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Sitcom Mom

The Evolution of a Classic Television Character

Judy Kutulas

This book analyzes how situation comedies have provided cultural insight into both the good and the bad sides of American motherhood through the years. Judy Kutulas argues that while early sitcoms tended to reinforce conventional visions of motherhood, more complex and problematized mothers began rising to prominence as cultural norms continued to diversify. Ultimately, Kutulas explores and demonstrates how increasingly diverse depictions of motherhood reflect changing social expectations, new social and professional opportunities, and expanding debates about what it means to be a mother. Scholars of television, media, American, cultural, and women’s studies will find this book of particular interest.

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Lexington Books
Pages: 200 • Trim: 6¼ x 9¼
978-1-66693-464-9 • Hardback • December 2023 • $100.00 • (£77.00)
978-1-66693-465-6 • eBook • December 2023 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
Subjects: Social Science / Media Studies, Performing Arts / Television / Genres / General

Judy Kutulas is professor emerita of history, film and media studies, and gender and sexuality studies at St. Olaf College.

Chapter One: Worrying in Pearls: Defining Sitcom Motherhood in the 1950s

Chapter Two: Of Witches, Cars, and Mothers-in-Law: The Fantastical Mothers of the 1960s

Chapter Three: Reality in the “Fantasy World of Television”: New Moms – and Some Old Ones – in the 1970s

Chapter Four: Here Comes Claire: Having It All – or Trying To – in the 1980s

Chapter Five: Single Moms and Man-Children: Gender Wars in the 1990s

Chapter Six: Mama Don’t Care: Mad Mothers, Bad Mothers, Yummy Mummies and Other New-Century Developments

Chapter Seven: “When Did This Become My Life?”: Recent Sitcom Motherhood

Sitcom Mom: The Evolution of a Classic Television Character is Judy Kutulas’s lively, ambitious discussion of the history of television’s sitcom mothers. In a discussion of moms ranging from the prototypical June Cleaver, the fantastical My Mother the Car, and the iconic Claire Huxtable, Kutulas situates her discussion in sophisticated sociological theories of the changing American family. She demonstrates how the early and extremely influential television sitcoms gave way to the more modern and nuanced mom images of Roseanne’s Roseanne Connor, Arrested Development’s Lucille Bluth, and Modern Family’s Claire Dunphy, as the configuration of the modern American family changed dramatically in the wake of the feminist movement, changing labor force, and changing norms about childcare, gender roles in the nuclear family, and what constitutes “good-enough” mothering. This exhaustive work is the definitive study of motherhood in television comedy.


— Andrea L. Press, University of Virginia


Sitcom Mom

The Evolution of a Classic Television Character

Cover Image
Hardback
eBook
Summary
Summary
  • This book analyzes how situation comedies have provided cultural insight into both the good and the bad sides of American motherhood through the years. Judy Kutulas argues that while early sitcoms tended to reinforce conventional visions of motherhood, more complex and problematized mothers began rising to prominence as cultural norms continued to diversify. Ultimately, Kutulas explores and demonstrates how increasingly diverse depictions of motherhood reflect changing social expectations, new social and professional opportunities, and expanding debates about what it means to be a mother. Scholars of television, media, American, cultural, and women’s studies will find this book of particular interest.

Details
Details
  • Lexington Books
    Pages: 200 • Trim: 6¼ x 9¼
    978-1-66693-464-9 • Hardback • December 2023 • $100.00 • (£77.00)
    978-1-66693-465-6 • eBook • December 2023 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
    Subjects: Social Science / Media Studies, Performing Arts / Television / Genres / General
Author
Author
  • Judy Kutulas is professor emerita of history, film and media studies, and gender and sexuality studies at St. Olaf College.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Chapter One: Worrying in Pearls: Defining Sitcom Motherhood in the 1950s

    Chapter Two: Of Witches, Cars, and Mothers-in-Law: The Fantastical Mothers of the 1960s

    Chapter Three: Reality in the “Fantasy World of Television”: New Moms – and Some Old Ones – in the 1970s

    Chapter Four: Here Comes Claire: Having It All – or Trying To – in the 1980s

    Chapter Five: Single Moms and Man-Children: Gender Wars in the 1990s

    Chapter Six: Mama Don’t Care: Mad Mothers, Bad Mothers, Yummy Mummies and Other New-Century Developments

    Chapter Seven: “When Did This Become My Life?”: Recent Sitcom Motherhood

Reviews
Reviews
  • Sitcom Mom: The Evolution of a Classic Television Character is Judy Kutulas’s lively, ambitious discussion of the history of television’s sitcom mothers. In a discussion of moms ranging from the prototypical June Cleaver, the fantastical My Mother the Car, and the iconic Claire Huxtable, Kutulas situates her discussion in sophisticated sociological theories of the changing American family. She demonstrates how the early and extremely influential television sitcoms gave way to the more modern and nuanced mom images of Roseanne’s Roseanne Connor, Arrested Development’s Lucille Bluth, and Modern Family’s Claire Dunphy, as the configuration of the modern American family changed dramatically in the wake of the feminist movement, changing labor force, and changing norms about childcare, gender roles in the nuclear family, and what constitutes “good-enough” mothering. This exhaustive work is the definitive study of motherhood in television comedy.


    — Andrea L. Press, University of Virginia


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