One thing I found interesting about the first episode is there was some focus on the relationship between labour and life meaning. I guess one’s occupation (in every sense of the word) tying in with how they feel about their life’s worth. Even Rosey has a need to feel useful!

This episode would have come out about 10 years after Vonnegut’s Player Piano, which went into that relationship in more detail. Both The Jetsons and Player Piano suffered from the same idea that culture would stay exactly the same as technology progressed, rather than technology changing culture along the way. They considered that a man might feel useless if he didn’t have a fruitful job, but they never considered, for instance, that a woman might feel useless just keeping a tidy household.

That’s what we get when we start using our heads!

The Jetsons were just as emphatically white collar, more in line with the comfortable suburban families now filling network sitcoms. More than flying cars and robots, the Jetsons seemed to promise we’d all be professionals or managers with cushy desk jobs. Anybody remember all the worries about the “leisure problem,” when increased efficiency was supposed to result in Americans having excessive free time and discretionary income? Jetsons riffed on that idea: Where the beginning of the Flintstones had Fred living for the 5 o’clock whistle, the Jetsons opened with George dropping kids at school — and, significantly, Jane at the shopping center — and rushing to work to put his feet up on his desk and nap.

When you say “Gadget malfunction is rampant and a source of financial stress ..”, was this a cashless society? I cant recall how transactions were paid for and would appreciate if you could illustrate the role of money in a future blog.

Thanks