:

“There’s nothing worse than meddling parent, you know” (“The Newlyweds Get

Settled”). Even though, she is presented in this chapter more as a mother than a wife, she is still displayed preparing meals at home and caring about the run of the household.

David Nelson

David is in this story one of the central figures. He is presented as a grown-up responsible man who is able to take care of himself. However, he is still strongly presented as a son of Ozzie and Harriet. For example, the first thing that he and June do after coming from the honeymoons is visiting David’s parents (“The Newlyweds Get

Settled”). This suggests that the bond between them is very strong. Nevertheless, his main identity presented in the episode, is the identity of a husband. He is loving, caring and very tolerant. Although June makes some mistakes on the first day in the new apartment, he does not mind it at all. The episode ends with the following scene:

David: I love you.

June: I love you too, and I am really a good cook, just wait and see.

David: Who cares? (“The Newlyweds Get Settled”)

He constantly reassures June that these kinds of things (dinner, proper sheets on a bed) are not so important to him. He is also being presented as a devoted husband.

Nevertheless, a remark to his numerous previous relationships with girls is made.

June Nelson

June is a new member of the cast. She is introduced as Mrs. David Nelson, and she is the last one to be introduced, although her role is quite central in this episode. She is a young wife, dealing with the role of a married woman what is also apparently the main identity that is ascribed to her. At the same time, this role is new to her. The identity is enacted especially by showing June doing the housework that is considered to be wives’ responsibility. These apparently constitute a whole set of new activities which she, as a single woman, did not experience. She does the shopping for the household, and even though David was present in the shop, she has all the responsibility for picking up good sheets, pots and potatoes. She is also responsible for cooking, and she takes this task very seriously. She wants very hard to be perceived as a good cook, although she’s not (using formulary for dinner preparation). June says to David: “I’ll have you know that I am a very good cook” (“The Newlyweds Get Settled”). Moreover, she even fears that David could get angry because the meat does not fit into a pan. The conversation is as follows:

David: How’s a pot roast coming?

June: Well, I ran to a little difficulty.

David: What do you mean?

June: Well, now don’t get mad... (“The Newlyweds Get Settled”)

5.4. Practices

The practices analyzed in this section are gender role division, practices concerning dating and marriage, and last but not least practices connected to the domesticity.

The gender role division is very present in this episode. Most of the gender role division is explicit while David and June are settling down in their new home. June is responsible for all things that are happening in the household and things connected to it

(e.g. doing shopping, put everything in its place, preparing meals). David, on the other hand, has little responsibilities in the household, but he is the one providing finances for the run of the household. After returning home from the shopping, June says: “I was just trying to save you some money” (“The Newlyweds Get Settled”). By the expression

“your money” she acknowledges the audience that David is the one paying, while she is the one managing the money for the household. Although David helps June with preparing the bed and unpacking of the clothes and wedding presents, he is displayed mostly in what could be treated as more masculine activities – reading the newspaper and repairing a lamp. The best example of the gendered roles is present in the following conversation:

June: Get out of here I am going to start dinner now.

David: Can I help?

June: I don’t know, what can you do?

David: Well, I can stand around and get in the way.

June: Not in here, this is my territory. Why don’t you go put on your slippers, or

read the paper or whatever are husbands supposed to do. (“The Newlyweds Get

Settled”)

June is clearly taking the position of what she thinks is a “proper wife” and expects

David to be a “proper husband”. This means that both of them would follow the pattern of gender role division established in the society and their experiences from their own homes. Kitchen is women’s territory and men are inappropriate in it. David, moreover, explicitly states that he does not know anything about cooking and all he knows in the kitchen is “stand around and get in the way” (“The Newlyweds Get Settled”). June´s reaction “whatever are husbands supposed to do” (“The Newlyweds Get Settled”), implies that there is a set of activities that are appropriate for husbands. The dialogue clearly shows that there are social norms for the gender division of activities in the household.

The practices of dating and marrying are also present in the episode. Dating is perceived as an important part of individual’s life. An example can be found in the situation when Rick packs David’s clothes that he wants to bring to David’s new apartment:

Ozzie: Wait, don’t forget this.

Harriet: Oh, should say not that’s the first picture June ever gave him.

Rick: Wait a second mom, he may want this but he won’t want these: Susan

(laugh of the audience), Linda, Patty… (Rick taking out pictures of other girls

that are behind June’s photograph)

Ozzie: Oh, he almost planted a bomb here. (“The Newlyweds Get Settled”)

The notion of importance of being successful with girls is present. The situation is humorous, but it clearly indicates that David dated many girls, before he settled down.

On the other hand, as Rick states, “he won’t want these” (“The Newlyweds Get

Settled”), as far as he is now married and devoted husband and all the past relationships are now a part of his past.

Some more information about the process of marriage could be found. The newlyweds are clearly starting to live together only after the wedding and the order of wedding, honeymoon and start of common living follows each other directly. The traditional path to the marriage is presented.

Lastly, the practices connected to domesticity are to be analyzed. The shooting of the episode takes place in two scenes – the house of Ozzie and Harriet and in the apartment of David and June. The apartment to which June and David move seems to be more modern than the house. Moreover, the clothes wearing by the actors, while spending time at home differ. While Harriet wears dresses with apron, June appears in trousers and blouse and she does not wear an apron. David does not wear a suit as Ozzie usually does, but trousers and a short sleeve shirt without a tie (see picture 3). The ideas about domestic appearance of husband and wife seem to be more casual in the younger generation.

Picture 3. (Source: “The Newlyweds Get Settled”)

5.5. Significance

In the episode, there is extensively discussed the significance of a nuclear and extended family and the boundaries between them. David and June are now a new family unit, and Harriet and also the other family members are concerned about what is appropriate to do and what is not in relation to them. The following conversation is an example of the seeking for boundaries:

Harriet: There’s a button off this, I will sow it on later.

Rick: Wait up mom, don’t you think you are let June do that?

Harriet: But why for goodness sake?

Rick: … she is his wife you don’t want to hurt her feelings. (“The Newlyweds

Get Settled”)

Rick expresses himself that now it is June’s task to care about David’s clothes and that it might be inappropriate if Harriet does it instead. Further, Harriet throughout the episode struggles whether it was right to fix June and David’s apartment what turns out in the end as a wrong decision, as far as Ozzie and Harriet rush to the apartment to undo all the work they have done. This situation shows that there should be space given to the newlyweds to manage their lives in their own way.

Connected to the independence of a new family unit, also the differences between generations are underlined. Harriet worries about giving the young couple enough space, even though they were happy to have help from their own parents:

Harriet: But kids are different nowadays.

Ozzie: Well, people keep saying that but they really aren’t, maybe a little

smarter.

Harriet: And little more independent. (“The Newlyweds Get Settled”)

This refers to the fact that Harriet perceives differences between themselves and their children. By describing them as more independent Harriet suggests that they are better prepared for a life on their own and that the significance of the extended family and help from other family members is no longer as much needed as before.

Nevertheless, family stays very important. Even though the significance of nuclear over the extended family is recognized, all members of the Nelson family try to help and be involved with the newlyweds. Moreover, June is being very welcomed to the family, and she becomes one of them. She also expresses favorable attitude to Ozzie and Harriet: “You know, I think I am gonna like being a Nelson” (“The Newlyweds Get

Settled”).

Last but not least, much significance is ascribed by June to the household duties.

She takes her job of a housewife rather seriously. She wants everything to be perfect, but nothing seems to go right (e.g. forgets to buy potatoes, the cake is ruined, the pan is too small). Not getting her new role right even brings her to tears:

David: No there’s nothing in here, but this fudge.

June: Oh. (She starts to cry.)

David: What’s the matter?

June: That was a chocolate layer cake. I’m making a mess out of everything.

(“The Newlyweds Get Settled”)

She treats the role of perfect housewife as very important for her and even though David doesn’t care much about the food June is nevertheless determined to prove to David that she is “a good cook” (“The Newlyweds Get Settled”).

6. Comparison of the two episodes

Identities

As mentioned previously, the cast of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet changed in nine years (from 1952 to 1961) significantly. The boys grew up, and instead of being the boys and sons, they changed to adult men and David even to a husband.

However, the identities of Ozzie and Harriet stayed practically unchanged – they stayed for these nine years to impersonate loving parents and spouses.

Practices

The display of gender role division did not change much in these nine years. The same set of roles ascribed to males and females/husbands and wives is being shown in both episodes of the show. For example, the conversation when Harriet casts Ozzie away from the kitchen almost exactly repeats with June and David nine years later when

June sends David away from the kitchen when she starts to cook.

The practices of dating and marrying to the extent they can be compared in the two episodes seem to be almost the same. In both episodes the importance of dating and marrying is present. Moreover, there is enacted a discourse of being successful with girls as a quality of a man in both episodes, but the importance of girls having several partners is entirely missing. Similarly, in both episodes the most importance is given to marriage and devoted spouses.

The only practices that seem to undergo some change are the practices connected to domesticity. Most importantly it seems that in the episode The Newlyweds

Get Settled the younger generation (June and David) seems to wear in their home more casual clothes than the older generation does in both episodes.

Significance

There is quite hard to compare significance in the episodes as far as the plot is quite different. Nevertheless, it can be said that the emphasis on the importance of family persisted over the nine year span. In both episodes the whole family is involved in the happening in the life of the other member. In case of these two episodes the whole family where either focused on the date of David and Nancy, or on the settling down of David and June. The family and its cohesiveness are very important.

Conclusion

The aim of this thesis was to summarize the trends of the 1950s that lead to the revival of domesticity and rising importance of marriage. Among the main driving forces of these notions was booming economy and expansion of the middle-class.

Families could therefore afford to buy a house and a car, and women could stay in the household. The politics supported the idea of domesticity in two ways. First, it was the ideology and rhetoric of importance of family and gender role division, and second, it was financial support in forms of affordable loans or acts that supported expansion of suburbia.

In the 1950s the enormous spread of television occurred and the programs were often family-focused. Television was a medium that represented some of the families in the 1950s and conveyed this image to many household which in turn influenced the viewers. One of the programs portraying life of an American family was The

Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. This program featured a real life family in the foremost domestic environment. Therefore, the analysis of the two selected episodes from this sitcom can capture the representation of white middle-class American

families, as well as the message conveyed to the viewer. The discourse analysis of the two episodes – The Rivals (1952) and The Newlyweds Get Settled showed that the identities, practices and significance were presented very clearly and they remained almost unchanged in a nearly 10 year period. The identities were clearly cut. Harriet was presented as a wife and mother that usually stays at home prepares meals and is very concerned about the well-being of all family members. Ozzie, the father, is also presented as a loving husband and a father, similarly as Harriet greatly involved in the life of his sons. The new “second generation” family of David and June is presented in the same way (except the role of parents). In terms of practices, very strong gender role division can be observed. Husbands usually just stand around or read newspapers, as long as they are usually presented in domestic environment. However, it is clear (at least in the case of David) that the man is the breadwinner and the wife’s job is to care about the household. Most of the wives’ time is absorbed by meal preparation and other household tasks. Further, the discourse of extensive dating for men is conveyed. Being successful with girls seems to be a source of admiration, but this does not seem to apply for girls. Nevertheless, marriage is perceived as very important and faithfulness is perceived as a matter of course. Domestic space, however, is not presented as a private area but an area where social norms apply. This is best visible on the clothes worn by the protagonists (suits and dresses), but also on the gendered expectations of the family members. The norms about the clothes worn at home seem to be the only thing that underwent some change towards greater casualty in the nine year period. Last but not least, importance of family is being constantly stressed throughout both of the episodes.

The problem or issue in the life of one family member concerns all the other family members.

The episodes analyzed in this thesis were chosen from the enormous number of episodes of this sitcom. However, we believe that it succeeded in capturing the main aspect of the presentation and image of a white middle-class protestant family of the

1950s.

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České resumé

Tato práce se věnuje témě americké rodiny padesátých let minulého století.

Tohle období se nazývá taky zlaté období manželství, protože důležitost rodiny a rodinného života v tomhle období pozoruhodně vzrostla. Úkolem této práce je zmapovat období padesátých let, a to především aspekty, které přispěli k vzrůstu důležitosti rodiny a následně analyzovat reprezentaci rodiny v seriály Dobrodružství

Ozzie a Harriet. Práce je rozdělená do troch větších celků.

Prvá část se věnuje společenským realitám, které mohou být považované za hlavní hnací síly tohohle vývoje – zejména ekonomická prosperita, které umožnila vzestup rodiny po finanční stránce a politická rétorika, která podporovala lidi k volbě rodinného života myšlenkově i finančně.

Druhá část práce se zaobírá rozmachem televize, který je důležitou součástí padesátých let. Televize vyzdvihovala význam rodiny tím, že podporovala členy rodiny, aby zůstali doma sledovat televizi a vysíláním programů, které se soustředili na rodinný

život. Rodiny v televizních pořadech reprezentovali část rodin tyhle doby. Ideálním příkladem je seriál Dobrodružství Ozzie a Harriet, který zobrazoval život reální rodiny.

Třetí část práce se věnuje diskursivní analýze tohoto seriálu, zejména jej dvou

častí – Rivalové (1952) a Novomanželé se usazují (1961). Analýza sleduje prezentované identity, praktiky a připisování významu. Postavy jsou charakterizované velmi jasnými identitami – např. milující muž a otec, a starostlivá manželka a matka. Tato analýza taktéž pozoruje rozdělení genderových rolí, důležitost úspěchu mužů u žen a praktiky potvrzující důležitost instituce manželství. Podobně velký význam je připisovaný samotné rodině. Tyhle hlavní aspekty seriálu byly pozorované v obou epizodách a v průběhu času nedošlo k výrazným změnám.

English Résumé

This thesis focuses on the topic of the American family of the 1950s. This era is also called The Golden age of marriage while the importance of family and domesticity rose significantly. The aim of this thesis is to map the aspects that contributed to the rise of importance of family and afterwards to analyze the representation of the 1950s family in the TV series – The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. This work is divided in three main parts.

The first part describes social realities that can be treated as the main driving forces of this development – booming economy, rise of the middle class and rhetoric of politics that encouraged people to opt for family life ideologically as well as financially.

The second part is centered on the expansion of television that is an important component of the 1950s. Television highlighted the importance of family by encouraging family members to stay at home and watch television, and by programming that was in large family-centered. The families presented on television were in part a representation of this era. An ideal example is a sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and

Harriet that features a real life family.

The third part is based on the discourse analysis of this series, especially two episodes – The Rivals (1952) and The Newlyweds Get Settled (1961). Analysis is focused on the identities, practices and significance presented in these episodes. The main characters have clearly cut identities e.g. loving husband and father, caring wife and mother. This analysis also observes gender role division of work, the importance of having success with girls and practices confirming the importance of marriage. There is similarly huge significance attributed to a family. These main aspects of the series remained unchanged between the episodes.