Skip to content
1981
Volume 15, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 1740-8296
  • E-ISSN: 2040-0918

Abstract

Representations of the nuclear family have undergone significant redefinitions on American television over the last fifteen years: recent 40-something heroines are examining the slow decline of the nuclear family, aided by the return of radical feminism. This article analyses this critical New Wave, which appeared on television with Desperate Housewives (2004–2012) and continues in dramas such as The Good Wife (2009–2016) and dramedies such as The Big C (2010–2013), Nurse Jackie (2009–2015) and Weeds (2005–2012). The complexity of television’s treatment of the explosion of the nuclear family is due to the fact that TV series marry a broken – shattered, even – dream with its residual forms: families are falling apart and yet the heroines are confronted with the pressing need to continue upholding its social representation. To escape traditional roles, women are according emotions a new place and witnessing a redistribution of skills in various forms. In place of the predetermined structure of the nuclear family, intimate public spheres are emerging, where women are establishing themselves as long-oppressed individuals on the road to an emancipation that can occur only in the context of a fundamental rethinking of the organization of the private sphere.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/macp.15.2.163_1
2019-06-01
2024-12-06
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/macp.15.2.163_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): American series; emotions; heroines; love; nuclear families; radical feminism; women
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error