The Sad Side of the Waltons

[AR15]

While, on the one hand, The Waltons is about the joys of childhood, accepting those who are different, the pleasures of writing and the love of a family, I do believe that you can also view it as quite sad. When you watch the films and see how everything is different and so many of the people they love are gone it kind of puts a slightly sad view on the earlier episodes because you know everything is leading towards that... They'll never be those happy bare footed kids again this isn't a criticism by any means, in fact, this I believe adds to the shows strengths and the kind of 'universal nostalgia' people get from it. It is just me, or does anybody else ever think this when watching it?

[glenda1]

I agree 100 %. Time's were hard , you were lucky to have a phone , and even electricity , You had to sell egg's and churn butter just to be able to purchase thing's needed to run the house hold.

The wall's had Saw Dust , some had old news paper as insulation. Window's were single paned and didn't keep out the cold.

Children were constantly sick and many died from various ailment's. Not an era I would relish living in.
We have it made in the shade in our current time line era.

[ForeverWaltons]

On the episode (don't remember the name of it) were at the end Grandma & Grandpa Walton are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.....then Earl Hamner says that to their surprise they grew old, Grandma wore violets in her hair in her 90's and now they are no longer with us.

I cry every time because it makes me think of my Grandparents who also grew old & are no longer with me. But there are a lot of episodes that at the end when Mr. Hamner does his little speech, I cry.

My kids look at me & it's like, what I can't believe Momma is crying, are you ok Momma? Right now at their age they do not fully grasp it. With age comes wisdom & in time they too will understand why Momma cries!!!!

I just watched "The Stray" the other night. The one were Todd Bridges guest stars as Josh (a black orphan) and Josh wants to live with the Waltons. They, of course, want him too but know that because of the times they are living in they can't. John Sr. tells him maybe things will change in 10 years or 100 years. Verdie & Harley end up taking him in.

It took more than 10 years, but I am grateful that it did not take 100 years for things to change.

[Deleted]

of course there were bad times. it is so easy to look bad with rose tinted glasses, but the love The Waltons shared (as of course did many other families) trancednded and they grew stronger for it.

[daniela]

I always liked when Earl Hamner narrated during one of the early episodes, I believe it's the one where John Boy works for the Baldwin ladies to buy a washing machine, he said that, although they thought of those years as hard, they were actually the best years. It shows hindsight to what they perceived to be "hard" , and as yet as adults, they treasure those "hard" years.

[JeriJet]

One thing mass communication has created for the lower class is the knowledge that they are poor...... Throughout the ages, people of less "privilege" did not necessarily know just how much they were lacking. That has all changed with the arrival of the television in particular. Now, we don't get a new pair of jeans, a bike or a doll, but a certain coveted brand. And if we don't have it, we know it......

All in all, the Waltons fared quite well during the Depression. I wouldn't mind at all living like that, even today......