If you follow historians such as Heather Cox Richardson or Tad Stoermer then you know that Archie Bunker has always been a part of us. I got slapped in the face with this reality not long ago when my wife and I faced a show-hole. We were scrolling through our options and came across All in the Family streaming on Pluto TV. I hadn’t seen this show in 50 years.
What the heck! We hit play and were launched into the early 1970s and discovered how little has changed — at least as far as Archie Bunker is concerned. He was MAGA through and through.
The show holds up, in my opinion. It is even shocking in some ways — especially the raw racism, sexism, and xenophobia.
After watching a few episodes, I began to recall several moments from my early days as a student journalist at the University of Delaware, and in my first newspaper job, in which people I was interviewing or photographing said to me: “I’m just like Archie Bunker.” This struck me as silly at the time — the late 70s and early 80s — because, well, obviously, wasn’t Archie Bunker a foil and a buffoon?
But now? Watching this all again, I understand a piece of what they were trying to tell me: I am a real American, and I don’t care what you think.
