Modern Family Not That Modern: An Analysis Of Traditional Ideologies In Modern Family

As a popular American TV sitcom, Modern Family has won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series for several times. It takes the mockumentary style, which “records” the interesting life in the three families. Since it started to air, Modern Family has received positive comments. It is commented that Modern Family presents the reality of American families. As there are positive portrayals of same-sex partners adopting a baby and cross-cultural May-December marriage in the show, Modern Family is regarded as demonstrating the cutting-edge values of the society, meaning that it deserved the fame of a modern TV show. However, this thesis argues that the ideology behind the show is traditional despite of the seeming modern elements.It is argued that the purpose of ideological criticism is to reveal the myth behind the seeming natural and unassailable order. Cultural critic Kellner thinks that besides class power, ideological criticism should also be extended to cover texts or representations that legitimate gender and ethnicity order. By analyzing the representation in Modern Family, this thesis explores the traditional ideology from three perspectives: gender, family and racial attitude. The main body of the thesis is composed of three chapters. In Chapter One, women's image and masculinity in the show is analyzed. It proposes that women's image is still greatly influenced by the patriarch discourse and traditional masculinity is identified and strengthened in the show. Chapter Two analyzes the structure and familial value in each family and argues that it is the traditional nuclear family value that constructs the image of the three families. Chapter Three analyzes the stereotypical portrayal of the Latinos and proposes that the show tends the issue of minority ethnicity in a conservative way.