Modern Family is a popular sitcom show on ABC Family. This show is about three families in the modern world. Each is different. It shows ethnicity, racially mixed households. It also shows a gay couple with an adopted daughter. This show breaks boundaries regarding portrayal of race, color, and sexuality, but it fails to address poor or working class people. Each family in this show is at least middle class and makes well above the average American. Money or struggling to make ends meet is never an issue at all. The problems that are addressed in modern family are uptown family with house flipping, college, or hiring a nanny. The gap between the working class and the rich are growing. What is shown in modern family is not the reality for most American's. Most Americans cannot even begin to imagine being able to afford the lifestyle shown on Modern Family. Viewers must identify the problems of the elite. The fact of the matter is the majority of families are poor. There are not many portrayals of the working class that are in a good light. Modern Family is no exception with money or poor people problems not being addressed at all.
I totally agree with your analysis of Modern Family, I used to be a really big fan of the show but as the season went on I realized that while it was funny it wasn’t really relatable. A show that I think does a good job of presenting an average American family is The Middle. The show is about the Heck family and everything from their house to the cars they drive is far more recognizable than in Modern Family. While it can be nice to imagine living a life like the families on Modern Family it’s sometimes more rewarding to see a family like the Hecks that you can relate to and laugh at the similarities.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the fact that they do not address the struggles of money or being poor at all. In fact there is actually an episode were the mock a poor person who is sleeping on a bench with Phil's business advertised on it. I also think the show is forcing a lot of the middle class struggles that they actually truly do not know about.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you on this as the media tries to show the happy family through many political debates on this. But it is more a white person media view of how they see and portray a rich gay, ethnic family. But I definitely agree with you on the gap in the show.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right! I have never even thought about this. So many shows that portray the "modern American family" do not show the struggle that so many families face. The representation of the lower class is necessary and so important, but it is rarely seen in the media. While this show is supposed to represent diversity and families nowadays, it fails to represent other important things. This notion is very interesting because we have seen it before. When shows try to be inclusive, they still always fall short. At least there is some representation. Great analysis!
ReplyDeleteYou examine this in a great light and you raise and amazing point about the fact that "reality shows" stand to gain from normalizing a particular narrative, in this case of the monetary position of the modern family, while failing to be fully representative. One of the reasons I think this topic is so great is because it can be taken even further than just an examination of class. As a person who grew up in a single parent household, a statistically common experience, it always caught me off guard to see the conceptions that television created about 'normal' families. Personally I never felt particularly hurt by the feeling of not having a 'normal' family but I could see the damage that it did to my mother and I think that you have emphasized a hurtful norm that most people do not consider. It was painful for my mom, and I would assume many other single parents, to see a conception of what it looks like to "do it right" with parenting and family that is literally impossible in their scenario.
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