FEBRUARY 11, 1972
TV's 'All in the Family': Is It Really Just Good Fun?
Racism, prejudice, and social discrimination seem to be the key words directed toward the most controversial show in television. The show? CBS's award winning television series, "All in the Family." Archie Bunker, played by Carroll O'Connor, seems to be the one that these terms are directed toward. Why are these terms directed toward him?
The answer is plain and simple. He is a bellowing belligerent bigot who seems to let terms like pinko, spade, spic, and wop, fly loosely through the air and doesn't care who hears them or what they think.
This is the basic reasoning people give when criticizing Archie Bunker. But are they justified in making this statement? Most people, not all peo-ple, feel that they are justified in coming to the conclusion that Archie Bunker is a bad guy and stands for everything that people are trying to get rid of.
Aren't they criticizing Archie Bunker because they really see themselves there? They're just afraid to admit to everyone, as well as themselves, that what they're really doing is seeing themselves in the character of Archie Bunker.
The fact that people can ac-tually relate to Archie Bunker is what makes the show so popular. One will rarely find a person who doesn't relate in part or wholly to Archie Bunker. There are bits and pieces of everyone tagged on to one character.
If the writers were to do the show in complete reality, they would need too many characters; and the show would be mass confusion. Instead, they took a little bit of everybody and created one Archie Bunker.
Can anybody who has watched "All in the Family" honestly say that they didn't see themselves at all? It's not very likely. How can people handle a subject like bigotry without offending anybody? The only way that a point like bigotry can really be expressed successfully is through comedy.