Depictions of Family in the Media: An Eclectic Portrait
While some tend to see changes to family as a source for concern, seeing the family as embattled, others see non-traditional families as sites of healing and caring. Thus, various media depict family as traditional, as embattled, or as non-traditional. Moreover, it is significant to note that the aims of various media affect the ways in which family and family issues are portrayed. The need to interest viewers and readers, for example, may push newspapers, magazines, television programs and films to depict families in dramatic conflict. The desire to make viewers happy and to place readers in a position to purchase may compel advertisers to depict families in traditional and idealized ways. The wide readership on the Internet may push that medium into creating an eclectic, and in some ways, novel, approach to family.
