Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2023 December 2

= December 2 =

Little House on the Prairie - A family-friendly show?
Was the tv series of Little House on the Prairie meant to be family-friendly? 81.155.110.150 (talk) 22:39, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
 * That was always my very strong impression. It was so squeaky clean and wholesome, it made The Sound of Music look like Deep Throat. (not original) -- Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  22:50, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I seem to recall that same joke being used in reference to Mary Poppins. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:14, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Both, as it happens, starring Julie Andrews. The theme breaks down with S.O.B. (film), though. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 51.194.245.32 (talk) 16:24, 3 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Do I remember right that S.O.B. was the first of two times J.A. showed her T.T.? —Tamfang (talk) 19:04, 3 December 2023 (UTC)
 * There was only the one time that I'm aware of. And it prompted Johnny Carson to say that it was good to know that "the hills are still alive!" ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 00:10, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
 * What, Mary Poppins made The Sound of Music look like Deep Throat? —Tamfang (talk) 19:00, 3 December 2023 (UTC)


 * Media Representations of Retail Work in America (p. 57) says that superficially, it "was a family-friendly, nostalgia-based show in the mold of those that popped up after the implementation of the Family Viewing Hour", but "A clever part of the formula was that social issues relevant to the 1970s [such as racism and sexism] could be rendered seemingly uncontraversial by dressing them in gingham and flannel". Alansplodge (talk) 19:06, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
 * There were scenes of rape, racism, drug addiction, deaths, child abuse and even corporol punishment. In the episode A Matter Of Faith, Caroline became seriously ill with an infected leg. In Rage, a man goes dangerously insane when he is bankrupt. In Soldier's Return and Home Again, both Granville Whipple and Albert Ingalls become addicted to morphine. In Sylvia, a teenage girl is sexually assaulted. In May We Make Them Proud, Mrs Garvey and Mary's baby die in a fire. And in Child of Pain, a little boy gets beatings from his alcohlic father. See Little House On The Prairie: The 10 Darkest Episodes, The Darkest Episodes of Little House On The Prairie That Will Leave You Speechless and 'Little House on the Prairie': These Are The 10 Darkest Episodes. 81.155.110.150 (talk) 23:04, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
 * It might depend on how they were handled. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:07, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
 * And it also goes to the ever-changing idea of what is suitable for families (= children). Kids watch the news along with their parents, and get exposed to the full panoply of ghastly human behaviour, and the more vision of perpetrators perpetrating, the better. But outside of that, we're somehow supposed to pretend to the kids that life is perfect and nothing bad ever happens? Kids aren't dumb, they can see through that cultural double-speak. They instantly get it, but what they also get early on is that bad things only happen to other people. "It'll never happen to me" is their mantra, and many adults continue to operate on that same basis ... until it does happen to them. So, to return to the topic, shielding kids from what some consider "dark" themes is doing them a terrible disservice, imo. -- Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  20:39, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Little House ran from 1974 to 1983, during a time when what was traditionally expected from "family" shoes was expanding. There were a number of barrier-breaking shows during that time. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:43, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
 * "There were scenes of rape, racism, drug addiction, deaths, child abuse and even corporol punishment." Now, I'm not gonna get into the debate over corporal punishment in general, but I find it odd that your phrasing implies that SPANKING is more objectionable than "rape, racism, [and] drug addiction". --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 12:22, 6 December 2023 (UTC)
 * It's spelled "corporal". In any case, if they're talking about merely spanking, that wouldn't have been very controversial. If they're talking about more severe stuff, like flogging, that's another story. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 07:45, 7 December 2023 (UTC)
 * 1) you'll notice that I spelled it correctly in my own words, the typo was theirs 2) they mentioned child abuse separately, so I assumed that that covered the "more severe stuff". I can only guess that maybe they meant to say capital punishment. User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 10:42, 7 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Yes. The OP had it wrong, and you merely quoted them. And you might be right that the OP meant "capital", but were there ever any hangings on Little House? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 20:16, 7 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I understood it to mean that "even corporal punishment" is an outlier, as in not as serious as the others. Modocc (talk) 20:19, 7 December 2023 (UTC)