Family comedies have evolved throughout the past century. What was once revered as classic has completely changed forms and turned into the comedic experience we witness today. Family sitcoms in particular have been converted to show a broader picture of how family’s interact in today’s world. This greatly appeals to today’s audiences and is what people want to see. Modern family specifically has tapped into what nontraditional families are all about and even with being so alternative has resonated with every type of family, making it one of the most popular shows on TV at the present moment. The pilot episode of Modern Family uses hyper-irony, allusions and uses references to technology to enforce comedic impact. Hyper irony is used very often …show more content…
in Modern family for example when the character Mitchell says “We have been together for... five, five years now? And we've decided we really wanted to have a baby... so, we initially asked one of our lesbian friends to be a surrogate?” (Winer) With his partner Cameron interjecting with “Then we figured, they are already mean enough. Can you imagine one of them pregnant? No, thank you.” (Winer) Referencing having a surrogate to carry their child crudely makes a joke about a minority stereotype would make people laugh because of the shocking nature of what was said and also is on such an of color joke that can potentially offend many people. Even just in the very first episode the show makes it very apparent they are pushing boundaries and pushing the limit of being in-appropriate when the patriarch of the family Jay says “You're kidding? She's one of us now, let me see that little pot sticker! Eey, you're a cutie, aren't you!” (Winer) as addressing the new Asian child that the gay couple adopts during this episode. Using a derogatory term as “pot sticker” to address the baby, would offend many people but because it is used in a light hearted manor most will let it slide and think of it as comedy. Allusion is also frequently displayed throughout the pilot episode of Modern Family.
One clear example is when the father Phil says “I'm a cool dad. That's... that's my thang. I'm hype, I surf the web, I text. LOL, Laugh Out Loud, OMG, Oh My God, WTF, Why The Face. You know, I know all the dances to High School Musical, so...” (Winer) Phil tries to show his relatability to his children’s’ generation by referencing the Disney teen hit movie High School Musical. Many younger people will understand the reference, but some audience members that have never seen the movie will not understand why later he is dancing around in the living room with a varsity jacket on. Possibly the best use of allusion through-out Modern Family is at the very end of the pilot episode. Mitchell is arguing with his family saying “No, no, no! Stop, stop! You come into my house and you insult me and my boyfriend who by the way is not that dramatic! We've adopted a baby. Her name is Lily.” (Winer) While this is happening his partner Cameron dressed in an ethnic silk robe brings out their daughter and raises her to the sky with the theme song of The Lion King “The Circle of Life” playing in the background. Playing homage to the opening scene of that movie when the baby lion is presented to the rest of the animals in the kingdom. Anyone who has watched The Lion King will understand the allusion but not everyone has. The main point of an allusion is it references something from another source that will only
be understood if you have seen or heard of it previously. Modern Family relies heavily on technological references to communicate comedy. In the opening scene of the very first episode you see the family already distracted by technology. The father Phil can’t look up from his telephone for one second to help his wife with the kids in the morning, and the teenage daughter Haley says “Why are you guys yelling at us, when we're way upstairs, just text me.” (Winer) Modern Family shows the complete over-use of technology. Every episode is filled with cellphones, computers and gaming systems much like today’s family no one can seem to get off of social media to interact with one another. Another example of how Modern Family references technology is when the father Phil says “I better go charge the camcorder. I'm kidding! Come on! Who are you talking to?” (Winer) when his daughter mentions that she is bringing over a boy for the first time. References like these would have not been made fifty years ago, showing the evolution of sitcom television. The three most important elements in showing the comedic premise of Modern Family is through hyper-irony, allusion and references to technology. This lays out the foundation to what viewers adore so much about this popular new television show. It captures audiences with going very close to the edge of absurdity with a light hearted family conclusion to every plot. From just the very first episode it is very clear to see why today’s families have fallen in love with this sitcom mockumentary style programing.
McCarthy, Tyler. “Sitcom success a reflection of changing society.” Daily Campus. 29 Jan. 2012. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Sitcoms like The Simpsons, are used to show that the traditional family is not what it is played out to be on other shows like Father Knows Best, The Jetsons and Leave it to Beaver. The Simpsons challenges and upholds the traditional sitcom while representing the American nuclear family as a unique and lovable family. Like most shows that come out of Hollywood, The Simpsons is pro-Democrat and against Republican views. This show suggests that not following the traditional family roles will you give you a happier life. Gender roles are often used in the show to demonstrate masculinity and femininity. Through satire and parody, The Simpsons addresses gender roles and the typical problems and behavior of an average American family.
It was hilarious whenever Fred Sanford of the hit series Sanford and Son used to fake his heart attack saying that famous phrase, “I’m coming Elizabeth” or what about him telling Aunt Ester how ugly she was. No one took that type of comedy to the heart and it was intended to hurt no one. It was all for a laugh. Now in today’s time there are new shows on television such as The Chapelle Show, which is hosted and directed by the comedian Dave Chapelle. The object of this show seems to be how much fun he can make of a different race. Times have changed and so have peoples’ since of humor. People went from the laid-back type sitcoms such as Sanford and Son, The Three Stooges, and The Little Rascals, which are all types of shows that people can watch with their entire family, to shows even adults feel turned away from. Some examples include The Chapelle Show and In Living Color.
Popular culture is the artistic and creative expression in entertainment and style that appeals to society as whole. It includes music, film, sports, painting, sculpture, and even photography. It can be diffused in many ways, but one of the most powerful and effective ways to address society is through film and television. Broadcasting, radio and television are the primary means by which information and entertainment are delivered to the public in virtually every nation around the world, and they have become a crucial instrument of modern social and political organization. Most of today’s television programming genres are derived from earlier media such as stage, cinema and radio. In the area of comedy, sitcoms have proven the most durable and popular of American broadcasting genres. The sitcom’s success depends on the audience’s familiarity with the habitual characters and the situations
The differences in family values are shown in modern sitcoms. "Gilmore Girls" is a sitcom that demonstrates values of gender and children roles that are significantly different to those in 1950s. From Lorelei and Rory, they show that family organization is not always the father working, mother looking after children. Through the plot of each episode, financial, racial, other general problems such as Rory's school and relationship are actually shown and realistically too. Every family is different, different race and classes have different families. Today, we do not watch shows to copy their ways of living and we do often share the same values. Therefore this shows significant changes in family values from the 1950s sitcoms to today's sitcoms.
Younger generations and the more vulnerable in society can be influenced in avoiding peer pressure, but for the individuals filled with wisdom, the shows can reflect based on American modern society. Everybody Loves Raymond and Full House are great shows who faces similar life obstacles a typical person living in the US has today. As a result, most modern family comedy sit-coms are reflecting our society’s generations and the more vulnerable. Based on the success of early family sit coms, American’s adapted to a fast pace lifestyle with the help of modern
An allusion is a reference to a famous person, place, or historical event. Ray Bradbury wrote the book, Fahrenheit 451, which is filled with all sorts of allusions . The book is about people living in a dystopia where it is a crime to read books. If you are caught reading a book your house will be burnt down by the firemen. Which is ironic because firemen usually put out fires rather than start them. Since the government has so much power over the citizens, they have no knowledge other than the facts they are told in school. Their society has become brainwashed ,and act like robots. The people have no feelings , but that will soon change with help from the book people. To provide deeper meaning Bradbury includes
Drawing from scholarly academic research about what goes into the formula of creating these kinds of family-based sitcoms, production work, relevancy of each show’s topic and storyline in the era they’re aired, I will present the ultimate heart of my argument of seeing if there truly is a pattern or formula to family sitcoms and if there are parallels between the characters of both Full House and Modern Family that makes the shows as similar yet different to one
NBC network’s The Office is definitely a show that a lot of youth watch nowadays or well, used to at the least. Some people are amused by the show’s style of humour, however many are not so entertained. Personally, I find that the style of humour in this particular show is used to depict hegemonic relationships and stereotypes that exist in modern culture. Thus, for this specific reason, I will attempt to apply and analyze the theme of cultural hegemony to The Office.
The Addams family which ran for 2 years (1964-1966) is a classical formation of the emersion of misfits into a necessity for a show’s airing survival. Though the misfit needn’t be as obvious as the Addams Family a small replicate of then character is shown regularly in current generation television. What made the Addams so successful and well known was their spontaneous character traits which allowed them to break taboo and behave as if this was the social normality. Reactions presented from the interacting characters in the show which weren’t familiar with the family were what helped make the show ongoing and interesting by persisting with the idea that the family t...
Allusion, or a passing reference to something in the Bible, history, or literature, is used in the play as a way of letting the reader and audience gain depth into the story and overall it helps the actors get the meaning they are trying to convey across to the audience.
The television sitcom Modern Family produced by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd shows the many different types of a modern American family. According to Andrew Hampp, “The show is among the most-viewed scripted programs in prime time in its second season, averaging 11 million viewers during original airings and often ranked as the most DVRed program most weeks” (2). The television show is a frequently watched show and is liked by many viewers. Modern Family's storyline helps the families of viewers by being an influential and relatable show to different types of families. The show is about the lives of three different families that are all related. In the show there are Jay and Gloria, an intergenerational couple with two sons-- Manny (from Gloria’s previous relationship) and Joe, their new baby. Jay’s adult son Cameron is married to his gay partner Mitchell, and they adopted Lily from Vietnam. Finally, Jay’s daughter Claire is married to her heterosexual partner named Phil and they have three children. The show is influential to our culture today because it shows these different types of families and addresses controversial themes such as gay adoption, the different family connections and communications, intergenerational coupling, and acceptance of diversity within an extended family. The family is easy to relate to while watching because it is based off of real family situations.
Allusion –a figure of speech that makes a reference to people, places, events, or literary works directly or by implying them making the audience form a connection. Dover beach - The poem “Dover Beach” was written by Matthew Arnold in 1867 while England was being industrialized. It applies directly to the situation that the society in this story are in. It starts out talking about how the world is full of promise and faith and then turns out to only seem this way.
“Modern Family” series analysis “One big (straight, gay, multi-cultural, traditional) happy family” Modern Family first aired on television in September 23, 2009. The series was co-created by Steven Leviton and Christopher Lloyd and had a team of about twenty well-known writers, such as Danny Zucker, Jeffery Richman, Dan O’Shannon, and many others. It has an estimated budget of $250,000 per week and its gross sales is about $2.13 million per half hour (imbd.com). This series is effective, because its shows that not all families are conventional- they come in all shapes and sizes, but no matter what they still all love each other. Not only is the show funny, but also it makes a point about the evolving idea of what constitutes 'family’.
Television comedies have been on the air for decades, and throughout this time many different shows have come and gone. Due to the dominance of these shows, comedies are one of the biggest draws on television. There are many different types of comedies, each with their own unique characteristics and features that differentiate them from others and lead to their popularity. Whether the show is a sketch comedy, sitcom, mockumentary or dramatic comedy, each utilizes different types of humour, locations, themes, and situations to appeal to the audience; which is likely why they are so popular today.