Recently our class read the article "Modern Family is a Class-Blind Fantasy World" from Salon Magazine. This article discussed how the popular television show Modern Family does a terrible job at giving an accurate representation of the financial situations of middle class American families. For the majority of the seasons of Modern Family, the three families featured on the show are all single-income families, yet they are living extremely affluent lifestyles. Examples of this are the grand vacations that they take, the fact that they're always up to date on the latest technology, and how extravagantly decorated all of their homes are.
Sadly, many popular American television shows take a similar approach to Modern Family and are unrealistic in their portrayals of class and the American family. But my personal favorite television show does what I think is an excellent and actual realistic job at portraying what life is like in modern America for a single income middle class family. This show has sadly been off of the air for seven years now, but in the 11 years that it aired on the WB network (now the CW) it had a large following.
The show 7th Heaven was a family drama about a pastor's family in California. The main characters were the Reverend Eric Camden, his wife, stay-at-home mom Annie Camden, and their seven children. In a society where having only one or two children is becoming the norm, having a family as large as the Camdens to be the subject of a family drama was definitely a bit of an interesting choice. But I believe that the show's creators, Aaron Spelling and Brenda Hampton, did an absolutely fantastic job giving a realistic portrayal for what life is really like for a large family living on a single income.
In 7th Heaven, the Camdens live in a fairly large house in a surburban neighborhood in California. But it is noted quite often in the show that the family wouldn't be able to afford living in the house if it wasn't a parsonage (a house owned by the church congregation of which Eric Camden is the pastor of). And even so, the house still isn't large enough to accomodate their whole family at times (throughout the seasons of the show all of the children share bedrooms at different times). Annie Camden is known for being very handy and whenever something needs to be repaired she generally fixes it instead of calling out for a repairman to come and fix whatever the issue is. This is shown in mulitple episodes of the show, starting with the pilot episode in which Annie is shown fixing some pipes under the kitchen sink. Annie (and sometimes Eric) also cook most of the their family's meals at home instead of eating out. Characters in the show are seen eating at restaurants but they're usually very affordably priced restaturants (such as a local pizza parlour that is a popular hangout for high school students). During the few times in the show when the family eats a dinner out at a nice restaurant, usually a comment is made about what a treat it is.
As far as the education of the Camden children, things seem to be very realistic in this department as well. During the 11 seasons that 7th Heaven ran for, the four eldest Camden children are seen through into adulthood or their college years. Three of them chose to pursue college, but they all did so in an affordable manner. Matt and Lucy Camden both attended a university in the same town as where the Camden family lived, and chose to commute from home instead of living on campus (to save money). Matt Camden was shown working a demanding job all through his college years to help pay for his schooling. When Simon Camden was shown going to college a few years later he chose a public college, didn't live in campus housing, and was also shown working during the school year to help cover his bills. One of the younger Camden children, Ruthie, attended a private elementary school for a couple years during the show. It was noted by Eric and Annie multiple times that she could only attend because she had high enough grades to be there on full scholarship, and without the scholarship the family couldn't afford to send her there on just a pastor's salary.
There are countless other ways that class is appropriately displayed in 7th Heaven; the fact that the family rarely takes vacations, how all of the weddings of older Camden children that have taken place on the show were fairly modest and budget concious affairs (that all took place in the Camdens' home city of Glen Oak, California), and how the Camden children are shown being careful with their allowance money and also being encouraged to work jobs during their high school and college years to help pay for their own expenses. But more then appreciating the fact that the creators of the show did an accurate job at expressing what life is like for a large single income family, I appreciate the values and morals expressed in the show. At the core of 7th Heaven are life lessons such as "there is nothing more important than faith and family," and also "material possessions aren't most important." The Camden family shows that situations in life might not always be easy and that sometimes money might be a bit tight, but that when you have the love of a family, a strong faith, and healthy friendships within your community that's what's truly most important. It might sound cliche- but the show did have a successful run on the WB network for 11 seasons! I don't think it would have lasted that long if viewers disagreed with the messages in the show. :-)
(On an unrelated note about 7th Heaven, the show was recently in the news. A couple weeks ago the news broke that lead actor Stephen Collins (who played Eric Camden on the show) is currently being investigated by police after reports against him for child molestation surfaced recently. I am sad that my favorite show is back in popular culture for such disturbing reasons.)
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