The American Home has always been at the core of national existence and represented the structure of society. In colonial days of American history the house expressed the character of man's domestic taste. Yet, when society wanted something higher than social pleasures the house became a private Christian place that was personal and full of feeling. (The, "Gothic Cottage" in the movie embodied just this.) However, the home has gradually changed over time to suit the needs of present day life. During WWI and WWII, both men and women had to go out to work. The home was considered a sanctuary of everyday stresses and therefore most had incorporated a living room. Around the time of the 1960s, in order to go with social trends and expectations the home became a more of an entertainment space to host parties and for leisurely purposes and thus a television room was added (not only for adults but children as well). In homes today, we see spaces such as exercise and office rooms which reflect the active, busy lifestyle of the average American.
While the home has evolved to accommodate changes in lifestyle, basic gender roles between men and women remain, for the most part, unchanged. The kitchen is still a woman's sanctuary and while it has not adapted to a new "role" it has picked up appliances that cut the time of preparing something by more than a half. A woman is now able to take care of her home, her family, and still have time to develop a career. So while the basic structure of the home has changed, the purpose of its rooms remain the same. Whether it's a man or a woman cooking, decorating, the American home has changed not in regard to gender roles, but to fit a newer and quicker lifestyle.
The home has changed from the large scale models where there are huge houses in support of huge families. When families grew smaller the home also shrunk. Women’s kitchens and dining areas became smaller and less necessary when women started taking on jobs. Women who now worked all day came home to prepare a small dinner in a kitchen usually combined with the dining area. Dining areas have almost phased out except during large family gatherings such as Christmas or thanksgiving. Kids who are just as busy as the parents don’t stay for dinner and meet quickly for dinner and family events. The living areas which used to be a more communal area became the father’s man cave developed for entertainment.
Despite the change in gender roles in American culture the "American Dream" has not. By american dream I mean the single family home, with a large yard, and formal dining and living rooms. When my parents were growing up and even to an extent when I was younger, roaming the block I lived on was not uncommon. We had free range of our block. However, today's world is much different, where children must always be within their parents sight. Women are no longer expected to live and work within the home. However, it has maintained its shape. The idea of formal areas is much less important in todays society as the family is now surrounded by a tv and video games. Overall, I would not say that the set up of the home has changed because the ideal "home" has not, despite gender roles and the use of the home having changed.
Despite the changing roles of men, women, and children in the United States, the home itself has not evolved to reflect these changes. As we talked about in class we have become accustomed to the fact that certain rooms in the house are rarely used or even touched. It is as if these rooms are just for show and not actually inhabitable spaces. The two prime examples of these rooms are the dining room and the living room. The dining room as we know it is a room that is used only for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The living room as we know it has become a perfect and untouched space that is just to look at or is used when entertaining company. But even then, the room that was supposedly built to entertain is the not always used in that situation. Since these rooms basically serve no purpose nowadays, one would think that new houses being built would not have them incorporated into the floor plan. But that is not the case. These rooms represent tradition; therefore they exist in new and old houses alike and will continue to exist in the future.
The home is far behind when it comes to reflect the changing role of men, women and children in our society today. It seems as if the home is having a hard time keeping up with the new modern small sized busy families. Homes in the United States are usually supersized and seem too spacious for an average family of four. The sizse of the houses being built today still do not reflect the changing role of women in our society. Women need a small, practical house that is easy and quick to clean, since she has become one of the main bred winners of the family, working full time, as well as attempting to raise children. A big sized house brings on more headaches and time consuming chores for women, tying them down to the house. The ideal modern house for a workingwoman with a family would be a house about the size of casa Feliz, since it’s relatively small, compared to the typical mega mansions of this century. The picture on the blog shows a women and her daughter in a brightly lit kitchen, smiling at the simple pleasure of making an apple pie on a sunny afternoon. The role of women today has certainly changed from those times, with less of an emphasis on cooking in the kitchen. Most women have lost the ability to cook and instead rely on pre-made, processed, take out or restaurant food. This eliminates the need for a dining room, since family members choose to prepare their own meals at different times of the day. The relationship between the home and the changing role of men, women and children is reflected in some smalls ways, yet it almost seems as if planners fell into the habit of planning a typical house with a dining room, an extremely large kitchen, even though these spaces are used less and less in our modern world. Our society is trying to hold on to the ideas of the past.
From our class discussions it has become very apparent that the role of the house in American life has changed significantly over the 20th century. Families in developed nations, such as the United States, are having fewer children. It used to be that women stayed at home and ran the household while the husband and/or father would work. In more recent times we have many families where both parents work. My family is an example of this. Having said this, both of my grandmothers did not work. Also nowadays children go to school for many more years than they used to. There was time when children may only receive four years of formal education. Nowadays a very large percentage of children complete high school. Children, in modern times, are much more responsible for doing their schoolwork. Often times both parents will come home late from work. Finally, in our current economic climate it seems that men feel much more pressured to do more and more work. Americans put more hours into work each week than some other developed countries.
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The American Home has always been at the core of national existence and represented the structure of society. In colonial days of American history the house expressed the character of man's domestic taste. Yet, when society wanted something higher than social pleasures the house became a private Christian place that was personal and full of feeling. (The, "Gothic Cottage" in the movie embodied just this.) However, the home has gradually changed over time to suit the needs of present day life. During WWI and WWII, both men and women had to go out to work. The home was considered a sanctuary of everyday stresses and therefore most had incorporated a living room. Around the time of the 1960s, in order to go with social trends and expectations the home became a more of an entertainment space to host parties and for leisurely purposes and thus a television room was added (not only for adults but children as well). In homes today, we see spaces such as exercise and office rooms which reflect the active, busy lifestyle of the average American.
While the home has evolved to accommodate changes in lifestyle, basic gender roles between men and women remain, for the most part, unchanged. The kitchen is still a woman's sanctuary and while it has not adapted to a new "role" it has picked up appliances that cut the time of preparing something by more than a half. A woman is now able to take care of her home, her family, and still have time to develop a career. So while the basic structure of the home has changed, the purpose of its rooms remain the same. Whether it's a man or a woman cooking, decorating, the American home has changed not in regard to gender roles, but to fit a newer and quicker lifestyle.
The home has changed from the large scale models where there are huge houses in support of huge families. When families grew smaller the home also shrunk. Women’s kitchens and dining areas became smaller and less necessary when women started taking on jobs. Women who now worked all day came home to prepare a small dinner in a kitchen usually combined with the dining area. Dining areas have almost phased out except during large family gatherings such as Christmas or thanksgiving. Kids who are just as busy as the parents don’t stay for dinner and meet quickly for dinner and family events. The living areas which used to be a more communal area became the father’s man cave developed for entertainment.
Despite the change in gender roles in American culture the "American Dream" has not. By american dream I mean the single family home, with a large yard, and formal dining and living rooms. When my parents were growing up and even to an extent when I was younger, roaming the block I lived on was not uncommon. We had free range of our block. However, today's world is much different, where children must always be within their parents sight.
Women are no longer expected to live and work within the home. However, it has maintained its shape. The idea of formal areas is much less important in todays society as the family is now surrounded by a tv and video games.
Overall, I would not say that the set up of the home has changed because the ideal "home" has not, despite gender roles and the use of the home having changed.
Despite the changing roles of men, women, and children in the United States, the home itself has not evolved to reflect these changes. As we talked about in class we have become accustomed to the fact that certain rooms in the house are rarely used or even touched. It is as if these rooms are just for show and not actually inhabitable spaces. The two prime examples of these rooms are the dining room and the living room. The dining room as we know it is a room that is used only for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The living room as we know it has become a perfect and untouched space that is just to look at or is used when entertaining company. But even then, the room that was supposedly built to entertain is the not always used in that situation. Since these rooms basically serve no purpose nowadays, one would think that new houses being built would not have them incorporated into the floor plan. But that is not the case. These rooms represent tradition; therefore they exist in new and old houses alike and will continue to exist in the future.
The home is far behind when it comes to reflect the changing role of men, women and children in our society today. It seems as if the home is having a hard time keeping up with the new modern small sized busy families. Homes in the United States are usually supersized and seem too spacious for an average family of four. The sizse of the houses being built today still do not reflect the changing role of women in our society. Women need a small, practical house that is easy and quick to clean, since she has become one of the main bred winners of the family, working full time, as well as attempting to raise children. A big sized house brings on more headaches and time consuming chores for women, tying them down to the house. The ideal modern house for a workingwoman with a family would be a house about the size of casa Feliz, since it’s relatively small, compared to the typical mega mansions of this century. The picture on the blog shows a women and her daughter in a brightly lit kitchen, smiling at the simple pleasure of making an apple pie on a sunny afternoon. The role of women today has certainly changed from those times, with less of an emphasis on cooking in the kitchen. Most women have lost the ability to cook and instead rely on pre-made, processed, take out or restaurant food. This eliminates the need for a dining room, since family members choose to prepare their own meals at different times of the day. The relationship between the home and the changing role of men, women and children is reflected in some smalls ways, yet it almost seems as if planners fell into the habit of planning a typical house with a dining room, an extremely large kitchen, even though these spaces are used less and less in our modern world. Our society is trying to hold on to the ideas of the past.
From our class discussions it has become very apparent that the role of the house in American life has changed significantly over the 20th century. Families in developed nations, such as the United States, are having fewer children. It used to be that women stayed at home and ran the household while the husband and/or father would work. In more recent times we have many families where both parents work. My family is an example of this. Having said this, both of my grandmothers did not work. Also nowadays children go to school for many more years than they used to. There was time when children may only receive four years of formal education. Nowadays a very large percentage of children complete high school. Children, in modern times, are much more responsible for doing their schoolwork. Often times both parents will come home late from work. Finally, in our current economic climate it seems that men feel much more pressured to do more and more work. Americans put more hours into work each week than some other developed countries.
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