The Family Romance
What is a Tradi+onal Family? Eight out of ten people would describe their family as
non ‘traditional’ according to a recent government pole. ‘Traditional’ refers to two married parents with 2.4children. A new government think tank called the centre for the modern family suggests that more than half of British family's feel underrepresented by politicians, the media and advertising.
The Centre for the Modern Family is made up of
experts in family life, including Professor Tanya Byron, Dr Samantha Callan from the Centre for Social Justice, Dr Katherine Rake, chief executive of the Family and Parenting Institute, and Dr Husna Ahmed, CEO of the Faith Regen Foundation. Professor Tanya Byron said, ‘Family is the spine of society. Everyone comes from a family, everyone has an opinion on family, and without this vital support network many of us would simply break.
Happy families? Ten new family types
Onederfuls Young, single and with few close family relationships. Happy with
their family set-‐up but feel poorly portrayed by the media.
Modern classics Typically an unmarried couple with a young family of their own. They
believe that society is moving away from ‘2.4 children’, but still have a more traditional family structure.
Born and Red Many in this group are married or cohabiting with children but
believe that family is changing and are very open about what ‘a proper family’ should be, particularly around same-‐sex couples and single parents.
Modern family Middletowners Usually affluent, thye tend to be married with grown-‐up
children and are close to their own parents. They feel their family set-‐up is typical and feel well catered for by Government and business, and portrayed well in the media. They do not think that society is out of date with its view of families. Deconstruction workers Likely to be middle-‐aged divorcees, coping well, but do not feel that their family is catered for by society. Critical mass Likely to be single or single parents, struggling to cope financially and feel excluded by society. They aspire to marriage but feel their circumstances make this unachievable.
Modern family Old Loud and Prouds Mainly retired, they are coping well financially and feel valued by
society. They hold traditional views, which are shared by their families.
New Traditionalists Made up of ethnic minorities, this group places a strong emphasis on
cultural heritage, marriage and close-‐knit family relationships.
Once Upon a Timers Strong supporters of traditional family models, they are younger and
many are from ethnic minorities, religious and close-‐knot families. This group emphasises the importance of marriage in making a proper family, but believes that society undervalues this.
How family is represented in adverts. If we think of Christmas adverts they tend to follow
certain rules. Mum’s do everything No spends Christmas alone Everyone is happy No one argues It always snows Everyone loves their presents. Everyone has a real tree.
Exam Ques+on Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the
representation of gender using the following:
• Camera shots, angles, movement and composition • Editing
• Sound • Mise-‐en-‐scène