دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی بهانه های خانوادگی: خانواده و غذا، راحتی و مراقبت - امرالد 2018

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the way diverse family forms are depicted in recent TV advertisements, and how the ads may be read as an indication of contemporary attitudes to food. It focuses particularly on consumers’ ambivalent attitude towards convenience foods given the way these foods are moralised within a highly gendered discourse of“feeding the family”. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a critical reading of the advertisments and their complex meanings for diverse audiences, real and imagined. The latter part of the paper draws on the results of ethnographically-informed fieldwork in the north of England. Findings – The research highlights the value of food as a lens on contemporary family life. It challenges the conventional distinction between convenience and care, arguing that convenience food can be used as an expression of care. Research limitations/implications – The paper makes limited inferences about audiencing processes in the absence of direct empirical evidence. Originality/value – The paper’s value lies in its original interpretation of TV food advertising within the context of contemporary family life and in the novel connections that are drawn between convenience and care.

Conclusion

This paper has explored the relationship between families and food, arguing that changing domestic practices associated with food and eating are a valuable lens on contemporary family life, while changes in family life underpin the commercial challenges of food marketing and retail. The paper began by reviewing a series of recent TV adverts, which provide insight into the dynamics and diversity of contemporary family life. The “audiencing” of these adverts was then discussed, including the way they might be read in different social contexts where, for example, divorced or separated families provide a particular set of circumstances that may have emotional resonance for other kinds of families and household contexts.

Having probed the relationship between families and food in terms of the “discourse of decline” and the gendered assumptions that attach to “feeding the family”, the paper then explored the particular context of convenience food, whose use is commonly subject to negative moralisation. On the basis of ethnographically-informed research, the paper challenged the conventional opposition between convenience and care, arguing that in some circumstances and on some occasions, the use of convenience food can be justified as an expression of care rather than as evidence of a dereliction of familial duty. The paper also explored the potential for analysing humour as an index of the tensions that arise when cooking and eating in such a highly moralised context. In each case, the paper argues, familial fictions (as depicted in TV advertising for food) are of more than passing interest. Besides their commercial and entertainment value, they are a rich and relatively neglected resource for researching the links between food and family, convenience and care.