Essay Example on Families Evolve: Changing Gender Roles and Acceptance of Different Sexualities

Introduction

Around five decades ago, the ideal family dynamic consisted of a man as the provider, a woman as the caregiver, and the children. However, these dynamic and societal expectations have evolved over the years. The gender roles and the ideal family makeup have changed. Society has accepted different sexualities, especially with the legalization of same-sex marriages in the United States. Various entertainment media, including movies and TV shows, attempt to portray different aspects of the traditional and non-traditional families and personal relationship structures. Among these media forms, is an American television show titled Modern Family.

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The show by American Broadcasting Company (ABC) offers a humorous but honest approach to the dysfunctional family setups in the 21st century. It is based on the Pritchett-Dunphy-Tucker clan, a large but beautifully blended family featuring Jay Pritchett and his second wife, Gloria Pritchett, their son, Joe, and Jay’s stepson, Manny. The show also touches on Jay’s adult children, Mitchell Pritchett and Claire Dunphy and their spouses and children. Through this family, the show portrays the non-traditional family ideals and the modern struggles in the 21st century.

Jay Pritchett and His Relationships

Jay’s family portrays some common societal issues, such as unconventional relationships. Jay divorces his first wife. Divorce was often stigmatized and discouraged in traditional society. It is still illegal in some communities. Over the years, however, people have become more open to the idea of divorce, as depicted in the Modern Family series. Jay’s children, Claire and Mitchell, support their parents’ divorce, and society accepts the situation.

Additionally, Jay remarries a younger woman, Gloria. They have a significant age difference of thirty years. Their marriage signifies the trophy wife taboo since Jay is in his 60s and is extremely wealthy, while Gloria is in her 30s. The trophy wife taboo surrounds the situation whereby a woman marries an older man, especially for his wealth (Dominguez-Martinez, Jones, & Walther, 2020). Such marriages are stigmatized and shunned in traditional society. Gloria’s character attempts to dismantle this taboo by portraying a healthy relationship based on support and love, demonstrating that age is just a number, and love can come in all forms.

Jay gets a child in his second marriage with Gloria. This is another unconventional family scenario portrayed in this show bearing in mind that Jay is in his 60s. The show depicts the struggles surrounding this situation. Jay struggles with the fact that he has a young child at his old age, and the rest of the parents at the child’s, Joe’s school are younger than him.

Mitchell Pritchett and His Relationships

Modern Family depicts the issues and unconventional ideals surrounding a same-sex through Mitchell Pritchett and his partner, Cameron Tucker. Jay Pritchett, Mitchell’s father, plays the role of a typical conservative patriarch against the relationship. Same-sex marriages are a significant conflict in modern society and are unacceptable in conventional societies (Erhart, 2016). Despite the fact that same-sex marriages were recently legalized in the United States, many people are still against it, and most countries do not feel that it is a proper lifestyle. Later in the series, the producer shows Mitchell and Cameron finally getting married, and Jay finally accepting their relationship due to his love for his son.

Adoption was stigmatized among the older generations, especially if the adopted child had a different genetic makeup or was from a different race (Stoiljkovic, 2019). In the film, Mitchell, and Cameron, both Americans, adopt a Vietnamese baby girl since same-sex couples could not procreate. At first, when the family learned that they were thinking of adopting, they reacted with apprehension. However, when Jay, Claire, and the rest of the family see the baby, Lily, they became supportive.

Claire Dunphy and Her Relationships

Claire, Jay Pritchett’s daughter and Mitchell’s sister, portray unconventional marriage characteristics in terms of gender roles. Claire takes over as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at her father’s company. She acts as the responsible and high-strung parent who is always on top of everything happening with the children. Her husband, Phil, on the other hand, is a soft-hearted realtor. Traditionally, the man is expected to be the strict provider who enforces the rules, and the wife is supposed to be the empathetic caregiver (Drushel, 2018). This marriage shows that a lot of marriages in modern society do not fit the ideals of traditional societal norms.

Applying Terminology

Several terminologies can be applied to the families and relationships portrayed in the Modern Family television show. The unconventional family and relationship dynamics depicted in the series include same-sex relationships, non-traditional gender roles, divorce, adoption, and cohabitation. The creators use this show to explore the diverse nature of human relationships and highlight the difference between modern-day families and those of the older generations. The film shows that all the extended family members show constant love and support for each other despite the unconventional nature of each of their relationships. For instance, Jay is against same-sex marriage, but he always supports their decisions, and eventually, his love for his son overcomes his expectations.

References

Dominguez-Martinez, R., Jones, S. D., & Walther, C. S. (2020). The Non-traditional Family. In International Handbook on the Demography of Marriage and the Family (pp. 201-213). Springer, Cham.

Drushel, B. E. (2018). “Modern” Is as Modern Does: Modern Family and the Disruption of Gender Binaries. In Mapping Queer Space (s) of Praxis and Pedagogy (pp. 169-182). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Erhart, J. (2016). Gay Fathers in Modern Family and The New Normal. Queer TV in the 21st Century: Essays on Broadcasting from Taboo to Acceptance, 128.

Stoiljkovic, A. S. (2019). Representation of race, gender and LGBTQ+ on Modern Family.