Popular Culture Review Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1993 | Page 71

RacejClass^andGenderonJI^ieC^bj^S^

of their class level, finds it difficult to "credit” the subdued level of
conflict, feeling that the family has never been tested beyond a
certain limit (57). Taylor compares them to 1950s sitcom families,
who took the structure of the stable, happy family as a given, but she
finds that "the Huxtables work strenuously and self-consciously at
persuading viewers how well they get along" (160-61). 1 read the
strenuous and self-conscious efforts of the Huxtables as representing
the hard work that is required to achieve a happy, successful family.
If "The Cosby Show" denied the realities of broken families and
family conflict, the Huxtables would not have to work so hard at
being a happy family. The children would not need so many rules if
there were not so many dangers and temptations in the world. The
family would not have to have conferences if there were not poten
tially divisive issues which they must confront as a group.
It is in this area of parenting and family relations that "The
Cosby Show" most explicitly lectures its audience; Downing describes
the series as "a televisual Doctor Benjamin Spock manual on family
interactions" (67). Cliff and Clair rarely punish their children
without clearly stating the reasons for their actions. They explain
their parental responsibilities not only to each other, but to the
children as well, and they are never purposely portrayed as
unreasonable in their positions of authority. Cliff Huxtable is a
quintessential father figure; Cosby has authored a best-selling book
on fatherhood, and his commercial endorsements and stand-up
routines all reinforce the idea of Bill Cosby as father. Some critics—
Miller and Taylor among them—see the happiness and affection of
the Huxtable family as only another aspect of their shallow
materialism, and perceive a "casual hostility" beneath the outward
smiles and hugs (Taylor 161). While Downing views Cliffs humorous
attitude toward his children as a "healing wit" directed toward the
construction of human relations. Miller sees Cliff as "a playful type
who strikes his children as a peach, until they realize, years later,
and after lots of psychotherapy, what a subtle thug he really was"
(Downing 66; Miller "Deride" 212). This is one issue on which Miller
and I concur. Cliffs humor often comes at the expense of his children,
who always seem to magically understand their father's good
intentions. One episode found Theo and his friends visiting a voodoo
doctor to help Theo deal with a romantic rival. When Cliff learns of
this, he assures a gullible Theo that he himself knows voodoo, and