A woman who wrote to Jean Stapleton revealed that ”All in the Family” made her husband realize he was being an Archie
“Our purpose is to be humorous.”
It’s only natural for people to want to see themselves in television characters. Why else would we all spend hours taking personality quizzes that brag they can accurately deduce which sitcom character you’re most like?
We’re constantly searching for validation that we’re not alone in this world, and finding friends on television that we feel are a kindred spirit is just one way to do that. But sometimes, what you recognize in yourself can be unfamiliar and shocking.
According to an interview with The Star-Phoenix, Jean Stapleton, better known as Edith Bunker, revealed that she had gotten a letter from an All in the Family viewer whose husband found that some of the characters hit a little too close to home.
Stapleton said, “One woman wrote to me that her most glorious moment came when her husband started swearing while doing some work in the yard. He suddenly stopped. ‘Good grief,’ he said, ‘I sound just like that Archie on TV. ‘”
In an interview with the Commercial Appeal-Chicago Daily News Service, Stapleton commented that a show like All In the Family didn’t have to be as heavy-handed with their lessons as an after-school special. The true power, she argued, was in the more understated moments of the series.
Stapleton said, “We don’t try to preach, or change people, or stop bigotry. Our purpose is to be humorous, and we hope that comedy’s the best way to get a subtle message across.”
Archie and Edith reminded Jean Stapleton of her own parents
Any good fiction is rooted, at least to a degree, in reality. Whether you’re writing something completely autobiographical, or something so outlandish it barely makes sense, you will always release a bit of yourself into the work that you’re producing. By using your work to hold a mirror up to yourself, you allow other people who have had similar experiences to see themselves in your work.
When Jean Stapleton auditioned for All In the Family, she knew that creator Norman Lear had something special because she was able to see her own experiences in his work. In an interview with the Star-Phoenix, Stapleton recalled being slightly surprised by the contents of the series but acknowledged some familiarity within the work.
She actually recalled, “I was reminded of my own parents.” and said that she was “terribly amused by it, by its reality and honesty and humor and by the fact that the subject would be treated on TV.”
Stapleton also appreciated the depth that Lear gave to a character like Edith Bunker, even if audiences didn’t quite recognize it at first. The actor said, ‘Edith is not well-educated, not bright, but intuitively right so many times. I like seeing this because it gives respect for that kind of person.”
She reasoned, “We don’t dismiss somebody because they’re dumb or ignorant. They may have other qualities that have nothing to do with intellect: honesty, integrity, instinct. And she has burst Archie’s hot air more than once in coming through with the truth and in doing so in a marvelously comic way.”
Real fans of All in the Family who took the time to watch Edith’s growth as a character understand that she is not simply a two-dimensional echo chamber for Archie to yell at. She has her own reservations and strengths and can be incredibly street-wise at times when her husband simply isn’t. Like a real person, she contains multitudes, and viewers are delighted in every episode that explores a new shade of Edith.
