The Old Family

All in the Family was a surprisingly controversial sitcom that was aired during the 1970's in the US.  How does a show that deals with hot-button American issues head-on compare to modern TV sitcoms?  I don't watch very much in the way of TV sitcoms, but for this blog post, I will draw upon what I know about the sitcom Will And Grace, as I was ceaselessly (and somewhat mercilessly) exposed to it by my older sisters when I was younger. 

First of all, how are these shows different?    Will and Grace is, not surprisingly, a modern sitcom about friends Will (a gay lawyer) and Grace and their relationship with each other.  All in the Family is about the Bunker family, chiefly focusing on Archie Bunker, a working class World War 2 veteran and patriarch of the family.  Will and Grace, in the fashion of almost every other modern sitcom, deals with comfortable issues in our society.  While much of the humor is centered around gay mannerisms or culture exhibited by Will and his gay friends, none of it is very controversial in the mainstream of our modern society, which, for the most part, has accepted gay culture.  All in the Family, in contrast, dealt with many issues which many modern sitcoms, including Will and Grace, would never dare touch.  Much of the humor in All in the Family is generated from Archie Bunker's bigoted views, and how they come into conflict with the world around him.  Archie Bunker's character routinely uses derogatory slang terms in reference to other ethnic groups.  Archie Bunker is constantly at odds with the increasingly-tolerant world around him, while Will and Grace simply deal with day-to-day issues with work and relationships.  Another issue which further divides these two shows is the fact that Archie Bunker is working-class, while Will and Grace are both professionals who live in very expensive lofts. 

There honestly isn't very much similar between these two shows, except for a few things that I can think of.  Both of them make use of stage sets, similar to that of traditional theater.  Both of them deal with the issues of homosexuality, though Archie Bunker, of course, treats it with extreme derision.  Both of them deal mainly with white characters.

As I've said, the shows both deal with their own respective issues.  All in the Family deals with race, religion and politics in a way that most shows would never dream of doing today.  Shows today would certainly never even think to deal with the issue of feminism, something that Archie Bunker opposed, as it is so widely accepted today.  Will and Grace would definitely never take such a blunt approach to racial relations in America, or nearly any of the other things that Archie Bunker takes on.  On the other hand All in the Family never dealt with the kind of gay-rights issues that are present sometimes in Will and Grace.  Since there are many gay characters on the show, occasionally gay politics makes its way into the show, which is something that saw very little activity in the 1970s, when All in the Family was aired.