The portrayal of parents in media sometimes depicts gender stereotypes in society, often highlighting the "traditional nuclear family" as opposed to nonconventional configurations.
[1] Social Scientists have found that home, family, and romance are three of the most important components of the way characters are presented.
[2] Its influence impacts parents positively and negatively, either by underrepresentation (dumb, irresponsible) or drawing the perfect picture (good mothers and fathers).
As women began to work outside the home and domestic gender roles were adjusted, the idea of the nuclear family changed.
Fogel, a television media expert, refers to this as the "new father;" he is a mix of traditional masculinity and traits typically associated with mothers.
Richard is rich and tends to buy his daughter's and granddaughter's love and approval with his money, while his wife, Emily Gilmore takes on the role of the disciplinarian.
[11] New momism introduces the myth of the perfect mother who assumes all the roles needed of her within the household, does so flawlessly, and emerges from the experience fulfilled and complete.
Susan Podnieks argues that the "mommy myth", as well as the supposed battle between working and stay-at-home mothers, are circulated by news media and talk shows, sparking debates about the proper sphere of women.
As a result, the general public believes that "there is a bitter war in the suburban cul-de-sacs of the United States between the complacent minivan-driving stay-at-home moms and the overachieving soon-to-be-burnout working mothers who still think they can have it all.
Susan Douglas and Meredith Michaels use the term to describe child care experts who engage in the practice of watching over famous mothers and judge their efforts.
Elizabeth Podnieks uses it to refer to reporters, the paparazzi, and all those involved within entertainment journalism who participate in maternal surveillance.
[12] In a study conducted by sociologist Mary Larson, participants were asked to view several soap operas and comment on the role of the single mother.
The students in the study declared that most soap operas depict the single mother as white upper middle class with a successful job.
Their children were allowed to attend social events and each woman had a dominant male figure who helped with the baby on a daily basis.
For example, one would expect television to encapsulate the different themes and qualities of the African American family that are a result of prejudice and discrimination.
[13] The emergence of these shows created a TV culture that more accurately depicted an intact African American family.
With this issue, came the emergence of successful Latino-themed shows such as Dora the Explorer, George Lopez, Ugly Betty, and Wizards of Waverly Place.
In an analysis of television shows, Dr. William Douglas found modern parent-child relationships to be judged as mutually respectful.
Television mothers are more likely to use strategies that include emphasizing commonalities and using empathy in dealing with conflict such that relational goals are promoted over winning the argument.
[16] Scharrer (2001a) conducted a quantitative study investigating masculine roles within the home, and looked at 136 episodes of 29 domestic sitcoms airing from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Scharrer found an increasing tendency to portray fathers as foolish and less adept at child care than mothers.
[17] Films that take place in the 1950s often portray an “ideal family” consisting of a breadwinner husband, a homemaker wife, and their children.
The film Mona Lisa Smile depicts a female professor's struggle with these expectations that have been put both on herself and her students.
"[19] Through the use of empirical observations, Kaufman's research specifically focuses on the differences in the roles of mother and fathers portrayed by the media in national television commercials.
Even though the roles of both men and women have expanded from the past, majority of the commercials were found to display traditional gender ideology.
In cases where no mother is present, the same stereotypical roles are shown to be passed to the daughter as the father and/or brothers are passively waiting.
Anderson and Hamilton fear that these stereotypical portrayals socialize children during critical periods of early development in their lives.
[17] A study based in Hong Kong set out to examine “tween" girls in order to determine the media's influence on their perception of gender and identity roles.
The sources of media used by the girls in the study included images from: newspapers, magazines, photos of advertisements (in subways, elevators, etc.
Previous studies have shown that although children might not perform behaviors the media characterizes as “normal” right away, they store these perceptions and recall them during “real life situations”.