Pass the Asparagus: Defining the American Film and Television Family Through Table Manners

Sam Mendes American Beauty (1999). Photo source: fckyeskspacey.tumblr.comConnie Yost - Film & Media - May 2014Colonial American Dining ExperiencePhoto source: historicalfictionalightintime.blogspot.comColonial House (2004) PBS Miniseries. Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHIEL9owQzI

Victorian Values and the Industrial Revolution Photo source (clockwise from top): http://1.bp.blogspot.com/; www.picturebritain.com; content.time.com

Working Classes of the Industrial AgePhoto source: http://leitesculinaria.com/Immigrant Families shared traditions around the dinner table. Photo source: everyculture.com

Photo source: blackdressredwagon.comTo Kill A Mockingbird (1962).Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQQYMgmo6fg

The Great Depression and Roaring 20s

The Nuclear Age (1950s)Leave it to Beaver. Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCHXLDJZ4ww The Beulah ShowVideo Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AikC7sa5CaE The Amos n Andy Show (1951-1953)Photo source: www.pulitzer.org

1960s and 1970sThe Brady Bunch (1969-1974) Photo source: funcheaporfree.com Sanford and Son (1972-1977)Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WqazleR3FE

Married With Children, Eatin Out. Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPamaaM31x01980s and 1990sPhoto source (from left): thewretchedryanenglish.com ; www.infinitydish.com

Modern Familys Family Tree Photo source: www.reddit.comABCs Modern Family (2009-)Photo source: www.tvguide.com

Boggs, Carl and Tom Pollard. Postmodern Cinema and the Demise of the Family. Journal of American Culture 26.4 (2003): 445-463. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

Child Trends. Family Structure. Child Trend data bank, 2012. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.

Cinotto, Simone. Everyone Would Be Around the Table: American Family Mealtimes in Historical Perspective, 1850-1960. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development 111 (2006): 17-34. Education Research Complete. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

Downey, Greg. Blacks on Network TV. University of Wisconson-Madison, 2011. PDF file. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.

Fiese, Barbara H., Kimberly P. Foley and Mary Spagnola. Routine and Ritual Elements in Family Mealtimes: Contexts for Child Well-Being and Family Identity. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development 111 (2006): 67-89. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

Larson, Reed W., Kathyrn R. Branscomb and Angela R. Wiley. Forms and Functions of Family Mealtimes: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development 111 (2006): 1-15. Education Research Complete. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

Works Cited