Full House: How It Represents the Late Essay Example

Danny Tanner, father to DJ Tanner, Stephanie Tanner, and Michelle Tanner, was left to raise his children alone when his wife was killed in a drunk driving accident. Initially left on his own, his best friend and his brother-in-law stepped in to help him raise his three young girls. The Full House characters all bring something different to the show.

The three father fgures on the show are the nurturing, friendly, neat freak, Danny Tanner, the rock 'n' roll heartthrob, 'Uncle' Jesse Katsopolis, and the dorky aspiring comedian, 'Uncle' Joey Gladstone. The three young girls are he pre-adolescent, eldest sister, DJ Tanner, the hysterical, mischievous middle child, Stephanie Tanner, and the adorable baby, Michelle Tanner. Like many suburban upper middle class families, the Tanner family also had a trusting family pet, Comet Tanner. The plot of this program typically incorporates simple family or personal problems, which are usually resolved by the end of each episode.

Characters' achievements or disappointments are also common episode themes. Most of the time, these problems, achievements, and disappointments are ordinary; they could easily occur in any family at any given time or place, which makes Full House elatable to its audience. Raymond Williams, one of the founders of British Cultural Studies and author of Culture and Society, suggested that culture is ordinary; he just an unfamiliar group of people, but they are neighbors, friends, and coworkers. 5] Thus, Full House is 'ordinary in that it can be enjoyed by the masses', or regular people. Perhaps, one of the easiest ways to guess what time period a television show was produced in is by the visual, textual, and musical elements that

accompany the opening credits of the program. The theme song of the sitcom, "Everywhere You Look", recorded by theme song writer, Jesse Frederick, happens to be an extremely appropriate theme song for Full House.

The initial lyrics of the song signal that times are changing; "Whatever happened to predictability/The milk man, the paper boy, evening TV? ' How did I get to living here? "[l] These initial lyrics indicate that the individual is lost in an abundance of cultural changes. However, the chorus implies that there's an opportunity to cope, "Everywhere you look, everywhere you go/ There's a heart, a hand to hold onto/ Everywhere you look, everywhere you go/ There's a place, of somebody who needs you". ] These lyrics reveal the strong, supportive family relationships within the Tanner household. The final lyrics of the song indicate that the home is where the heart is; "When you're lost out there and your all alone, a light is waiting to carry you home/ Everywhere you look". [1] Full House's theme song reveals the overall plot of the entire series; family comes first in helping cope with problems or in celebrating achievements. The visual images in the musical introduction of Full House positively frame the sitcom and correlate in meaning to the lyrics of the Frederick's song.

The Tanner amily is shown driving over the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge in a red, flashy convertible, playing soccer together in the park, and gathering around the family dinner table. All of these images suggest the notion that 'Life is Good! ' In the opening credits, the sun is out and everyone in the family is laughing and

smiling; everything looks fantastic for this San Franciscan family. These images of a happy family could undoubtedly occur at any time throughout American history.

However, it's easy to immediately recognize that Full House began airing in the late eighties from the retro fashions and hairstyles of the family members. Consequently, it's easy to see the extreme personality differences between the three male characters by the clothes they wear in the opening credits: Uncle Jesse is shown riding a Harley and wears black skinny Jeans, a leather Jacket, and a neon tank top, Uncle Joey wears a goofy tourist Hawaiian shirt, and Danny wears a casual outfit.

Similarly, Uncle Jesse is the cool dad, whom the girls learn to be tough from and to stand up for themselves. Uncle Joey is the fun dad, whom the girls seek when they need to laugh things off and move on. Lastly, Danny is the regular dad, the kind of dad we all know and love; the ind of dad that we can go to for help with any problem. Full House was unlike any other sitcom that aired during the late eighties/early nineties because it broke away from traditional television depictions of male characters as tough and independent.

The men living in the Tanner residence had to be the decision-makers, the breadwinners and the nurturing, emotional, parental figures all at the same time. Full House was an important sitcom because it helped to transition the stereotypical hegemonic image of men on television as tough, As we've seen in class, throughout history television has portrayed males as superior o women, like Jim Anderson in Father Knows Best. However, on

Full House, the men are often depicted as subordinate to women's talents and skills since they have trouble with simple tasks, like changing a babys diaper or preparing a family dinner.

Researchers Klumas and Marchant found that in comparison to other situation comedies, Coach, Fresh Prince, The Cosby Show, Who's the Boss, Home Improvement, and Roseanne, Danny Tanner is a 'superparent' and he does perfectly what we would typically expect a mother and father to do, but not what we would expect from Just one single parent. He is the breadwinner, the nurturing parental fgure, and the housekeeper. Historically, in most situation comedies men are portrayed as competent outside the house, but totally incompetent inside it. 3] Full House was a revolutionary family situation comedy because it moved away from typical hegemonic male television roles to unfamiliar, idiosyncratic depictions of males. Good morality was important in late eighties/early nineties culture and strong family and personal values were important in developing one's moral integrity. A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. Each episode of Full House usually depicts some sort of moral lesson, which makes this program an exceptional learning tool.