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Modern family in today's society
Sociological theory and trends in family life
Modern family in today's society
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Tionna A. Thornton English 1101 Dr. K. Leatherwood October 15, 2014 Cultural Criticism - Folk & Pop How "Modern" is Modern Family? Nearly everyone has seen or heard of American Broadcasting Company 's (ABC) hit television show, Modern Family. And, in my opinion, if you have not, you do not have a clue as to what is good. According to ABC.com, Modern Family is "...also quickly cementing itself as a culturally defining series (ABC)." Receiving four consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Comedy Television Series, Modern Family seems unstoppable, returning in its sixth season. The idea of Modern Family was quickly accepted and became a necessity for ABC 's broadcasting. According to a blog on As evident to the title, the three families starring on the show were created to depict examples of society 's definition of a "modern" family. The first family, consisting of Jay Prichett, his second wife, Gloria Prichett, their infant son, Fulgencio Joe Pritchett, and Gloria 's fourteen year old son from a previous relationship, Manny Delgado, is a representation of a blended family. Jay is an older wealthy business owner while Gloria is Colombian and through the show, reminds us of her heritage and poor family background. They have an age difference of nearly 30 years. Research shows that 40% of married couples in the United States are step couples, meaning that at least one spouse had at least one child from a previous relationship (Smart Stepfamilies). In the episode Bringing Up Baby, Jay turns 65 and wishes to celebrate his birthday, quietly, at home. However, his older buddies think differently. Jay 's son-in-law and his friends kidnap him and take him on a fishing trip. From being punished in the face by his son-in-law to being pushed overboard in the cold lake to being told horrid stories of getting older, this surprise getaway doesn 't make this a happy birthday. Meanwhile, Gloria is struggling to tell Jay that she is expecting. Afraid of Jay 's reaction, Gloria first Claire is a stay-at-home mother while Phil, despite his ditzy personality, is considered the breadwinner, working as a real estate agent. Together, Phil and Claire had three children. Their first daughter, Hailey, is known for her attractiveness and stereotypical vacuous character. Alex, who is the middle child of the three, can mostly be recognized for her nerdy and intelligent nature. The youngest of the Dunphy 's is Luke. Luke can best be described as innocent and clumsy. This family represents society 's concept of a "traditional" family. The Dunphys is a nuclear family, very similar to the typically "1950 's family smiling behind their [white] picket fence (Strothkamp)". Phil is the typical dad who provides for his family and is often involved in both his wife 's and children 's day to day activities. Claire 's role includes all of the the stereotypical chores of a housewives, in addition to attempting to keep up with the antics of her cooky husband and their three activity children. In the episode "Halloween", Claire expresses her love for the holiday, Halloween, which lead to the transformation of the Dunphy home into a haunted house for local treat-or-trickers. As a homemaker mother, she assigns each family member a role to play. Comically, everything planned goes completely wrong. After two failed attempts at scaring trick-or-treaters, Claire becomes angry and walks out of the
In the article “TV’s Callous Neglect of Working- Class America” written by Noel Murray explains the modern day TV shows un-relatable plots to Americans today. Murray describes how shows in the ‘50s through the ‘90s were relatable to Americans and how they lived their lives. The TV shows then were able to get such great reviews because the jobs the actors had in the shows were average money making jobs. The characters are meticulously when it came to how they used the money they earned. However, as the years have passed, the shows that are on today are not as relatable to Americans. The shows express the fantasy, perfect life that everyone strives to have, but in reality, it is not possible for every family. The programs on today do not convey the difficulties that average Americans face each day, causing the shows to become more and more relatable to average TV viewers.
Roseanne was a hit sitcom that debuted in the late 80s and continued into the late 90s. It was one of the most watched shows of its time despite the controversy that surrounded it. The series still airs on popular television networks today but, because it functionally paved the way, it is not considered questionable in today’s society. Although the show had its share of controversial issues and what was then thought to be “inappropriate” dialogue, the America population continued to tune-in to Roseanne and empathized with the weekly problems the Conner’s would face. The show depicted life much like people actually experienced it (and still do) and therefore captured the hearts of America, which translated to a better acceptance of the material folks found inappropriate or unacceptable. Over time, as people were more often exposed to the matters that Roseanne felt were pertinent, the disputes became fewer and the issues surrounding them became irrelevant. Dealing with issues such as sex, homosexuality, and a not so functional family, Roseanne proved to be very functional to society as a whole.
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
A requirement in being an early childhood teacher, is to fulfill the needs, of the children and families I will work for. In chapter one, you have the Lawrence and Ashley Family. In the Lawrence family, they are a married couple, which means more income for the family. Whereas the Ashley family has one income. In addition, to the Ashley family, having one income and dealing with the state can bring heartache and struggles to buy food, clothes, housing, school supplies and other day to day activities. Therefore, I need to comprehend the lives of the families I work for and to be aware of the circumstances of the individual families. To the same degree. I need to respect the boundaries; of the families I work for. Trust is a must. With no trust, there is no communication and things get can get
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.
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
Though not immune to criticism, Modern Family and Full House still claim glimpses of societal pressure when showing aspects of the “American family.”
The main social issue the Brady Bunch really tackled was the idea of blended families after a divorce. While the show may have focused on Carol and Mike Brady bringing their six children together, it was inspired by a statistic in The Los Angeles Times that 30% of marriages in the US at the time had a child from a previous marriage (Merritt). Mike Brady “was one of TV’s first stepfathers, and his blended family of six kids was a far cry from mom, dad, 2.5 kids and a dog” (Goudreau). Modern Family also tackles the issue of divorces and blended families but with its own twist. The family’s patriarch, Jay Pritchett, remarries despite the fact that his children from his first marriage are grown. Except instead of the family blending together seamlessly as the Bradys do, they struggle with the fact that Jay’s new wife is the same age as his own children and his new step son is the age of his grandchildren. Modern Family also showcases many other modern day issues, such as biracial couples, as Jay’s second wife is Colombian, and homosexual couples in Jay’s son, Mitchell, and his husband Cameron. Modern Family reflects many of the social movements of the current day. As feminism builds, TV moms have began “overshadowing TV dads, who [play] the part of the well-meaning idiot” (Goudreau). With the way TV explores social trends in society, “there's a family for just about everyone on TV today”
...e the beginning of time, Television has been one the most influential pieces of media that the world has ever encountered. Bravo TV’s hit number one reality television show, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, deals with the everyday lives of modern-day “housewives”. When speaking of these women and their family life, the show shows its viewers that family life in modern times is dramatic, full of misrepresentations of how people are perceived, and how fame comes at the cost of family. The show stands strong with the critics and its faithful viewers around the world. Clearly, the show is not going astray anytime soon. Families who watch the show will eat up the drama and prays that their families never deal with those petty types of problems. The world will keep spinning in the television cycle, and drama will continue to invade the homes of millions of Americans.
Starting with Sanford and Sons through the progression of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, it is evident that the changes transpiring in society are slowly entering the television industry. What would have been acceptable in the 1970s would be totally unacceptable in this day. No longer is an African-American father in a sitcom shown as a worthless, rude individual. The father figure is now shown more as a responsible, loving, and moral person with more realistic faults. Color now seems, through evolution, to be taken out of the equation for the African-American television families.
Full House is the opening plot of three men raising three girls, and it thought to be totally innocuous, the classic show opened the door to conversations about same sex parents on a show. Now Full House paved the way for today’s show Modern Family. Modern Family might be the most progressive show in the past 50 years. Because it takes on all the awkward nontraditional American family elements and crams them into a comedy show. As I said with Full House it brought same sex parents together on a sitcom with Mitchell and Cameron as the gay couple with an adopted Asian baby. Jay and Gloria both provide the divorcees, and Claire and Phil are a strong woman with a very submissive husband and to add on that it is a very dysfunctional family. Basically the show embodies a rich but diverse definition of family held by contemporary
In the essay “The Incredible Shrinking Family”, the author Robert B. Reich shows that because of today’s living economic conditions, families now are getting smaller and also they don’t spend enough time together. The author believes that the tradition family -a father and a mother who are happily married and spend enough time with their children- may be no longer existed. The author reports that Family members are seeing a lot less of each other. Children are left in day care, because fathers are not the only ones who work, many women work too according to the writer. Reich points out that parents are consumed by their work, and even when they are together they look preoccupied by work. Therefore -Reich says- families eat together a lot less
Two families are referenced in the movie Sweet Home Alabama. The first family includes Melanie, her mother and her...
According to Richard Charles (2001) “the effectiveness of family systems theory rests not much on empirical research but on clinical reports of positive treatment outcomes, the personal benefits experienced by the families that underwent this kind of treatment, and the elegance of Bowen’s theory” (p. 279). Bowen’s family systems theory views the family as an emotional unit and is a theory of human behavior. Systems thinking are used to describe the complex interactions in the unit. However, the client’s ability to differentiate himself/herself from the family of origin is the basis for Bowen’s family systems theory. In addition, the primary focus for growth within the emotional system is differentiation of self. Differentiation of self will be explored as well as how it relates to a church congregation.
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.