#nuclear era

[prismaticxchromatics]

Mona Lisa Smile (2003) Director: Mike Newell

“‘When your courses are set and a dreamboat you've met, have a real cigarette! Have a Camel!’ I've got my courses, I've got my Camel cigarette. Where the hell is my dreamboat?”

[rayxxi]

[familiesandsocialchange]

Scene From The Princess Bride: Love Conquers All

In this clip, Wesley and Buttercup are reunited after being tragically torn apart. Buttercup had thought all hope was lost of ever seeing her true love again and was living out a meaningless existence being forced to marry the Prince of the land. 

When Wesley returns, we see a portrayal of the nuclear era form of “romantic love” - that love conquers all, and love is a triumph. This is a contrast to “courtly love,” the patriarchal era idea that seeking true love isn’t the point of marriage, and may result in death or other tragedy. 

In this movie, the couple faces many struggles along the way but ultimately prove that they can live happily ever after. During the nuclear era, couples could pursue this type of love because they were finally able to support themselves and have space from their families, without having to follow in their family's footsteps. In the case of the era The Princess Bride is set in, this type of love was extremely uncommon and deemed naïve. The Prince that wanted to marry Buttercup could not accept that she was so indignant towards him, as he believed it was his right and her honor for her to be his bride. This shows how marriage was more like a business transaction during this period. Buttercup and Wesley proved their love was strong enough to beat the odds.

- Sarah

[prismaticxchromatics]

Mona Lisa Smile (2003) Director: Mike Newell

“How else will you remember us?”

[familiesandsocialchange]

Ad from the 1950's nuclear era of "Successful Marriages"

In this ad, they are comparing a successful marriage to one where a woman is deemed worthy and a good wife by being the ultimate homemaker. In class, we learned that the Nuclear family life for middle-class white families involved the "separation of spheres". Women were in charge in the private sphere and men in the public. When selling home appliances back in the nuclear era made it seem like that was important to have for a successful marriage, and whatever the item, it would described as something to keep the woman happy and help the marriage thrive. As we discussed in class, women's role was to create a "haven in a heartless world" for their husbands to come home to.

- Anonymous student

[familiesandsocialchange]

Picture of My Dad Cooking and My Mom Working

My mom and dad are in the kitchen. My mom is working on the computer, looking through her work emails and planning out her week on her work calendar. My dad is making Salmon, Rice, and Salad for dinner one Sunday night.  

Our week 11 lecture notes summarize work and family in the post-nuclear era and the household division of labor, stating the bargain of “men do work, women do family” has broken down. Nowadays, more women get paid for their work, so they are often performing the breadwinner role. 

Are men now doing more homemaking chores? Yes, they are at my house. The reading by Oriel Sullivan and Scott Coltrane about men’s contribution to work in the home, states that women may face a “stalled revolution” at home. In fact, more couples are sharing family tasks than ever before, and this is especially significant for full-time dual-earner couples. According to Sullivan and Coltrane, men and women are not fully equal yet, but the rules of the game have been profound and are irreversibly changed. 

This change has happened in my family!  My mom used to be the typical stay-at-home parent watching my sister and I grow. My dad generally worked more outside of the home, at least when my sister and I were young. When my sister and I went to school, my parents’ roles became reversed. My mom is a lawyer and went back to working out of the home as an attorney. My dad began working part-time and was home more often cooking, cleaning, and helping with homework. This still pertains to this day, where my mom is now working at the City of Tallahassee, where she earns a lot more money than my dad, even though he is back to working full-time with the Florida Senate. 

- Claire Toman

[familiesandsocialchange]

In class, we learned how in the separation of spheres by gender arose in the Nuclear Era. This means that men and women had very different assignments in that era. While men were expected to be breadwinners, stoic, and rational, women were expected to be homemakers, emotional, and motherly. We then learned later on that in the Post-Nuclear era, this changed as women became more involved in the workforce. This is seen in the show on Showtime called Shameless. Fiona Gallagher is the eldest sister in a family of about five kids, and her parents basically abandoned her so she had to step up and work for the family. She took any job possible and worked long, hard hours doing whatever she could to make money and this is seen in this clip as she is working in a hot, small laundromat in the Southside of Chicago. Families facing poverty and family crises can’t afford to follow the “Nuclear Era Family Pattern” and not work - they have to often work “second shifts” of both working outside the home and taking care of household duties to make it all work. While this show centers on a chaotic family, they all love each other very much and will always put family first. - Josh

[russianbuttons]