30's and 40's fan here. Why is there so much admiration for those years? Especially in the media. [I'd Rather Get To Know You Than Small Talk]
I like the style and cars.
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CestManan · 46-50, F
Things were never better nor worse, just different.
I used to work with this guy recently who was in his 70's. I once asked him - "So in the 50's and 60's, did families act like they did on "Leave it to Beaver"? and he said - "F^ck no."
I grew up in the 80's and yeah the nostalgic things you see make it look like it was great but there isn't much talk about the bad things like how we were afraid the USSR could decide to nuke us.
I used to work with this guy recently who was in his 70's. I once asked him - "So in the 50's and 60's, did families act like they did on "Leave it to Beaver"? and he said - "F^ck no."
I grew up in the 80's and yeah the nostalgic things you see make it look like it was great but there isn't much talk about the bad things like how we were afraid the USSR could decide to nuke us.
Heartlander · 80-89, M
@CestManan Haaaa .... I grew up in the 40s and 50s. I couldn't for the life of me figure out who watched that stuff on TV. I remember a series called Howdy-Doodie that I thought was so stupid and all the fake-family shows and they had no resemblance to reality. The best reason I could think of for their popularity was that they replaced the old local broadcasting and test patterns and people got sick and tired of Wednesday night fake wrestling.
CestManan · 46-50, F
@Heartlander When I was a little kid in the early 80's and watching Leave it to Beaver reruns, I used to wonder why mine and my friends' parents were not so understanding like Ward Cleaver (the dad).
No matter how bad Beaver messed up it was always, "Now Beaver, your mother and I are very disappointed..."
And that was as bad as it got.
I am guessing family problems may have actually been worse back then since divorce was more rare and not as many laws protecting families from abuse?
No matter how bad Beaver messed up it was always, "Now Beaver, your mother and I are very disappointed..."
And that was as bad as it got.
I am guessing family problems may have actually been worse back then since divorce was more rare and not as many laws protecting families from abuse?
Heartlander · 80-89, M
@CestManan
I don't think reality was worse than what was depicted on TV. Just very different. In general, parents were too busy working to spend much personal time with their kids; so we kids were like "free range" kids and were governed more by what we though was expected of us than by person to person contact with our parents. Like my dad's involvement with my school work pretty much narrowed down to about 2 minutes every 6 weeks when I presented him my report card and asked him to sign it. One minute if it was a good report card, 5 minutes if not :)
There was also broader community involvement ... schools, church, clubs, neighbors, etc. ... all somehow interconnected and that wouldn't hesitate to report kids' misbehavior to their parents. If they reported you to your parents, your name was probably also in the gossip circle, which meant that everyone knew. I don't think it was spelled out as rule number one, but shaming your parents was one way to get parents' attention and it wasn't the "now Beaver, your mother and I ...." thing.
I don't think reality was worse than what was depicted on TV. Just very different. In general, parents were too busy working to spend much personal time with their kids; so we kids were like "free range" kids and were governed more by what we though was expected of us than by person to person contact with our parents. Like my dad's involvement with my school work pretty much narrowed down to about 2 minutes every 6 weeks when I presented him my report card and asked him to sign it. One minute if it was a good report card, 5 minutes if not :)
There was also broader community involvement ... schools, church, clubs, neighbors, etc. ... all somehow interconnected and that wouldn't hesitate to report kids' misbehavior to their parents. If they reported you to your parents, your name was probably also in the gossip circle, which meant that everyone knew. I don't think it was spelled out as rule number one, but shaming your parents was one way to get parents' attention and it wasn't the "now Beaver, your mother and I ...." thing.
