NOT Fun For the Whole Family

How Pop Culture Gave Up on Entertainment for People from 7 to 70 Years Old

When I was younger, I remember watching commercials for board games and novelty toys like Trivial Pursuit and Rubik's Cube and they all were marketed with the same selling point: fun for the whole family. As I got older, I saw less and less of these commercials. In the kids TV space, I would owe this to Nickelodeon and its ingenious marketing to kids exclusively. Nickelodeon was like Soupy Sales in network form, turning kids against their parents. 

Of course, this was simply the last bastion of family fun. For decades, pop culture was fragmenting in every medium and genre. And of course nowadays we have arrived at the diametrical opposite of this style of marketing: nothing is fun for the whole family. It's fun for you. TikTok's front page is called For You. "You" emerging, through algorithms and all sorts of other data points, as an increasingly clearer and specific picture for every major business.

So let's go through the timeline and chart the rise and fall of entertainment the whole family was meant to enjoy, from vaudeville to Pixar.

Late 19th Century

Before the mid 1800s, theater in America was exclusively understood to be an indulgent diversion for the upper classes created by morally depraved actors and writers. But variety shows eventually emerged in the Bowery; rowdy, beer soaked productions for unruly, violent working class Irish crowds. This was big business, but theater owners BF Keith and EF Albee saw economic potential in a cleaner version that would appeal to women as well, thus doubling the audience and practically building the entire American vaudeville circuit. Those who missed the naughtier version would go to burlesque shows instead.

Early 20th Century Hollywood

Silent films would end up being a refuge for vaudeville clowns and mimes that were increasingly losing work. The sound era did have some raunchy pre-code films but of course the code was established and, arguably, the enduring appeal of Golden Age Hollywood came down to this very appeal. This was the peak of family-friendly entertainment. Heightened production values, great scripts, greater actors, ensured a show that would bulldoze the vaudeville circuit forever.

The 50s (interlude)

As more children than ever before were born during the Baby Boom, these children skewed the quality of friendly family entertainment for the worse; but business was never bigger. Initially, post-WWII movie franchises like Ma and Pa Kettle and Francis the Talking Mule appealed to children. As more TV shows in the 50s were filmed, however, this type of silly wholesome comedy got outsourced to TV. Rural sitcoms copied the Kettle films while the talking animal boom was a throwback to Francis. Suburban families felt stronger parasocial bonds with the multitude of sitcom families on their living room TV sets than they did their own neighbors. Movies, realizing that TV was vacuuming the family market, began to make movies that appealed to teenagers. Schlocky movies about juvenile delinquents, motorcycle races and rubber monsters. But eventually all media would chase the teenage market.

60s to Today

One thing every generation - from Boomer to Z - takes for granted is that mass media always tries to appeal to the young hip demographic. Though movies led the way in this department, we owe The Beatles for spreading the fire. The biggest mistake we make when judging the Fab 4s value is looking at them as musicians instead of media personalities. They are not only one of the best bands ever, they are some of the most important TV characters. Their witty banter at press conferences attracted youths who felt a parasocial bond with them as if they were friends/something more. As The Beatles got weird, America got weird. 

And the beat went on. The 70s gave us punk and intergenerational wars. The 80s gave us lifestyle marketing. Of course the Internet dissected individual users, let alone whole demographics.

The last truly family friendly company left that comes to mind is Pixar. Even today's films like Encanto make sure to entertain the grown ups as well as the kids. 

Wait speaking of Pixar, isn't Disney Plus an example of family friendly entertainment killing it? On the surface, yes. But many of their biggest franchises are actually more geared to online fandoms like Star Wars and Marvel than any families. Frankly, the audience seems to be grown men who live at home. So family friendly entertainment may be a thing of the past in our divided times, but some things still appeal to children of all ages.