Television in the time of “All in the Family” and the television we watch today are two entirely different beasts. Different in terms of morals, in understandings of what was and wasn’t politically correct, and in abrasiveness towards how certain subject matter is handled. This divide is none more obvious than when comparing shows such as the 1970s family comedy “All in the Family” and the more modernized version of a 21st century family in the TV comedy “Arrested Development.” In the episode of “All in the Family” that we watched at last week’s screening, we saw Archie, the father, being mean as he talked about his daughter’s friend being a “pansy” and “gay,” only to discover that one of his own friends was actually a homosexual. What makes this show stand out is its progressiveness in tackling issues such as homosexuality, race, and bigotry in a time when such topics weren’t receiving airtime. Today, on a show such as “Arrested Development” for example, these topics are also tackled, but in a more passive aggressive/ironic approach. In that show, there is a character named Tobias, who’s homosexuality is obvious to everyone but himself, and is therefore referred to humorously and in ways that would have been deemed highly inappropriate in the 70s. However in “All in the Family,” the topics were dealt with much more directly. Now I’m not suggesting that irony and sarcasm didn’t exist in the 70s, but it entered the social norm in later years, becoming far more prevalent. “All in the Family” dealt with homosexuality in a far more up front manner. However, where both shows were similar is in that they knew that humor was needed in order to bring such ideas to the table.
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