The Andy Griffith Show from Today's Perspective

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The Andy Griffith Show, was a television sitcom that aired in the 1960s. Watching it from the perspective of someone in today’s society, a number of norms stood out to me. The norms of that time have changed dramatically as well as the ways they were enforced.

On the first episode that aired, viewers are introduced to widower Andy Taylor, the sheriff of a small country town, and his son Opie. The roles of men and women are much stricter than those of today. Opie has a live in nanny named Rose that gets married so she can no longer be his nanny. Men aren’t seen as capable of looking after children alone since they don’t do any cooking, cleaning or other household chores. Aunt Bee must come and live with them so that Opie and Andy have a women to look after them. As with most norms, it would be out of the question for Opie and Andy to cook and clean for themselves. Opie even demonstrates male ignorance on the issue by making a very horrible attempt at cooking breakfast. He’s laughed at by Andy and patronized for this deviant attempt. Aunt Bee comes in to save the day, i...

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