The reason the 70's sitcom "The Brady Bunch" had so much appeal for children
and became a sort of phenomena is because the plots (especially in the early
years), although dull predictable on the literal level, were highly charged
with subconscious sexual cues concerning adolescent sexual development. You
could even say subliminal messages, but this would imply that the writers knew
what they were doing, which I dont think is case. Consequently, young children
watched the show not only to help work out their own sexual issues, but also
because the subconscious cues fed to them were quite arousing to the young
mind. Watching the Brady Bunch once a week became their one hour a week sexual
thrill, and allowed them to deeply freely explore and fantasize about sexual
relationships between men and women, teenagers, children, and family members.
These sexual cues ranged from being extremely simple and vague to extremely
specific. All of them were on a metaphorical subscious level, so on the
surface, the show seems harmless and mundane. In actuality, the simple plots
were actually vehicles to tie on these highly charged sexual cues. Hence, the
sexual content wasnt obvious to the civilized (repressed)adult, but to the
imaginative young subscious, it proved exciting and thrilling enough to leave
the young viewer yearning for a new episode each week. Twenty and thirty years
later, when these now adults see re-runs of this show, it reminds them of time
in their lives when their sexual curiousity was much more innocent and less
repressed and conforming to society. These highly charged subscious sexual cues
are why the show survived as long as it did and why still today there are Brady
reunions, re-runs, books, and other nostalgic items concerning the show.
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