Satirizing 1970s America
F Is for Family has been described as "a direct attack on the ideals and assumptions we associate with the American Dream". [45] Throughout its 5-season run, the series satirizes and explores several issues exclusive to the socioeconomic and cultural upheaval of 1970s America, including those with or within marriage, labor, economy, war, masculinity, feminism, sexism, domestic abuse, racism, political corruption, education, sexuality and adolescence. [46]
Disillusion of the American Dream
In an essay on why the series is the perfect satire on the American Dream, Author Jack C. Fisher argues that Frank Murphy personifies the general disillusionment with the Dream that took place during the economic stagnation of the early-1970s: "Take everything you think you know about what it means to work hard, get ahead, and achieve your goals in life. Then, kick it in the gut, spit on it, and throw it through a brick wall. That's Frank Murphy's life. That's what F Is for Family is all about." He writes that Frank's belligerent personality is a byproduct of that said disillusionment and cites the transformation he goes through in the series' opening sequence as reflecting who he used to be: "an upbeat, optimistic man who reflected the spirit of his time and his country". [47]
Masculinity in crisis
In an essay on the series, cultural historian Shalon van Tine argues that the primary theme explored in F Is for Family is the "changing nature of masculinity in the 1970s", mostly depicted through Frank Murphy's perspective: "Frank believes in hard work and feels that the traditional family structure is ideal, but throughout the show, he learns the hard truth that the American dream is a lie. Much of his persona is based around the notion that he must be a 'good man'—one who served his country in the Korean War, married his girl when she got pregnant, works a dead-end job to provide for his family, and raises three rowdy kids to stay out of trouble. Yet, Frank's masculinity is constantly challenged, beginning with him losing his job." [48] "For the average man in the Seventies, and for most of the twentieth century for that matter, losing his job meant losing his identity. The concept of 'being a man' was heavily wrapped up in one's work and ability to provide for his family"; Van Tine notes that after losing his job at Mohican Airways, Frank also begins to lose his traditional attributes of masculinity such as a rugged individualism and having the higher likelihood to initiate sex, until he completely loses his "male confidence" and feels too ashamed to even file for unemployment. When Frank's housewife, Sue Murphy, picks up a job and succeeds at where he is failing, Frank feels so emasculated and insecure at the shift in gender roles that, in one instance, he tries to sabotage her promotion. In a later confrontation, he confesses to wanting to see her fail, saying "As a man, I have to do better or what am I?". [48]
