Family Life - Does TV Imitate Reality ?

Read the section titled “Seeing Sociology in Everyday Life” found on pages 460-462 of the textbook. In 250 words or more, analyze the photo essay, list two of your own favorite television shows, and evaluate the importance of family life in each show by answering the following questions: What family units, if any, do you see presented? Are families a source of happiness to people or not? Use the concepts learned in Chapter 13 to answer these questions. React to at least two other classmates’ threads and analyze their response. Is there anything you can add to their discussion? For additional information to complete this assignment, consult the optional resources for this week. Use in-text citations and list any references at the end of your post. For example, if you cite the textbook, include the following reference: Macionis, J. J. (2015). Society: The basics (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. 

Running head: FAMILY LIFE
FAMILY LIFE – DOES TV IMITATE REALITY?
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1FAMILY LIFE
The presence of both the parents have vital importance on the psychological
development of the children. However, the present family units as well as types, featuring either
single parents, homosexual parents, or even divorced / separated parents taking care of the
children, each provide the children with a different kind of outlook on life. Two of my favorite
TV shows wherein I believe the importance of family life is neatly portrayed are ‘A Series of
Unfortunate Events (2017)’ and ‘Lost in Space (2018)’. While the first show explores the
endeavors of three orphaned children who are seeking answers to their parents’ mysterious death,
the protagonists of the second show are the Robinson family who are a part of an exploratory
space mission to find alternate habitats.
In the first show, the Baudelaire children have to face their evil guardian Count Olaf who
leaves no stone unturned in order to capture their vast inheritance. The show depicts the
psychological and emotional distress that the children can be found in without the support of
their parents. Particularly when the setting of the show is the life of orphaned children, the social
exchange and symbolic interaction theories become quite relevant in this case (Macionis, 2015;
Denzin, 2016) as they expand upon how the interactions between the family members, or in the
current case the lack of one, can impact the emotional development of the children (Woodhead,
2015).
While the Robinson family in ‘Lost in Space’ are complete, it starts off at a conflicting
phase where the parents are not in a happy and stable relationship. The literal survival of the
family is dependent upon the unity of the members. At that juncture, the parents and the three
children, the units of the family, are presented with a situation where the emotional turmoil
between the parents are kept separate from the children, one of them being a stepdaughter to the
father (Woodhead, 2015). At the same time, the mother Maureen is a highly smart aerospace

2FAMILY LIFE
engineer, depicting which has connected the TV show with non-stereotypical gender roles
(Forste & Fox, 2012). Summarizing the connotations of both the shows, it can be asserted that
families are indeed a key source of happiness for all the family members, however it still is
dependent on how individual members feel about the rest.

3FAMILY LIFE
References.
Denzin, N. K. (2016). Symbolic interactionism. The international encyclopedia of
communication theory and philosophy, 1-12.
Forste, R., & Fox, K. (2012). Household labor, gender roles, and family satisfaction: A cross-
national comparison. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 43(5), 613-631.
Macionis, J. J. (2015). Society: The basics (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice
Hall.
Woodhead, M. (2015). Psychology and the cultural construction of children’s needs.
In Constructing and reconstructing childhood (pp. 54-73). Routledge.