Television shows present gender and communication in a multitude of different ways, which either positively or negatively affect their viewers’ perspectives on many critical issues. They may promote various stereotypes and encourage people to conform or destroy biases and inspire individuals to be independent. It is essential to understand how the American television industry shapes the views of billions of individuals across the world to be more conscious of different issues and challenge stereotypes. Modern Family is an excellent example of a family sitcom, which humorously reinforces various gender biases.
Modern Family is about relationships and communication between three related but different families. The main characters are Jay with his twice-younger wife Gloria, his daughter Claire with her husband Phil and their children, and his son Mitchel with his partner Cameron (Lloyd & Levitan, 2009-2020). They face many difficulties and learn to cope with them by displaying their unique features and perspectives. Most characters conform to the common and stereotypical ideas about gender roles, even though it may not seem so at first sight.
It is essential to analyze how the television show depicts gender to understand how the American television industry influences people’s views. First, the stereotypical beliefs regarding masculinity and femininity are promoted in Modern Family. For instance, the negative representation of gender personalities can be seen through Luke and Haley Dunphy (“Gender representation in Modern Family,” 2016). Luke is a boy involved in sports, adores adventures, thinks about girls, and shows poor academic performance. Haley is a girl who seems to care only about her appearance and tries to attract boys. These characters represent what is typically believed to be feminine or masculine.
Second, sexism can be noticed throughout most episodes of the family sitcom. Claire and Phil Dunphy reinforce the concept in their daily lives, demonstrating that women are less powerful than men. Stoiljkovic (2019, p. 24) notes, “The stereotypes that replicate regarding the female gender are both stay-at-home moms, at least in the beginning, which can be discussed as sexist out of a traditional perspective.” Claire has not had a job since she gave birth, and she is always occupied doing household chores, raising her children, and running minor errands. At the same time, Phil is successful in his career and works diligently to climb the career ladder. It may be concluded that females are less intelligent, skillful, and competent at work; thus, they should stay at home.
Third, in Modern Family, Mitchel and Cameron form a same-sex couple, which sometimes faces homophobia. However, in most cases, the characters are proud of their orientation and do their best to live happy lives. The former demonstrates mostly common masculine characteristics. On the other hand, the latter often acts in the way society expects women to behave. They adopt a child, and Mitchel appears to play a father’s role, while Cameron is more associated with a mother. Hence, even though these characters seem not to conform to gender biases at first, they possess stereotypical features of either males or females.
Furthermore, Modern Family is a television show, which is full of unrealistic notions and gender stereotypes. Most people I meet never have solely typical characteristics of men or women. They have their unique qualities, which cannot be restricted by the concepts of masculinity and femininity. Moreover, there are many more females in the workplace in the modern world than demonstrated in the sitcom. In my opinion, more and more women successfully pursue their career goals nowadays. Therefore, it is evident that Modern Family is an unrealistic and stereotypical depiction of men and women within society.
Communication also plays a crucial role in television shows, and it may influence the way viewers perceive how different family members and sexes interact with each other. Children sometimes disrespect their parents and judge them for their ideas and actions. Social media influences children and their relations with other family members. At the same time, males appear to be dominant while communicating with females. In general, the way the characters interact seems to be realistic in some scenes and highly stereotypical in others.
In addition, although Modern Family contains realistic scenes where biases are eliminated, most episodes promote different stereotypes. Unless viewers realize that gender roles are represented ironically in many cases, they may start to believe that it is how the world functions. Most people watch this sitcom not to evaluate it critically but to relax; thus, they are likely to be negatively influenced by the show and tricked into thinking that males are more powerful and able than females.
In conclusion, Modern Family is a representative example of how the American television industry negatively impacts people worldwide. The family sitcom promotes the clearly defined notions of masculinity and femininity, sexism, and numerous stereotypes. The characters’ interactions are depicted in a biased way. Despite the fact that many scenes are realistic, most of them express some slanted views, which are irrelevant in the modern world. It is possible to assume that the sitcom is ironic, though it is clear that most viewers do not critically evaluate each episode, searching for deeply hidden irony.
References
Gender representation in Modern Family. (2016). Genderpopblog. Web.
Lloyd, C., & Levitan, S. (Producers). (2009-2020). Modern Family. [Television broadcast]. 20th Television.
Stoiljkovic, A. S. (2019). Representation of race, gender and LGBTQ+ on Modern Family [Bachelor’s thesis, Malmo University]. Malmo University Electronic Publishing.