In what ways, did television during the 1950s both encourage conformity and spark desires for rebellion and change?

Much, if
not most, television in the 1950s did present a vanilla, whitewashed picture of American life in
which family settings were ideal and untroubled. Sitcoms such as Leave it to Beaver,
The Donna Reed Show, and Father Knows Best were typical. Parents
were shown as wise and forgiving, gentle and non-critical.

Though these shows
had merit on their own terms, their falseness was dangerous because it encouraged children of
that decadebaby boomersto think all of this was "normal." Under these conditions and
by these standards, real domestic life was impossibly flawed. The reality
was that parents of that time were men and women who had grown up during the Depression of the
1930s and reached adulthood then or during...