Swedish Commercial- Divorced Parents

Never mind the title...but Ikea makes another commercial (they have others with gay parents and interracial couples) portraying a differing family style.  She/He are co-parenting due to a divorce, so neither is a single parent, but this type of family once again is not normally shown in US commercials. 

UK Commercial- Single Parent Families

A commercial shown in the UK for a flooring company.  It showcases some of the struggles a single parent faces, but while including the daughter, in a fun and childlike way, almost to show both sides of parenting.  The mother points out she is a single parent, something usually hidden or unseen in United States commercials.  More single parents are included in US television shows than commercials, if they were shown more frequently in this form of television would acceptance increase even more within the community? Or are sellers too afraid to lose customers to be this daring? 

Bristol Palin on same-sex marriage and TV show Glee

President Obama explained his evolution of his stance on gay-marriage, and how it was influenced by his daughters. "You know, Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples," Obama said in the ABC interview in which he made his announcement. "There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently."

Bristol Palin was not satisfied with the President’s statement and blamed TV show, Glee, for influencing Obama's daughters' view on same-sex marriage. Below is the facebook message she posted on the matter.

“While it's great to listen to your kids' ideas, there's also a time when dads simply need to be dads. In this case, it would've been helpful for him to explain to Malia and Sasha that while her friends parents are no doubt lovely people, that's not a reason to change thousands of years of thinking about marriage. Or that – as great as her friends may be – we know that in general kids do better growing up in a mother/father home. Ideally, fathers help shape their kids' worldview.

In this situation, it was the other way around. I guess we can be glad that Malia and Sasha aren't younger, or perhaps today's press conference might have been about appointing Dora the Explorer as Attorney General because of her success in stopping Swiper the Fox.
Sometimes dads should lead their family in the right ways of thinking. In this case, it would've been nice if the President would've been an actual leader and helped shape their thoughts instead of merely reflecting what many teenagers think after one too many episodes of Glee.” – Bristol Palin, May 10, 2012

Palin's comment made many people react. JWow, from reality TV show The Jersey Shore, tweeted "Bristol should keep her uneducated ignorant mouth shut. If Ur living in the past u wouldn't have a kid w/out marriage #hypocrite. It's 2012!"
  Read more on the Huffington Post.

Political meme on same-sex marriage

This meme compares the protests against same-sex marriage with the protests against interracial marriage, which happened about 40 years ago.

 

 





A Family is a Family is a Family

This is a trailer for the HBO documentary by Rosie O'Donnell titled "A Family is a Family is a Family."  This is a clip essentially sums up the purpose of our project.  Families can be diverse and still be normal, and when this is expressed in the media, evolution and progression can occur. 

Reactions to this clip on youtube.com show the varied and strong opinions on this topic.

"doesn't matter if you have 2 dads or 2 moms or one dad and one mom, a family is a family."

those children are so much smarter than most adults! the world would be a much better place if everyone thought like them.

Sandro Aurélio 1 year ago 10 

wrote: "oppression does crazy stuff to the brain"

Interesting that you should speak of oppression. The straight families feel oppressed by YOUR gay activism. What do you expect from straight people? If they feel uncomfortable with it, then who the hell are YOU to say that they must accept it? When you activists go out there and SCREAM that the straight population MUST accept YOUR views and ideas of a "family", are you not also oppressing the straight couples too?

TheWNMan in reply to 420yesboy (Show the comment) 10 months ago 7 

Here is a reaction from someone in Spain, which shows the cultural variances on the subject.  According to this comment, something that is such a hot topic here in the US is seen as perfectly normal in other parts of the world.

Dear. I live in spain. I red a lot of history books. In fact that is very related to my profession. I live in a country where same sex adoption are considered normal and accepted. In fact I have firiends they have adopt. I see them every week. I see their children grow up beautiful and healthy. I see hoe lucky and happy these kids are, having parents, grand parents, aunts and uncles, and people all around them loving them. Do what you think is right. But you will be responsible for denying happy

premenstruals in reply to TheWNMan (Show the comment) 3 months ago

meme on same-sex families

Popped Up on Facebook

Powerful Speech of Same-Sex Families

On January 31, 2011 Zach Wahls, "a sixth generation Iowan", addressed the Iowa House Judiciary Committe in a public hearing for a proposed consitutional amendment to band gay marriage in Iowa. Raised by two mothers, Wahls believes that "The kids of gay families bring a new face and a new argument to the [issue of same-sex families]."
This video went viral two weeks after it was posted with 1.5 million views, and currently boasts over 17 million views.
The Economist commented on this video with "This is what it looks like to win an arguement."

Neil and David - America's Gay Family

Neil Patrick Harris is a magician, singer and actor who is most well known for his role as Barney Stinson on CBS's popular show How I Met Your Mother. David Burtka is a chef and actor who hosts the E! Network.

Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka have created "the most stunning gay-american family portrait" with twins Gideon and Harper.

David and Neil pose with their twins

At the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, Jane Lynch thanks the couple for "putting a beautiful face on America's notion on what a gay family looks like."

 

The couple focus their speach on family at 5:40

 

In an interview with Oprah, Neil and David speak about why having children and making a family is so important.

 

 

TV Now- Single Parents

This segment from Oprah's Show perfectly describes the attitude of the single parent, and how its perception is beginning to change in the media and within public opinion. 

Online Advertisement- Same Sex Families

Kenneth Cole came out with this advertisement in 2008 that was displayed on their website.  It features a family of two mothers and their daughter.

Online/Print Advertisement- Same Sex Families

Father's Day 2012 JCPenny came out with this advertisement after making Ellen Degeneres their spokesperson, which the organization One Million Moms protested. JCPenny stood behind its advertisement, and their choice in appointing Ellen.  

TV Commercial- Interracial Couples

This TV commercial, created by IKEA, features an interracial couple and was also aired in Europe.

TV Commercial- Same Sex Families

This advertisement for Heinz, created in 2008, aired in Europe.  It depicts a gay couple with two kids, each parent clearly filling a different parental role; one that could be compared to a family with heterosexual parents, and even features the parents kissing.  

Online Advertisement- Same Sex Couples

Target recently came out with this advertisement for their wedding registry. 

Same Sex Families

Historically and present day, homosexuals are not given the same rights as heterosexuals by the U.S. government, especially concerning their right to marriage. Marriage laws are currently on a state level, with only five states having same-sex marriage legalized. Many opponents of same-sex marriage say that marriage is for the purpose of raising children, and that two parents of the same sex are not adequately equipped to raise children.

The topic of same-sex marriage has become a very heated topic the past ten years, especially once celebrities began getting involved.  Activists and academics say that depictions of gay characters on television play a big role in making viewers more comfortable with their gay, lesbian and transgender neighbors.

“TV and movie representation matters,” said Edward Schiappa, a professor of communication studies at the University of Minnesota. In five separate studies, Mr. Schiappa and his colleagues have found that the presence of gay characters on television programs decreases prejudices among viewers of the programs. “These attitude changes are not huge — they don’t change bigots into saints. But they can snowball,” Mr. Schiappa said. (Read the remaining article here )

The first gay character to ever have been showed on TV was in 1981, in the show Hill Street Blues where the gay male prostitute appeared in a couple of episodes before dying of AIDS. Guest appearances of gay characters in one or two episodes occured on a yearly basis, but the characters were often severely stereotyped and depicted as miserable, dysfunctional or tragic. ABC’s show Thirty Something was the first primetime television program to show two men in bed together in 1989, but ABC lost $1.5 million as a result of five of the show’s ten sponsors dropping out in outrage.

Ellen (TV Series)

Ellen Morgan (played by Ellen DeGeneres) was the first starring gay character on television in the sitcom Ellen which aired from 1994 to 1998. The lesbian character was created following Ellen DeGeneres's public coming out, which caused a huge uproar from conservative anti-gay groups. These groups eventually caused the network airing Ellen to pull the show off the network.

It is important to note that Ellen Degeneris was one of the first actresses to openly come out. She recieved a harsh response from the public, but over the years she has changed the way many people percieve lesbians.

Will and Grace

The first popular sitcom which starred two gay men was Will and Grace, which ran from 1998 to 2006. The show depicted a group of friends and the everyday life of gays. It caused a huge uproar among the anti-gay community during the entirety of the show. Several conservative groups claimed that it and shows like it would make homosexuality seem desirable. The show began talking about the "same-sex family" with the help of secondary characters as well as the season finale starring Will in a happy healthy family.

Joe Biden commented that “Will & Grace, probably did more to educate the American public [on the gay life] than almost anything anybody’s ever done so far.”

Ten years later, gay relationships and families are portrayed  as normal, unremarkable - like any other family.  

"The general trajectory has [hollywood] transitioning from minstrel acts and punch lines to relatable everyday characters," says David Hauslaib, founder of Queerty, a media-watching blog "by and for the queer community." He adds, "It's a new era where (being a gay family) is no longer a significant part of the story." (Read more Here)

Modern Family

 The most recent and most popular show following a gay family is Modern Family. Modern Family began airing in 2009 and depicts three different families. One of the families is a gay couple who have an adopted child. Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Fergueson play the characters, Cameron and Mitchell, and have been thrilled with the positive reaction from viewers. In an interview with TV Line "Jesse and I get comments and compliments all the time from gay moms and gay dads who watch the show, and kids from same-sex relationships who say, 'Thanks for being a couple that I can point kids who pick on me at school to and say, 'Hey, Cam and Mitchell are kind of like my family'. Things like that transcend our job."

There is still a lot of progress to be made for the rights and acceptance of homosexuals and their families, but it is through continuing education of the population that equality will be achieved. The best medium to do so is through television, where people fall in love with all types of characters.  

 

 



The New Normal

Cultural

Looking across cultures, we can see a difference in the levels of acceptance of diversity in families, as well as their prominence in the media.  In areas of Europe, for example, diversity in families is very well accepted.  An interracial family, single parent family, or same sex family is looked upon with similar, if not the same eyes as a traditional family.  While this is not true for everyone, the majority of the population in these areas is overall more accepting.  When diversity is seen in the media, it is not shocking or taboo, it is just normal.  A clear difference we can see in the media from the US to areas of Europe is the presence of diverse families in ads- they are very present in Europe, though not much at all here in the US.

In areas such as the Middle East, there is not as high of a level of acceptance of this diversity.  As with the more conservative areas of the US, religion plays a big role in this.  Another aspect to look at is that there is not as much televised media in the Middle East as there is in regions such as the US or Europe.  This lack of media, and so lack of family in the media, inevitably leads to lack of diversity in family in the media, and again we can relate the level of acceptance of diverse families to their presence in the media.

Interracial Families

Interracial families were once one of the most taboo issues in the United States, even prohibited in some states.  However, due to progression of the nation, as well as other controversial factors coming into play, such as same sex relationships, interracial families have taken a back burner, and are no longer such a hot topic.  This change is represented in the media, as Interracial relationship depictions have gone from being unspeakable, to somewhat ok, to ok in a funny light, to acceptable, to normal.  As shown in a short segment by NPR from 2005, Americans are moving "away from the interracial relationship as a moment of crisis to simply another relationship," (Boyd), something that is even more true today.  We can observe this evolution by looking back at the transformation of interracial couples in TV over the years. 

In 1968, only 20% of Americans approved of interracial couples, specifically between blacks and whites (Gallup), but this was when the first interracial kiss (on the lips) appeared on US television, only one year after laws banning interracial marriage were deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.  It was between a black woman and a white man, on the Star Trek episode "Plato's Children".  While they may have been under mind control of aliens, and forced into the act, it was still a huge historical landmark, and a sign of the progression of television.  Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Nyota Uhura in the scene) talks about the filming experience in an article by the Huffington Post, as well as the worries of the director and producers of the show about backlash from the public, especially in the south.  

The 'first' interracial kiss, Star Trek "Plato's Children" (1968)

The first interracial couple appeared in primetime TV in 1975, on the sitcom "The Jeffersons".  By now, the approval rate of interracial couples was up to approximately 30% (Gallup), and views on interracial relationships were still wary.  It should be noted here that the popular sitcom "I Love Lucy", which had its debut in 1951, is often thought of as the first interracial couple on TV; however, this fact is controversial, as Lucy was white-anglo, and Ricky was white-hispanic.  It is often disputed, and so not exactly clear, whether 'hispanic' is technically a 'race' or an 'ethnicity', and so whether the pair was truly 'interracial', or 'interethnic' instead.  Either way, the show stirred controversy with its diversity, as well as with its content.  

                                                 

                                     I Love Lucy (1951-1957)                               The Jeffersons (1975-1985)

In 2007, the acceptance of black-white interracial couples was at an all time high of 77% (Gallup), and is only expected to grow.  Around this time, interracial families began to flood mainstream TV.  Grey's Anatomy showed an asian woman with a black man, Modern Family showed a white man with a latino woman, Happy Endings showed a black man with a white woman, and the list goes on.  The variety of races depicted has increased drastically, as has the sheer numbers of interracial couples and families.  While the prominence of interracial families is clearly increasing in TV shows, they are still uncommon among ads, as an article by David Morse on AdAge helps to explain. It is interesting to examine this difference, which may be due to, in part at least, a reluctance by companies to do anything that may upset anyone who is a potential consumer- here, anyone against interracial couples.

           

      Modern Family (2009-present)         Parenthood (2010-present)         Happy Endings (2011-present)

According to an article from the US Census, the number of married interracial couples in the united states has grown by 28% from 2000 to 2010, moving from 7% of total married households to 10%.  The total percent of households with interracial, unmarried, opposite sex couples in 2010 was up to 18% of all households with unmarried, same sex couples (2010 Census Brief, Table 7).  As the presence of interracial couples increases in the media, so does the number of people accepting of interracial couples.  Thus, if there is even more presence of interracial couples in the media, these numbers can only go up.