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“America’S Nervous Breakdown”: Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Popular Psychology, And The Demise Of The Housewife In The 1970s, Kate L. Flach
“America’S Nervous Breakdown”: Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Popular Psychology, And The Demise Of The Housewife In The 1970s, Kate L. Flach
Journal of 20th Century Media History
In 1976, soap opera satire Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (MH, MH) debuted and reached an estimated 55 million households. Produced by Norman Lear, the central storyline developed during the first season involved the mental breakdown of Mary Hartman (Louise Lasser), a typical consumer housewife who Lear claimed metaphorically represented the United States. Portraying a discontent housewife with mental illness as a proxy for the nation reflects how ubiquitous popular psychology became in explaining American anxieties over the transformations of the family and politics. An analysis of tape-recorded writers meetings reveals that the show’s creators pulled from contemporary books, theories, and …