TOPIC: Sitcom Representations of Fatherhood:How Do Kids Compare These With Their Own Realities?
>SOURCE: Janice Kelly, Ph.D., professor of communications at Marymount Manhattan College
Newswise — "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Bernie Mac," "The George Lopez Show," "The Simpsons" : each popular, long-running sitcom features a father as the show's fulcrum. Woven as it is into our culture's fabric, film and television have helped construct our perceptions of and attitudes toward fatherhood.
Janice Kelly, professor at Marymount Manhattan College, has studied the popular sitcoms and movies and the ways they represent fatherhood. Moreover, she's conducted a study of two-hundred college-age students of varying cultural backgrounds—but all who have grown up in a two-parent home—and asked them how their own relationships with their fathers compare with the ones they see in the media. The results have been striking.
"Despite the argument that television and movie fathers often appear inept, young people see them as more engaged and involved than their own fathers. Young viewers see their own fathers as loving, but define that love by their fathers constantly working and providing for them. The general feeling is, 'my father doesn't need to say he loves me—he shows it by what he does for me.'"
Professor Kelly can comment on:"¢ The psychological implications of this attitude, and where the exceptions lie;"¢ How and why representations of fatherhood differ vastly on shows and in movies featuring people of color; "¢ How kids' perceptions of media-presented fathers differ from culture to culture (e.g. Muslim young people versus African-American young people);"¢ The role of humor and abuse in father-kid relationships on TV and in film;"¢ Political positioning: how sitcoms perpetuate patriarchal structure and traditional gender roles;"¢ How fatherless kids perceive father-kid relationships on TV and in film.
In addition to serving as special editor of Fathering: A Journal of Theory, Research & Practice about Men as Fathers, Prof. Kelly has authored several papers on the politics of men and masculinity. Kelly's study "Comparison Between Television and Real Fathers and Children Involvement" is soon to be published in The Journal of Men, Masculinity and Politics. She earned a master's degree in education and a doctorate in communications at Teacher's College at Columbia University.
Additionally, she is a member of the National and International Communication Associations, New York Women in Communication, New York State Communication Association, National Council of Family Relations, and Women in Communication.
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