The Tyranny of The Brady Bunch
This past weekend I attended a children's film festival, and saw 3 films. 2 were from Germany, 1 from Denmark. I go every year with my kids, it is a fantastic opportunity to see really good foreign films and it's quite cool: they have a reader who reads the subtitles so even little kids who can't read can enjoy the movies.
What really struck me was how un-Disney these films were. The kids were not well dressed, they had messy hair, and their houses were small and often messy. Their families were decidedly imperfect: dads were unemployed, parents were divorced or absent, grandma's were not even a little bit nice.
It made me think about how bad the Brady Bunch made me feel when I was a kid: they were so perfect! And everything always worked out okay! AND they could even sing! I had a happy family, but the Brady Bunch just made me feel like my family was inadequate. It really made me appreciate these European films I saw on the weekend that were depicting families that were a lot more real than what we usually see on TV these days, on Disney or it's Cdn counterpart, Family channel. I think that shows like That's So Raven, or The Suite Life (can you tell I have kids??) are cute and funny, but damn, these people are so perfect!
I do think that one reason YCDTOTV was particularly appealing to kids (and why adults really hated it) was that it portrayed these incredibly disfunctional adults, especially dad. I think presenting kids with a reality where everyone is against them, or they are misunderstood, or they have to be especially sneaky or clever to get around the idiot adults that surround them, is pretty appealing to kids. I think the willingness to make a show that is totally from this kids' point of view is something that is missing in North American broadcast. I'd love to hear about what might be out there that I might be missing.
What really struck me was how un-Disney these films were. The kids were not well dressed, they had messy hair, and their houses were small and often messy. Their families were decidedly imperfect: dads were unemployed, parents were divorced or absent, grandma's were not even a little bit nice.
It made me think about how bad the Brady Bunch made me feel when I was a kid: they were so perfect! And everything always worked out okay! AND they could even sing! I had a happy family, but the Brady Bunch just made me feel like my family was inadequate. It really made me appreciate these European films I saw on the weekend that were depicting families that were a lot more real than what we usually see on TV these days, on Disney or it's Cdn counterpart, Family channel. I think that shows like That's So Raven, or The Suite Life (can you tell I have kids??) are cute and funny, but damn, these people are so perfect!
I do think that one reason YCDTOTV was particularly appealing to kids (and why adults really hated it) was that it portrayed these incredibly disfunctional adults, especially dad. I think presenting kids with a reality where everyone is against them, or they are misunderstood, or they have to be especially sneaky or clever to get around the idiot adults that surround them, is pretty appealing to kids. I think the willingness to make a show that is totally from this kids' point of view is something that is missing in North American broadcast. I'd love to hear about what might be out there that I might be missing.
I wouldn't consider TSL to be perfect, especially if we're using the Brady Bunch as a baseline. Rather idealized and no where near as mucked up YCDTOTV, yes. Perfect, no.
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Granted it's just about the polar opposite of genres compared to the ones in the post, but wouldn't Avatar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender) be close to ehat you're describing?
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you know, I thought about it, but then didn't include: but I should have qualified "live action" in my post. There are NUMEROUS, great, animated series on NA TV. I love Fairly Odd Parents for dysfunctional family depiction, the parents are totally self-absorbed dolts, and "Jimmy is an avergae kid, that no one understands..."
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This is probably the furthest thing from what one would call "children's programming," but I really like how the parents on South Park are portrayed as gullible idiots, and the fact that they are is even discussed by their own kids.
Homer Simpson's also a pretty good example of bad parenting. I see a little Les in him once in a while, in fact. But the Simpsons, unlike South Park, doesn't always focus on the lives of the kids.
I don't really watch television anymore, except for South Park. But it would seem to me that parents would rather have their kids watch more positive role models than let them enjoy a few scenarios where the kids are more sane, grown-up and more in control than the parents. But to me, that's what TV should be about: opposites.
And you know all about that.
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I remember many years back when the first President Bush said "we need to be more like the Waltons than the Simpsons" to which, on one episode, Bart replied "hey, we're just like the Waltons, your average family trying to get through the depression!"
American TV has always been WAY behind the times when it comes to showing real-life families, even today watching reruns of Lucy we notice that she and Ricky slept in separate beds. (I used to imagine that Pebbles Flintstone was conceived by having a few tiny storks deliver sperm from Fred's bed to Wilma's, complaining about it as they go: "Oh they're at it again!") At least the Brady parents slept in the same bed, and they were pretty huggy-kissy in bed for TV parents, too.
Carl Reiner quit the"New Dick Van Dyke Show" because of an episode where the parents admitted to their kid that they sometimes "fool around" because they like to: back then you could only have sex for the purpose of having a kid. If American families were really like that, we wouldn't have had a baby boom, we would have been depopulated by now.
And on those shows where they had more "realistic" obnoxious kids, the kids were always a bit too clever for being kids. Most teens I know (and knew) are a bit more sullen and a lot less well-spoken. But then again, I'm a jaded old man...
The Bradys never bothered me though, even as a kid I knew it was nonsense. I thought the two movies they made were hilarious, though.
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I should elaborate on the Reiner story: Reiner quit because the network execs censored the part where the parents admitted they had sex because they enjoyed it.
It was a pretty funny episode as I recall: the kid walked in on her parents doing it one day and was expecting to have a new baby brother or sister when the parents admitted that they were just having fun and not trying to have a new baby. The daughter's response was perfect: "ICK!"
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hey moose. this sure is a blast from the past. I remeber watching the show on tv and coming across the website has brought back many great memories. I wish that they would replay old episodes on nick or if they could come out with it on dvd, I would buy it
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Ok one thing I always disliked about the brady bunch is how every problem was solved within the thirty minute time frame. On the other hand marsha breaking her nose was very educational...very educational indeed. Now shows like the waltons I can see being somewhat more realistic based on the time frame since I was raised by my grand parents I can see a bit of waltons lifestyle in how they were brought up and how they lived their lives.
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Just one name you should know if you want the not so perfect American family.The Bundys.Married with Children was like a YCDTOT Opposite skit gone mad.
Also checkout:
Still Standing,King of Queens,Grounded for Life,dysfuntionality at it's finest!
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I feel that I would not be so grounded in my life if I hadn't seen how people behave. The Brady Bunch is a show filled with morals of right and wrong. A base to the foundation of how we should act. YCDTOT, taught us that we shouldn't say "IDK" because nothing ever good comes out of ignorance. I wouldn't be the same person though, If I only watched "the Bunch".
YCDTOT helped me with my wide spread sense of humor, and the chance to observe Canadian life from my living room.
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Corky, I can honestly say I never thought of that angle on the IDK line. I think you have actually found the "education" in YCDTOTV!!!
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Hmmm... The way I see YCDTOTV is that it was one of the pioneering shows along the line of Archie Bunker and the Jefferson's, meaning it had no boundaries, to lead us to today's Simpsons, Roseanne, and Married w children. Barth+Dad+Homer Simpson+ Al Bundy= best friends. Dougy+Bart+Alexdair= best friends. WE ALL KNOW THAT Rosanne, SIMPSONS, AND MARRIED W CHILDREN ARE RECORD BREAKING AND WERE/ARE HUGE SUCCESSES. The Brady Bunch was pretty good back in the 70's, but this is the next century. Most of us is broke, unemployed or near it... how can anyone relate to having a maid, a mom at home all the time...? Kids today don't have the same manners either. Can anyone imagine Greg Brady or Marsha with a gun? Now think about Bart Simpson and Bud Bundy. See. Brady's is a shelf bound, dust cover for a library in the behavior section. Is this right for us to think more like Roseanne and Al Bundy today? Well, our world leaders portray dimwitted behaviors for us to follow... Our society just about let's everything go... NO limitations unless it's obvious... We look at the Brady's like "what the?" Today's world, the Brady's would've been mugged, robbed, and what not as good as they were... not realistic for today. If Jan really hated Marsha that much... today... If Greg was the player in today's world??? If anyone rolled a station wagon like that these days??? You're right Moose, Brady's is hard to follow in this world. Raven is not perfect.
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Well I wouldn't go so far as to compare it to truly groundbreaking shows like All In The Family, but I'm happy to have enjoyed YCDTOTV just as it was.
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Joe, I wasn't comparing the two with each other. I was grouping them together. One is for kids and the other, squarely for adults. This is a friendly forum isn't it? We love YCDTOTV. We love Moose! YCDTOTV was groundbreaking for kids. All in the Family was groundbreaking for adults. OK. We're square now. I just watched American Idol last night for goodness sakes... Can't we all just... get along?
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Fair enough. I didn't mean anything bad by it.
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One of the things I've loved about Japanese Anime movies was the family dynamic. Even the most "Disney" of anime has honest to goodness fallible characters.
In Spirited Away, no one is perfect. Chihiro is a little girl who is bored and lazy. Her parents are self absorbed, dismissing her, and a bit arrogant (they eat food obviously left for someone else, which starts the whole shebang). And yet it's still a sweet story that really speaks to kids (and adults) alike. If you haven't seen it, give it a shot. Even the English dub isn't bad. :)
Ranma 1/2 is another good example. No on in that family is perfect Ranma's a teenager just trying to live his life with an opportunistic father (who would constantly "marry" his infant son off for food, then steal him back) and then gives his son lectures on "being a man." They live with a family friend, who, over the course of the show, begins to crack under the insanity of the constant fighting and bickering between Ranma, his dad, Ranma's (latest) fiancee, and the fiancee's sisters. And top top it all off, Ranma has a curse that (more than) occasionally changes him into a girl. It's more of a late-teens show in Japan, which prolly means it's a more early-adult show here. IT does feature a lot of nudity, though, given Ranma's curse.
I've always found American Family TV very sanitized and with too many Happy Endings, and Morals that hit you over the head. Roger Price wanted to make a show for kids that was just fun and didn't educate or moralize...wish they'd do that for family hour, too. :)
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Ranma is a pretty typical Takahashi sitcom, her only problem, and Ranma suffers from it the most, is that when she runs out of ideas she just introduces a new character.
Maison Ikkoku is much better, the characters can be obnoxious but there's sometimes a method to their madness, and more important it has a set ending.
The main characters in Maison Ikkoku are in their late teens/early twenties and are just beginning lives on their own, but they are still somewhat influenced by their parents. Kyoko, the female lead, is a young widow who takes the manager's position at the boarding house (whose name is the show's title), and her parents are determined to get her out of there and remarry. Her mother even goes so far as to tell the tenants Kyoko has quit and have a moving company move all her stuff out of the boarding house! I write about it in more detail at my blog, the link to the post is http://cupojoe.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html#116606930406530963
if anyone wants to read it.
Another good Studio Ghibli (which produced Spirited Away) film along those lines is "Whispers Of The Heart" about a young girl who feels like she needs to accomplish something, as she feels like there's something missing in her life. Her parents are understanding, but only to a point. Of course, Japanese culture and society are quite different than American society, there's a lot more pressure to conform (which explains some of the wildness you see in some anime and manga).
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Hello Christine, this is your former YCDTOTV writer from waaaay back in 1985. Glad to see you online. And on the topic of your post, I'll second the Studio Ghibli recommendations people have given you.
I'm still writing, although I've changed to books in recent years. Drop by my "author website" sometime, at http://www.rablack.com. My book, The Real Life Channel, might amuse you.
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LOVE studio Ghibli films, LOVE Miazaki (not sure if I have spelled that right) Favourite is likely Nausica, but it is in a very tight race with Spritied Away. Also love the more recent Howl's Moving Castle.
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Nausicaa is one of my faves, but only because it was the first Ghibli film I ever saw. I also have a soft spot for Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky. :)
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Castle in the sky was the first one I saw, and I love it too. Kiki, also like: my youngest daughter found Nausica kind of scary but Kiki we could all watch.
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I also recommend Miyazaki's first feature film, Lupin III and the Castle Of Cagliostro, one of the better action-adventure movies of any genre.
My favorite Miyazaki films remain Kiki and My Neighbor Totoro, which Chicago's Roger Ebert drew attention to.
Along with the aforementioned "Whispers Of The Heart", I also recommend "The Cat Came Back" and "I Can See The Sea", two more films by Ghibli.
And of course if you like any of those, I highly, highly recommend Maison Ikkoku, a superb love story written by a superb talent.
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I thoroughly agree that part YCDTOTV's charms was the imperfect adults, but also the imperfect kids. I could imagine myself being buddies with the kids, and I found them all much more enjoyable to watch than stylized child actors.
I was delighted, in my teens, when Roseanne and The Simpsons came on (around the same time) and I saw the most realistic portrayals of families since Les and Valerie!
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Hi Christine and everyone else,
I read your comments on how un-Disney like foreign childrens films are with some interest. Although most films and TV programmes, childrens or otherwise; American or foreign (which I include Canadian productions) are somewhat unrealistic, Disney are particularly so. Life is not the rose tinted world that Disney often shows. Children should be allowed to see the reality of life with some obvious limits of course.
By the way I am British and came across YCDTOTV on Nick. during a month long visit to Canada back in 1987 to visit relatives in Alberta. I did see a few episodes over here on Nick. but have not since any for a few years.
Take care all
Toddy
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I agree that Roseanne and the Simpsons gave a more realistic view at the American Family. However, some people actually like the Brady Bunch and other shows like that just for the pure escapism. Most kids and adults know better that shows like the BB, the Suite Life, Raven are far from realistic. Some kids and adults watch shows like this to escape from thier own reality without losing touch with real life.
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I agree, Christine- The show tackles, exposes and forces people to see the hypocrisy of how children are treated in society, as sub-humans. That is why the show is so perfect! I love the episode "Politics" where the teacher lists a bunch of undemocratic qualities of "communist" nations and Alasdair slams him by saying he just described how kids are treated in school! BEAUTIFUL!
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Though three seasons and 54 episodes, Titus slyly re-defined the newly ubiquitous term "dysfunctional," claiming normality for the wackos among us. "We're normal," Titus insisted in his first "neutral space" aside to the camera, alone in an empty room with a dangling lightbulb, photographed in stark black-and-white as he all-knowingly narrated this introductory tale. "It's the people that had the mom/dad/brother/sister/little white picket fence -- those people are the freaks."
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