Blog Post 5: Malcolm in the Middle & All in the Family

While All in the Family depicts an older family mainly revolving around Archie Bunker and his introduction to controversial issues, Malcolm in the Middle portrays a family of chaos from the perspective of Malcolm and the affects that his and his brothers’ behavior has on his parents and society.  All in the Family shows depicts the desensitizing of controversial issues from the perspective of Archie who is unwilling to accept change; however, Malcolm in the Middle presents controversial issues from an advocate’s perspective through Malcolm.  The generation gap between the 1970s, the time period All in the Family is, to the 21^st century in which Malcolm in the Middle is a major reason for the differences in perspective and means of conflict, but the issues in which the two shows explore has remained relatively the same.  The 1970s had much less tolerance for rebellion, thus affecting the means by which new ideas and perspectives were presented while the 21^st century began to indulge in as more commonplace for civil disobedience and protest; however, the issues in question remained remotely similar. 

Both shows are set in a comedic genre that is relatively assertive on dealing with issues relevant to their times, and balance the between bringing up sensitive topics in both a comedic tone while at times still being able to shift gears to a declarative demeanor about a certain issue to prove a point or subtly open society’s eyes to something that would otherwise be left unaddressed.  The family setting of the two sitcoms is also somewhat irregular in that they do not necessarily portray a typical family dynamic: All in the Family having an older couple, one far set in his ways and one understanding of the new, along with an adult married daughter, and Malcolm in the Middle is a family of temperamental parents and four unruly brothers.  By both shows having such specific the audience is able to view the ambiguous ideas the families deal from a third party perspective while simultaneously identifying with the character that personifies their respective view on the issue. 

A major difference in the two shows is the scope to which issues are addressed.  All in the Family tackles many issues by addressing them in terms of the whole idea and from a relatively distant stance while Malcolm in the Middle typically has the issues thrust into the mix of their family chaos.  One has a more theoretical approach while the other deals more in a sense of practicality. 

While All in the Family dealt more with issues of generational shifts, Malcolm in the Middle addresses more issues about acceptance and cooperation.  The dramatic issues addressed from All in the Family had a stronger degree of focus on the morality of the respective issue, such as racism and homosexuality, while Malcolm in the Middle addressed more subtle issues, such as common high school problems of acceptance and fairness, in a less universal sense but rather a fast paced direct cause and effect fashion.