Modern Family takes place in Los Angeles, California. The show is based off of a “typical” modern family in today’s time, or what the writers of the show perceive it as. The show is based off of one big family, but is divided into 3 subfamilies to portray each of their lives. The main characters include Jay who is the patriarch and he is remarried to a much younger Colombian woman Gloria, who has a son from a previous relationship, Manny.
Jay’s daughter Claire, a homemaker, is married to Phil, a real estate agent, which they have three children; Haley, the stereotypical teenager, Alex, a nerdy, smart kid, and Luke, the outsider and the only son. Jay’s son Mitchel, a lawyer and his life partner Cameron, have adopted an Asian baby, Lily. The families are all upper-middle class and have a variety of personalities that are not comparable to other shows. This show has mixed families, different ethnic backgrounds, and gay characters. This show portrays what evolutionary media and realism together placed on the TV screen.
This show doesn’t really show any financial issues but shows more life issues such as adopting a child, raising teenagers, and preparing for a baby at an older age. This show depicts the modern family as an upper class family that is able to afford all of life’s luxuries including a nice home, nice car, good schools, nice clothes, extracurricular activities, college for the kids, etc. Although these are the things that I believe a modern family today shoots for, I’m not sure it always plays out exactly this way. Modern Family ignores the growing gap between the rich and poor in the United States.
The median income of the true modern family cannot afford the affluent lifestyles presented in this show. Again, television has long enticed audiences with the proverbial carrot of consumer culture. But for a show that attempts to represent the changing face of the American family unit, Modern family makes no such effort socio-economically. Instead, viewers are universally trained to identify with the lives and struggles of the economically elite. What makes Modern Family’s omission of working class culture especially troublesome is that it also asserts itself as a show of social conscience, perpetually pushing cultural boundaries.
Yet as it does so, it simultaneously pushes the working class family to the periphery of both popular culture and, in turn, progressive struggles for social change. This comes at a time when working class issues are already inaccurately pitted against causes such as environmentalism and immigration, both reoccurring issues on Modern Family. To leave the poor and working class out of the show is to leave them out of an important political conversation. Such omission only exacerbates the perceived antagonism between progressivism and the working class.
For these reasons, it is understa why some working-class families may fail to identify with such shows and the issues they address. In reality, there is nothing elitist about cultural tolerance or the desire to preserve our planet. Revenge mostly takes place in the Hamptons, but sometimes in Manhattan. The show is based off a group of wealthy individuals living in luxurious beach houses in the Hamptons. The main plot of the show is young woman named Emily Thorne, who’s real name is Amanda Clarke, who is seeking to get revenge for her father’s death and framing as a terrorist from the 9/11 attacks.
During the show, there have been four main female characters and five main male characters. Two of the female characters have obtained their wealth through the men in their lives, one through marriage and one through her father. The other female characters either work as a male’s secretary or are running a family business. The women are represented as very wealthy, always wearing extravagant clothes, driving nice cars, and living in multi-million dollar homes. The men on the show are very powerful, owning huge corporations, as well as being the ultimate decision makers.
This show does not portray the “normal” family since the normal family doesn’t live in a multi-million dollar home, but it does portray the way that television most always makes the men powerful and the women homemakers. The classist stereotypes portrayed are viciously ripe. Each class has social limitations keeping them from successfully climbing the social ladder. On the way up, they knock each other down with false witness statements and tampered evidence for a chance to get closer to the family at the center of it all, the Grayson’s. Emily’s main target is the Grayson family and Grayson Global, their economic empire.
The Grayson’s are an extreme representation of the 1%. Victoria Grayson, wife of Conrad Grayson, was once in love with Emily’s deceased father before she falsely accused him of the terrorist attacks. The economic inequality and injustice portrayed in Revenge is sickening, yet viewers cannot get enough. What is it about the top 1% that keeps viewers from peeling away from the screen? Wealth, beauty and status are everything. Superficiality and materialistic greed are cultural staples in pop culture media.
In “Revenge,” money is everything. Revenge” exposes the political influence and societal power that wealthy white families have in America. In conclusion, media has a vast impact of how gender, race, and class are viewed in American society. Desperate Housewives, Modern Family, and Revenge are three shows out of many, that depict how gender, race, and class are perceived by many. Desperate Housewives demonstrates the life of empowering women coping with their day-to-day domestic lives. Although there are many stereotypes in this show, I do believe that there are a lot of episodes that send inspiring messages to the women viewers on the show.
Desperate Housewives mainly focuses on the different roles that women take upon. This show also perceives most of the families as old-fashioned families with stay at home moms and such. On the other hand, Modern Family depicts modernized families. Although I love this show, I don’t like how almost everything is perfect. There are never any major problems with anyone. Instead, I see a lot of mockery out of the problems that do arise in the show. Lastly, Revenge exhibits the scandalous and lavish life of the 1% elite group.
There are a lot of stereotypes in this show as well, showing how these rich men are the bread makers and the women are the money spenders. Again, although this is one of my favorite shows, I found myself sometimes not paying attention to the actual episodes and being envious of the life that all the characters on the show lived. All in all, these three shows definitely can put a big impact on other people’s lives and how they perceive gender, race and class. Although these three shows are well-liked by many, they don’t always perceive the right messages.
Some of these shows perceive life to be perfect when in reality, a lot of people don’t get the luxury of living life like the characters on these shows do. In some instances these shows exhibit some issues that they make big deals of, however a lot of the viewers may think that those problems are nothing compared to the issues they have. The media does have a huge impact on how gender, race, and class are viewed in American Society, and my opinion is that the media should have shows that viewers can further relate to, not be envious of.
