Andy Griffith Show Analysis

The Andy Griffith Show was a sitcom in 1960s and has influenced other family sitcoms alike. On the fifth season of the Andy Griffith show, Aunt Bee gets a mysterious letter from, “a boy I used to keep company with,” (1964), he comes to visit and Andy is annoyed by him. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the, “Aunt Bee’s Romance” episode on the Andy Griffith show, from a critical studies perspective. I argue that the Andy Griffith show’s episode, “Aunt Bee’s Romance”, Andy reaffirms his masculinity by pointing out the inadequacy of the elderly with Aunt Bee, Roger Hanover and Floyd Lawson. I also argue that this episode has Aunt Bee portraying the stereotypical feminine role, a caretaker, and it being confirmed by her relationship with
As she is trying to figure out who sent it, Andy says, “You know how you can find out? Open it.” She disregards him and continues to speculate on who wrote the letter. In this scene Andy is standing over her and in her space. She is oblivious to him. The next scene with same problem has Floyd Lawson sitting down and talking about the weather with Andy. Andy then quotes Mark Twain, “Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” Confused, Floyd mistakes the quote by thinking it was from Calvin Coolidge. Andy then talks to Floyd like a child. The last scene is with Roger Hanover, Roger wants to show Andy how to fix a cord, but fails. Andy gives him a look. In those three scenes, Andy is seen as right compared to the other three characters. It is almost like these instances could have been solved with common sense, but the older people could not figure it out and needed help from someone
Andy is a tall man, a cop, and a middle aged man. Roger is an older man who is less masculine than Andy, but still makes Aunt Bee blush. Both men treat her very similar. Aunt Bee cleans, cooks, grocery shops and makes sure everything is good with the house. The only difference is Roger is a beau and Andy is her nephew. Andy’s relationship with her is she is the housekeeper and he is in charge of the house. Aunt Bee is seen mostly in the kitchen and the one time she was outside of the house was the scene where Andy and Floyd are at the barber shop. She walks out of the store with groceries and she is with Roger. When she is at home Andy is still in charge, but in the kitchen she has power. When she is in the living room she tries to help Andy and Opie. Mackie (1990) said, “(Unmarried) men are in charge. Women are decorative accessories or helpers” (p. 16). She always makes sure everyone is clean and fed. She gets up to do the dishes and it did not phase Andy when she was going straight to the kitchen. He did not offer to help. Roger offered to help, but Aunt Bee declined telling him to go in the living room with Andy, so he does not mess up his tie. The scene used in the beginning with Aunt Bee receiving the letter. Aunt Bee is seen as dumb and Andy is smart, but it is supposed to humorous. Butch (1992) says the point of making a fool out of the wife, the feminine role, avoids undermining the