1
5
The Portrayal of Families and Relationships
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Name: Course Code
Professor’s Name
Date
The Portrayal of Families and Relationships
A family refers to a kinship unit comprised of people related through blood, marital, or adaptive structures. The interrelationships between people in the families’ social institutions can be subdivided based on the connectivity of the members. The nuclear family consists of two adults living with their children who are either biological, adopted, or stepchildren (Thomas, Liu & Umberson, 2017). Thus, the nuclear family is a one-tier institution that comprises parents and their children. At the same time, there is the extended family board comprising uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins. At the same time, there is the single-parent family, which comprises one parent solely handling the day-to-day responsibilities of bringing up the children (Thomas, Liu & Umberson, 2017). Also, there are same-sex couple families which consist of parents of similar sex and their children. Besides, there are stepfamilies whereby one or both adults bring in children from a previous relationship, blended to form one family (Thomas, Liu & Umberson, 2017). The diverse family types and characteristics are represented in the entertainment media variedly with the evolution of societal norms. This paper aims to analyze the family characteristics outlined in the Modern Family show.
The Modern Family show was produced by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan and aired for eleven seasons. In the show, the nuclear, blended and same-sex families have been incorporated, making it viable for the paper’s analysis. On the one hand, we have a nuclear family in Phil Dunphy’s marriage with Claire, having three children; Haley, Alex, and Luke. On the other hand, the show has a blended family between Claire’s dad Jay Pritchett marriage with Gloria (Smith-Driggs, 2017). Jay had two adult children while coming into the marriage; Claire and Mitchell. Gloria came into the marriage with a son, Manny. Additionally, Gloria and Jay have a new baby boy, which culminates the blended family. A same-sex family is introduced in Mitchell’s marriage with Cameron, in which they adopted an Asian child Lily (Sith-Driggs, 2017). Therefore, the Modern Family show aligns with the contemporary world in which there are different types of families and cross-cultural perspectives.
In the contemporary world, the family social institution blends in diverse elements that yield in its functional acceleration and, at the same time, cause its dysfunction. The Modern Family show outlines the changing societal norms where the divorce rates are high in the contemporary world. Jay and Gloria have been divorced before, which perfectly illustrates family dysfunctional ties in the contemporary world (Smith-Driggs, 2017. In the 21st century, the contemporary media has incorporated diverse distinctive elements in content production to establish acceptance of the changing societal norms. Similarly, the Modern Family show exhibits some of the diverse elements that are common in contemporary families. For instance, the inclusion of the different family types is one element that establishes the acceptance of the changing societal norms. Traditionally, same-sex families were an abomination in society. However, in the recent past, same-sex relationships and marriages have been legalized in numerous countries globally (Carlile & Paechter, 2018). The legalization of same-sex marriages is an establishment of the acceptance of LGBTQ people. Subsequently, the Modern Family show exemplifies the global acceptance of same-sex marriage through Mitchell and Cameron’s marriage. Although Jay resents his son Mitchell for being gay, he eventually comes to terms with it and accepts his son for who he is (Smith-Driggs, 2017). Jay’s resentment of his gay son is present in today’s families whereby some families reject their homosexual daughters or sons, but in the long run, they accept them. Additionally, there has been cultural diffusion in contemporary families through inter-cultural marriages or the adoption of children. The Modern Family show incorporates cultural diffusion through Mitchell and Cameron’s adoption of the Vietnamese child. Therefore, the Modern Family show depicts contemporary families whereby diverse family types and cultures have been accepted.
Moreover, in the contemporary world, wives take part in their families’ economic prospects, unlike in traditional families when they stay home and care for their children. Subsequently, the Modern Family show ensured that it captured the changing roles of the wives in the contemporary world through Claire. In the show, Claire is outlined as a great mother and wife to her husband and children (Smith-Driggs, 2017). Claire takes care of the children and the household duties. However, Claire finds it hard to re-enter the job market after taking a very long time off while caring for her children. Claire finally goes to work in her father’s organization, which stipulates the women taking part in the commercial world (Smith-Driggs, 2017). Furthermore, in families, the siblings can have distinct character traits. In the Modern Family show, Haley and Alex represent the contrary character traits that siblings in a family have. On the one hand, one of the sisters is a ditz and loves beauty and glamour, while the other is smart but not so much attracted to the beauty concepts.
In conclusion, the Modern Family show depicts diverse family characteristics that are present in the contemporary world. The shift in societal norms has yielded in diverse family structures, cultural diffusion and the acceptance of aspects that were deemed taboo in the past. Additionally, the economic perspective is changing from the man being the sole breadwinner to women also getting employed. Besides, the diversity of character traits among siblings has been depicted in the Modern Family show.
References
Carlile, A., & Paechter, C. (2018). LGBTQI parented families and schools: Visibility, representation, and pride. Routledge.
Smith-Driggs, E. (2017, June 15). Modern Family Promotes The Acceptance Of All Types Of Families. The New York Experience. Retrieved December 1, 2021, from http://nybyu.com/pop-culture-analysis/modern-family-promotes-the-acceptance-of-all-types-of-families/.
Thomas, P. A., Liu, H., & Umberson, D. (2017). Family relationships and well-being. Innovation in aging, 1(3), igx025. https://academic.oup.com/innovateage/article-abstract/1/3/igx025/4617833
The post 1 5 The Portrayal of Families and Relationships Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation appeared first on PapersSpot.