＂Fatherless in American＂: Myths of the American Family and Social Policies in the 1990s
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Abstract
Eunju HwangDuring the 1990s, fatherlessness was acknowledged as the key problem of the American "family crisis" and the cause of many other social problems, and the myth of the "perfect" families from the 1950s was restored as a model to follow. Congress and the federal and state governments put much effort in promoting fatherhood. Despite harsh criticisms from the Democratic Party, Clinton signed the Welfare Reform Bill in 1996 and reduced welfare benefits for families in need. The reform has seriously affected the single-parent families headed by women, most of whom are very poor. This paper studies how various cultural texts from the 1990s deal with the issue of fatherlessness and how the stereotypes of the unmarried single-mothers operate as a negative impact on family policies. First, this paper examines the family problems hidden behind the myth of the American family through Michael Cunningham's The Hours. In the second part of the essay, various cultural texts including documentaries, films, and novels are examined in order to illuminate various cultural responses to the discursive construction of fatherlessness as the major source of many social ills and to the mythic American family reviving with the governmental promotion of fatherhood. The last part of this essay investigates cultural stereotypes of the single mothers in relation to the U. S. welfare policies.
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