After the Second World War a new family ideal or standard of living, the so-called “The American Dream”, was formed in America by moving middle-class people to the suburbs. The master's thesis analyzes the discourse of the post-war standard of living “The American Dream” depicted in one of the most watched television series Leave It to Beaver broadcast in America in the 1950s and 1960s. The concept of the series is not only aimed at duplicating the desire for consumer goods, which represented the attainment of the ideal life, but also the representation of both sexes, primary family members and their relationships and roles. In the theoretical part, we use literature to identify the factors that most influenced the design of theAmerican Dream, the importance of consumer goods, the rise of television, the meaning and purpose of representation, stereotypes, constructing reality through the media and the representation of the American Dream on television after World War II. In the empirical part, we have employed a qualitative method of critical discourse analysis to establish whether and how the selected American sitcom comedy Leave It to Beaver depicts the “American Dream”. We have focused on the discourse analysis of suburban housewives, men as heads of families, and consumer goods as middle-class status symbols. In conclusion, we describe our findings and give a critique of the discourses in question as they are portrayed on television.
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