The old-fashioned vision of a typical American family has evolved drastically over time. The black-and-white image of a nuclear family and their dog Buddy, happily standing behind their white picket fence is fading out. This overused 1950 's depiction of popular families no longer applies to most Americans today because our culture has progressed towards equality. The television sitcom series Modern Family attempts to portray a more contemporary view of American families. However, despite their aim at presenting modern families, the show still emphasizes stereotypes and outdated ideologies of gender roles. In this analysis I will use gender criticism to explore how Modern Family reinforces gender identities, patriarchy and hegemonic masculinity.
The award-winning series Modern Family features the lives of three fictional families who form a large extended family. Aside from the clever and humorous writing, the show is very popular because the characters are easy to relate to. At the surface the families appear to be …show more content…
However, Mittell describes dumb blondes on television as "attractive women lacking brains" (336). Like Haley, this popular type stereotype becomes the object of laughter because they 're commonly confused and lack common sense.
Haley is often the victim of clever pranks by her sister Alex. In the episode "Game Changer" Phil is explaining how an iPad is like "a movie theater, library and a music store all rolled into one." Alex turns to Haley and makes fun of her by explaining, "A library is a place where people get books." Haley responds, "A movie theater is a place where people go on dates." This scene reinforces the dumb blonde stereotype on Haley. Alex is implying that her sister is too stupid to know what a library is. Haley 's response implies that she has been on many dates because she is
The award-winning series Modern Family features the lives of three fictional families who form a large extended family. Aside from the clever and humorous writing, the show is very popular because the characters are easy to relate to. At the surface the families appear to be …show more content…
However, Mittell describes dumb blondes on television as "attractive women lacking brains" (336). Like Haley, this popular type stereotype becomes the object of laughter because they 're commonly confused and lack common sense.
Haley is often the victim of clever pranks by her sister Alex. In the episode "Game Changer" Phil is explaining how an iPad is like "a movie theater, library and a music store all rolled into one." Alex turns to Haley and makes fun of her by explaining, "A library is a place where people get books." Haley responds, "A movie theater is a place where people go on dates." This scene reinforces the dumb blonde stereotype on Haley. Alex is implying that her sister is too stupid to know what a library is. Haley 's response implies that she has been on many dates because she is