“Leave it to Beaver”
This inoffensive, mind-numbing portrait of 1950’s American family life is the MAGA utopian ideal and has long been held up as an example of the unrealistic aspects of nostalgia for what is perceived as a simple and better time. The sitcom Leave it to Beaver is, for hooks, explicitly a symbol far less of what actual familial domesticity is like than it is a symbol of the wish fulfillment of what family life should be like.
“My Three Sons”
The hugely popular and long-running 1960s sitcom My Three Sons is singled out from perhaps a shockingly large number of situational comedies in that decade which presented a portrait of acceptable alternatives to the Leave it to Beaver dynamic of the nuclear family. There exists what might be called an entire subgenre of 1960s sitcoms in which the mother/father parenting duo is annihilated in favor of a portrait of children being raised by just one biological parent (usually the father). This sub-genre anticipated Hillary Clinton’s concept of taking an entire village to raise a child, which would, ironically, be much maligned by precisely the biggest fans of such active propagators of this idea as The Andy Griffith Show. That show and many others join hooks’ choice of My Three Sons as symbols of alternative parenting solutions.
“Home Alone”
The blockbuster comedy film is specifically presented as a representation of backlash to the unrealistic ideals on display in Leave it to Beaver. Part of the vacancy of realism which specifically marked that 1950s sitcom—in direct opposition to the more postmodern sensibility of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet to which it is often misguidedly compared—is that children always showed respect toward their parents and embraced manners and proper behavior. Standing in stark contrast is the child hero of Home Alone who must deal with far less actively engaged parents and whose active embrace of violent and antisocial behavior is presented as the actions of a role model. In this way, the film becomes the author’s iconic symbolic representation of the breakdown of actual family dynamics, which inevitably leads directly to conflating nostalgic recollection of the past with actual reality.
Jacob and the Angel
The Biblical parable of Jacob wrestling with an angel is given extensive analysis by hooks through the prism of an interpretation offered by John Sanford in his book The Man Who Wrestled with God. Ultimately, the author implicates the entirety of Jacob’s narrative arc as a symbolic exploration of the necessity to face one’s past traumatic wounds as the only possible path to healing, moving on, and finding a way to embrace love
Disneyland
Specifically, a trip to Disneyland. More to the point: the enticement of a family vacation to Disneyland as an act designed to show love and appreciation by parents toward children. Disneyland in this case is a metaphorical stand-in for an infinite host of different symbols. Whether it is a trip to an amusement park, the latest video game, or even a Happy Meal from McDonald’s, the concept is that expressing love transactionally through the offer of a reward is the first step in a long path that confuses children about how love is expressed. Very young children associate the demonstration of love with physical affection, like kisses, hugs and cuddling. By the time they are teenagers, affection has become equated with transactions and gifts.
