Media Analysis Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

Media Analysis - Symbolic Interactionist Perspective The title of the program I will discuss in this document is All in the Family. This was a television situation comedy that aired throughout the 1970's. It presented an alternative to the typical family situation comedy in the fact that the father and patriarch of the house, Archie Bunker, was categorized as a bigot. Archie's bigotry extended to people of racial minorities, gays, and to a definite proclivity for male chauvinism.

As such, the social theme that this document will address is women's liberation. There are a number of scenes in All in the Family in which Archie's treatment of his wife, Edith, is chauvinistic and indicative of the sort of behavior that women's liberation was developed to end. On a number of different occasions Archie refers to Edith as a dingbat. He would do so for laughs, of course, yet the fact remains that he unequivocally insulted his wife and her intelligence in particular.

Archie would frequently roll his eyes and show other signs of impatience and displeasure (such as throwing his hands up in the air) as he verbally slandered his wife. Another frequently recurring scene on this show that identifies the theme of women's liberation is that Archie would regularly sit in a comfortable rocking chair while Edith did whatever she could to please him.

When the phone would ring, Edith would scurry across the house to answer it -- oftentimes to give it to Archie or to tell him that it was for him. Whenever the doorbell would ring, Edith would run to get it or Archie would tell her to get the door. His facial features would again look impatient; in one episode in particular he stuck out his thumb and made a hitching motion for Edith to answer it.

He was also fond of bellowing to Edith to bring him a beer, which she would unfailingly run to do. In virtually all of these scenes Edith would wear staid dresses. The interpretation of the meaning of virtually all of these nonverbal forms of communication is that they reinforce Archie's male superiority and Edith's subservient status as a woman. While Archie calmly sits in his chair, Edith runs around the house trying to please him.

Archie's insults and impatient exasperated facial expressions as he calls his wife names emphasize his dominance over her. His gesturing with his hands supports this viewpoint and demonstrates a marked impatience of, and superiority over, his wife which is emblematic of his gender's dominance over hers (which is why it was important to always show Edith in a dress). These interpretations are valuable to the sociological understanding of Women's Liberation because they allude to the fact that women are mere helpers for men.

Edith fetches anything that Archie needs in a way that a dog is supposed to fetch things for men. Archie's lack of patience for her and his gestures with his hands are also suggestive of man's relationship with dogs, which further demonstrates Edith's subservience to her husband because she is a woman and he is a man. Whereas the show attempted to expose bigotry and prejudice (Archive, 2013), it operated as a means of reinforcing male chauvinism.

From a sociological perspective then, these interpretations are essential to understanding women's liberation because they denote the fact that society largely views women's roles as underlings for men. In fact, All in the Family and its portrayal of Archie's relationship with his wife functioned as an effective model for male chauvinism to society as a whole since they depicted American families in this way. The actress who played Edith eventually quit because she was.