Television Comparison

I watched two family comedies on television and they were quite different from one another in several ways. The first show I watched was an episode of Full House titled "Silence is Not Golden." Full House is a great family show from the early 1990's that I grew up with as a kid. There was always some sort of lesson to be learned at the end of the show. I loved this show as a child but now when I watch it, it seems almost cheesy to me. Danny Tanner, the father of the show, is a squeaky clean man, both literally and figuratively. His favorite activity is cleaning and everybody knows it. His youngest child Michelle and her friend decide it's a good idea to call a long distance phone number that tells jokes. Michelle sneakily says she got permission to call because when she asked her father, while he was vacuuming the rug, he didn't say no. When Danny eventually found about these costly calls, Michelle was punished and had to go to bed an hour early for a week. That just seemed like the worst punishment ever to Michelle!

Another major issue in this episode had to do with the middle daughter, Stephanie. She was partnered up with a boy named Charles from her class to do an assignment. Noone in the class liked Charles because he was always mean and sarcastic. Stephanie wasn't pleased to be working with Charles but didn't really have a choice. While they were working on their afterschool project in Stephanie's room, Michelle came in the room and told Stephanie that she was "going to get it" because she forgot to take the garbage out for the second time that week. Charles told Stephanie that it helps to think of a funny movie or joke while she's "getting it" and it won't seem as bad. Stephanie was confused at first but then understood that he meant while he was being hit. She just couldn't believe that his father of all people actually hit him. He got really nervous and rushed out of her room after making her promise that she would never tell anyone about it.

The next day at school, Stephanie's teacher said Charles wouldn't be in school all week because he had another accident. The week previously, he came to school with a black eye and this week she was told he fell down the stairs. Stephanie eventually broke her silence and told her uncle who reported the maltreatment and Charles was placed into a foster home.

If this type of situation was happening today, a school teacher would have seen those signs of physical abuse and legally would have had to report the incidents. Because this is a family show I guess they either wanted to keep it pretty innocent so children would be able to watch it without being too worried or scared. Also, people kind of had the view that parenting styles were the choice of the parents and other people didn't really question it.

In the Tanner home, the children are raised to almost be naïve because they