Amercian Family

1. I have developed my belief system and attitudes about families and family structures in American society through American movies. I grew up in Korea so I could only get to know about American culture through media. Famous Hollywood movies, such as “Home alone,” “Mrs. Doubfire” played a big role in developing my perceptions about American families. Most of the movies depict middle-class white families in suburban areas. Their houses with a pool and a garage showed me materialistic abundance of American society. When I watched those movies I felt like the movies were giving people outside the U.S. certain messages showing off America’s wealth. However, after I came to New York, I realized that the American families described in the movies don’t represent the majority of families in the U.S. or at least in New York. American families I’ve seen are more ethnically diverse and their income level varies. I’ve even witnessed many families living without medical care and making their living from food stamp. After I noticed the difference between American families in the movies and the actual American families, I became more skeptical on the mass media.