A Reflection of the Changing Times in Our Society - Essay Example

Modern Bad: A Reflection of the Changing Times in Our Society One of the most interesting reading materials that found its way in to our is the reading material titled “Americas Favorite Shows” by the Nielsen Corporation. It is interesting to find out that the American television programs all managed to translate the way the American family dynamic was changing in the real world on television. Starting from the American - Puerto Rican family or racial married coupling of “I Love Lucy” in 1955 all the way to the highly changed family landscape presented in “Modern Family”, these shows all managed to influence society in a positive way at a time when it was necessary for a loud and intelligent voice to be heard by many. For the intents and purposes of discussing how television shows can be relied upon to reflect the changing times in our society, this paper will concentrate on how the show “Modern Family” has helped make the changed family dynamic in American society more acceptable and understandable to everyone concerned. In order to understand why “Modern Family” is an important voice of modern times, we must first look into the history of the basic American family oriented situational comedy. Classic shows such as “I Love Lucy”, and “Family Ties” all depicted the nucleus family as being that of a married man and woman, along with their children. Of the aforementioned shows, the one that was most likely viewed as having pushed the envelope somehow was “I Love Lucy” with its depiction of a family composed of an American mother and a Puerto Rican father with some Spanish words being used on an occasional basis. On the other hand, “Family Ties” showed us how times had changed for the American family during the 80s. Mostly because of the family dynamic of the show that portrayed reformed Berkley hippies as parents to 3 children. Two girls who were democratic in their point of view, and a son, who was thoroughly conservative and a staunch Republican. These shows all have a common denominator, they were all considered trailblazing during their time and allowed for an evolution in the understanding of the dynamic of a basic American family unit. Fast forward to the 21st century and the family dynamic has changed all the more for the Americans. The LGBT community have become more visible and powerful in both the halls of congress, the entertainment world, and society in general. We now live in an era where marriage is no longer defined as simply being between a man and a woman. Various states in America already acknowledge same-sex marriage and have afforded them equal rights and protection under the laws. The LGBT community has gained enough representation to even allow them to create a unique family unit by allowing them to adopt in order to have children. Our society has indeed come a long way from the carefree “I Love Lucy” and politically charged “Family Ties” days to emerge with a highly evolved understanding of what creates a family unit and what the word family is all about. In order to see how embraced and ensconced the idea of the same-sex family has been by society, one only need to look at the current programming on television. Specifically, at the situational comedy “Modern Family”. “Modern Family” has been highly influential in spreading the word about the fast evolving and accepted definition of a family unit in todays America. It accurately represents the existing family units in our society, that of the “nuclear” family unit of a man and woman with their children, a “step” family unit coupled with a May-December marriage of a much older man to a younger, sexy woman, and the gay relationship that has resulted in the adoption of a child and a same - sex wedding. During the previous century, gay marriage was a hotly debated topic that often resulted in assaults and lawsuits questioning the governments right to define the composition of a family and who can get married. All of the controversies of the past when it came to same-sex marriage are all but a thing of the past now. These days, it is not uncommon to hear of a gay couple with a child, or a May-December marriage with stepchildren all around, alongside the commonly accepted family unit of a man and a woman with children. “Modern Family” has, for all intents and purposes, served to help educate the people about the changed American family dynamic by presenting it in a serious yet hilarious manner to the public. By allowing all the socially existing family units to be represented on the show, those who may still be closed minded about certain issues now have a venue from where they can learn more accurate information about their perceived biases about the relationships. In our society, people no longer view the family dynamic through rose colored glasses. Each type of family unit has its challenges that it has to overcome and it is no secret that these challenges are not easily solved. By portraying the typical problems that families go trough via its depiction on “Modern Family”, people now understand that regardless of the type of family unit that a person comes from, the problems and its solutions as the same. This is a far cry from the historical portrayal of the family unit that made all the problems quite simple and easily resolved at the end of 30 minutes. No. “Modern Family” has taught us that Hollywood can rewrite old scripts using standard storyline but make it more relevant to the times being depicted. Take for example the storyline on the show that had Cameron and Mitchell, the shows resident gay couple, dealing with the fact that their daughter overheard one of them using a bad word and now the child was using the word like she was born saying it. While the past incarnations of the family oriented shows would have shown the nervous parents trying to get their child to stop using the word altogether, “Modern Family” dealt with the problem the modern way. The modern way being that the show dared to acknowledge that we all swear and those people with children, be they gay or straight, will eventually foul up and the child will overhear them using the word. Rather than trying to get the child to stop using the word, Cam and Mitch acknowledged instead that swearing was a normal part of life and one should not be ashamed of it. The comical part of the story arc came when they did their best to try and stop their 3-year old from swearing in public. That to me, is the strongest indication that “Modern Family” is an excellent show when it comes to depicting current era that we live in. The show will go on to become one of the classic of television cable viewing eventually, and it will serve as a perfect example of how television managed to mount a show about the changed American family dynamic in a way that it helped educate society into not only accepting unions that were once perceived as taboo, but also accepting the unions and its resulting family units as a “modern family” of our era. Read More