RTF Blog 4

The sitcoms "All in the Family" and "Sanford and Son" both are shows from the 1970's . "All in the Family" is made up of an all white middle class family (the Bunkers) who's  protagonist Archie Bunker seems to be very conservative in his views and is not shy on his bigot views what so ever. Whereas in "Sanford and Son" is about an African American father and son (the Sanford's) who are in the antique and junk business (lower middle class), the protagonist Fred Sanford is a elderly man who constantly has money making schemes that seem to always back fire on him. "All in the Family" seem to be a bit more ethnically and culturally non-sensitive than "Sanford and Son" who as in the season 6 episode 21: "Fred The Activist" shows Fred Sanford fighting for equality on the age limit for purchasing  a payment plan for people over the age of 65. Where as in the "Al in the Family" season 1 episode 5: "Judging Books by Covers" Archie Bunker is judging Mike's friend about being gay and openly uses the words "fag" and "queer".
These two sitcoms are similar in that they both give examples of what these to ethnic groups may go through everyday and are not really ethnically or culturally sensitive. Both bring up issues that were affecting the country and society at the time such as racism, elder rights, being biased, and divorce. The characters Archie and Fred are the same in that they both are very stubborn in their views and that until something major happens in their lives, their mind set is stuck on what the believe to be true.
"All in the Family" deals with with the fact that Archie does not really like black people and "Sanford and Son" do not do this. "All in the family" is more out on showing how people actually feel and being risky than "Sanford and Son" is. "All in the Family" touches on the issues of homosexuality, sexism, racism, and war; it also featured language or slag for races and sexual preferences that was not present on T.V. before then.
But the issues that "All in the Family" do not confront that "Sanford and Son" do are those of being black men in society, lower middle class, and equality for the elderly.