Television Sitcoms: Traditional Families And The Modern Family

Television has given us the opportunity to view our lives through a character. Television networks are always coming up with new sitcoms that we could relate ourselves, and our families to while continuing to watch for entertainment. Since it premiered in 2009 Modern Family has been hit sitcom winning many Emmy awards. Modern family is a comedy sitcom that took a modern approach of what families look like in the 21st century. Television networks know how important it is for sitcom creators portrayed the family, because television sitcoms are a reflection on many different ways society shapes families and it determines what constitutes a family. In American modern culture the definition of family doesn’t necessary mean that family has to be

Tradition families are when a father is the financial provider of the family, the mother is the stayed at home mom, and normally having one or more children in the family. For example, in the early 1970s shows like leave it to beaver focused on what the so called American dream was, which at that time was having a traditional family. Leave it to beaver is a perfect example on how television networks have viewed what a traditional family was like. The family was the only breadwinner of the family, the mother was the stay at home mom who’s only responsibilities where her

From the outside, the family structure might look like any ordinary family who has a typical gender role assignment; Phil Dunphy is the father who financially provides for his family by working as a real estate agent. Claire Dunphy is the stay at home mom who takes care of her three kids, the family schedules, and the household duties. Throughout the seasons Claire’s character develops into a strong workingwomen while still trying managing her responsibilities as a mother. In the text “Real Populists of the U.S.A.” from the book Signs of the life in the USA the author explains, “Television are programs that focus on fundamentally working-class occupations and viewers are being shown what a life is like for ordinary working-class people” (Video Dreams 265). In reality most family come from two working parents, with modern family making one of the family have two parents who provide the income for the family, it makes it easier for families to relate to the show. Gauri Ganesh a writer from FEM, UCLA’s feminist newsmagazine agrees that the writers making Claire a working mother is great for the show, she quotes “the writer shaped her into a modern, well-rounded mother by showing her as a woman with interests besides her family”. The sitcom does a great job showing the Dunphy family who once where a