The Flintstones brought the popular sit-com "The
Honymooners" out of the city and into the suburbs. With it came
the new ideals and
values of life in suburban Bedrock to every television set in ever home
in the 1960s. (George
and Rob have
analysis of the TV as suburban artifacts)
The opening credits immediately sets up the subarban atmosphere.
There were in fact two separate opening clips that were used in
the 6 season long lasting situation-comedy/cartoon. The framing sequences
for
the first two seasons featured an instrumental called "Rise and Shine."
The original opening sees Fred driving home from work, zipping through
the streets of Bedrock. He slams his car into the garage, enters the
house and sits down to watch television--on which he himself appears,
hawking the program's sponsors' products. The original closing sequence
has Fred turn off the TV set, cover the bird cage, and attempt to put the
cat out--after which the cat puts him out instead. ("Wilma! Come on,
Wilma, open this door! Willllll-ma!") 
The more familiar framing sequences, the ones with the "Meet the
Flintstones" theme song, weren't introduced until the third season. The
opening has Fred sliding down the tail of his dino-crane at quitting
time, picking up Wilma and the pets, and driving to the movies (where
"The Monster" is playing). The closing sequence has them leave the
movies, order giant ribs (which tip over the car) at a drive-in
restaurant, and go home, where Fred attempts to put out the cat but gets
put out himself instead. ("WILLLLLL-MA!").
Not only do both the opening credits create a subarban setting,
but shows accepted values concerning gender and class roles and family,
and even typical suburban artifacts and activities. These two ideas are the
topic of this prose.
If then, the Flintstones is an emulation of suburbia in its time,
then it leads to several questions of "why?". Why is it even in a
suburban setting whereas the
"Honeymooners" had a strong success in
an urban setting? When the Flintstones aired in the '60s, it was just
after the boom in America's immigration to the suburbs. So no longer was
the viewing power from the cities, but from the suburbs. Broadcasting
companies targetted this new audience and gave them shows that would
appeal to suburbanites. So was the intent of shows like the Flinstones
an attempt to reinforce suburban ideals or mock them? The producers of
the show, in order to appeal to this new audience, were out to show
suburbia in a positive light and reinforce values of hardwork and family
to relate the show to the audience. It would not have been a wise
decision to mock or degrade the suburbs from a business aspect.
"Meet the Flintstones, they're a modern stone-age family..."
Indeed, the Flintstones were set up to be an ideal family in the 1960s
that confronted real life and not-so-real life, controlled conflicts.
Fred was the hardworking bread winner of the family
who enjoyed his
leisure time of bowling with his best friend and neighbor, Barney or just
plain relaxing in the sun. Wilma was the
housewife who stayed home taking care of the house, cooking and talking
with the neighbor's wife, Betty. Dino, the loyal companion and protector
of the house and child, would always greet his master as he walked
through the door like a good pet. Pebbles was
the adorable, cute daughter of the two.
The Flintstones were from the suburb of Bedrock. They did suburban
things. They did community activities such as coach little leugue, lead
boy scouts and go to weekly Water Buffalo Lodge meetings. They took
vacations to sunny places like Rockapulco and took picnics. The writers
put the Flintstones in these situations becuase they were typical of
suburban activities. Here is a list of all the
different
episodes. Like most suburbanites, the Flintstones were from the working
class. The clothes they wore signified their class. Fred is always
wearing a dark tie signifying his job as a blue collar worker. Although
the Flintstones were from the working class, they had always dreamed of
meeting important people and Hollywood
movie stars and living the high-life by even becoming stars themselves.
In the final episode, the Flintstones try to join the Bedrock Country
Club, an artifact of upper class suburbia according to Matt,
but by the end of the episode, the Flintstones found peace and
worthiness in the hardworking middle-class life of suburbia rather than
the capricious upper-class high-life.
A common theme in many of the episodes is Fred and Barney's
constant fear of losing their jobs or trying to advance their current
jobs. Fred's boss, Mr. Slate was common antagonist that many
suburbanites could relate to. Fred was either in trouble with his boss
or doing things to win his favor. Keeping a good job was a constant
struggle for the man of the house and keeping a well paying job was what
kept a family in suburbia. In Barry Levinson's award-winning motion picture
"Avalon",
the family could have only stayed in the nice neighborhood if they kept
their income high, as the cousin pointed out on opening day of the new
store. Even in the reading Hanging Together, it was observed
that the
husband commonly needed to sacrifice a job he enjoyed for a higher paying
career. However these sacrifices were never emphasized in a negative way
and seemed that rather it was honorable to work hard and that it was
still normal not to enjoy your job. 
Gender roles of the 1960s were strictly followed in the
Flintstones. It has already been deeply indicated of Fred's role as the
bread winner. Other gloves Fred fit into was the yardwork and barbeque
grill chef. (See how Karen shows the barbeque a gender specific item in
suburbia.) In many of the scenes with him and pebbles, Fred is usually
just playing with her (tossing her up and down) and bonding with her
rather than actually taking care of her.
The child rearing job was for Wilma. Often Wilma was pictured holding
Pebbles in her arms or behind the stove, Wilma was the quintessential
houswife of the populuxe era.
With her
hair cut short and permed and
clean white dress with pearls on her neck. Wilma fit perfectly in Thomas
Hines description of women in the Populuxe ere as "an engineer, someone
who keeps a technologically and organizationally comlex institution
running." Part of how the modern housewife in the '60s kept the
household more efficient was with all the new "push-button" devices made
in such a short period of time. "Push-botton" kitchen appliances was a
major product sold to women of suburbia. It is really in question that
these devices really saved time for the housewife and made work easier.
My project one explores that in
the case of a can-opener. Certainly
however, Wilma's pre-historic existence couldn't keep her from using
"modern" appliances of the 1960s that every household in America used.
Items like the Stegosaurus Cuisinrock Food Processor or the Tortoise
Combo-washer were not left out of the Flintstone's household. (Here's a
list of all the
different types of pre-historic machines used in
Bedrock.) 
The roles of both Fred and Wilma in the family are very
different. But it follows the common norm of present society. There are
several episodes that even pokes fun of the resrictive gender roles by
reversing them. In many episodes, jobs and clothes are reversed where
Fred must be the housewife for a day or Wilma and Betty dress as men in
order to enter the Water Buffalo Lodge. But by mocking these confines,
the roles of husband and wife are held up even stronger. Although it may
provide a lot humor, when such "switcheroos" happen, it shows life in
chaos and disorder. When things are the way it should be, there is no
conflict and life is fine. There is an effort by the producers to
convince the audience that the Flintstones are a typical family within
its class and gender implications.
The article "Hanging Together", which commented on
a survey given to many suburban couples in the 1960s, found that
often the women had to give up more than the men after marriage. The
general unhappiness of the wives was usually concealed for the sake of
the mere image of happiness and the woman did not have the option to
voice their feelings. We see in almost every picture, even during
household labor, Wilma is expressing a smile of content and happiness,
while Fred has a certain grimace to his countenance even as he is
relaxing. So even in the
media, the unequal treatment of the women is concealed and unexpressed.
The populuxe era or the 1950's and '60s was when the urge of
conformity was most powerful. And from the family car to the
living room
furniture
set, the Flintstones showed that conformity to be accepted as a typical
family even within people's television sets. However, along with the
producers following the rules of society, the Flintstones slowly became
the rule of society. Eventhough this situational comedy was a cartoon,
the audience in its primetime slot was focused towards the home owning
adults who constituted the bulk of the television audience. I don't argue
that the Flintstones show was purely a piece of entertainment, but it
also became a model of American living for its time. Today, we see the
models of American families in shows like Roseanne. (April,
Sharif and Mandy have an analysis on the show.) But
for its time, the Flintstones were the typical "family down the street."
The view of suburbia in the media was a positive view or rather the
ideal image of suburbia. The Flintstones portrayed that image. It
needed to. With
much of America living in the suburbs, people wanted to be able to relate
with others that share the same values. The Flintstones reinforced the
ideals of hardworking suburbia and thus, made those who could relate to
Fred, to Wilma and even Barney and Betty that life is good, and life is
normal. This definition of normal that the Flintstones and other media
objects in the 1960's benefited society find itself and created a
uniformed ideal.
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