What is modern about Modern Family?
Before I became an habitué on Twitter and Facebook, I usually discovered interesting TV series by accident or, more often, through the awards like the Emmys and Golden Globes. It was through awards that I discovered Modern Family, a series who received a lot of praise right after it first aired.
Sure, times change, and entertainment has to change, too. If Hollywood kept showing the regular nuclear family that was the focus of shows like “I Love Lucy” and “Father Knows Best”, viewers wouldn’t like it. Sitcoms are popular when they are relatable, and today the nuclear family is not relatable anymore. Hollywood needed a modern family.
And so we got one in 2009. The new family structures are there: the gay couple, the adopted kid, the older man married to a younger Latin woman, the son of the young Latin woman who is now part of the family dynamics. I wouldn’t say that the series was groundbreaking with this set of characters — because I hardly ever use the word “groundbreaking” — but it was a nice shift.
So, something went wrong?
Like most series, “Modern Family” lost its initial magic as the time passed. Sure, I still watch it — I call it my “comfort series”. But there are things that bother me.
Let’s start with the stereotypes. Gloria (Sofía Vergara) is seen as the golddigger wife, a vulgar woman from Colombia who marries a much older man and speaks English with a heavy accent — an accent that Sofía herself showed she doesn’t have in real life. A lot of opportunities — more in Awards Shows than in the series, which is shameful — to show her beautiful body are used. They can’t be wasted, after all, it affects the numbers, right?
It was often pointed that Claire (Julie Bowen) being a stay-at-home mom was a big problem, but now she is the manager of the family business and I believe this issue was fixed. Claire’s children, however, are very stereotyped. Haley (Sarah Hylland), the oldest, is the dumb pretty girl whose relationships don’t last very long. Alex (Ariel Winter) is her opposite: nerd, not worried about her appearance, unpopular at school and with boys. Unfortunately, more screen time is given to Haley than to Alex, and the latter could have developed better in later seasons.
That being said, I have to confess that my favorite characters are Phil (Ty Burrel), Claire’s goofy husband, and the couple Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler-Ferguson).
What NOT to do in an episode about feminism
Many “Modern Family” episodes were really good, with a lot of funny moments and a few to make you cry. I especially like “Connection Lost”, a season 6 episode made totally through FaceTime. But it’s not always that the series gets it right, and recently a cringe-worth episode, “All Things Being Equal”, was aired during the eighth season.
The plot revolves around the Women’s March. All the ladies in the family — Claire, Gloria, Haley, Alex and Lilly (Cameron’s and Mitchell’s daughter, played by Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) — are going to the march to support feminism. Gloria enters an alley in order to escape a traffic jam, and what happens is the biggest challenge a woman may face in order to become empowered. Do you know what it could be?
If you answer that they have to change a flat tire, you’re right.
At the same time, Luke (Nolan Gould), Claire’s and Phil’s son, and Manny (Rico Rodriguez), Gloria’s son, are making signs for the Women’s March. Luke is there only to be seen and put this “voluntary work for a cause” in his resumée. Manny truly believes in and supports feminism. Until Luke starts talking to a girl Manny likes, and who is very passionated about equality…
It’s sad to see that this episode was writing by a duo — a woman and a man — and directed by a woman. They are helping propagate the anti-feminist ideas — those that always appear when feminism is a topic: “then women should serve in the army, too” or, as it is common to be heard in Brazil, “so go carry a cement bag on your shoulders”. These are wrong and stupid ideas about equality. Feminism is about equal opportunities and equal choices.
It was even sadder to read the comments about this episode at the site that was invaded by trolls and was once known as IMDb, the cinephiles’ heaven. Yes, there were many people complaining about the theme — but saying that it was “Clinton propaganda”, “liberal agenda” and “forcing believes up on viewers”. The commenters said that the episode used “debunked myths” — like the FACT that women earn less than men for the same job??? — to defend feminism. Well, if it was a defense of feminism, it is the worst defense I’ve ever seen.
Do you want to know what happens in the end, so you don’t have to watch the episode and roll your eyes every two minutes? Well, a mysterious lady dressed as a mechanic appears in the alley and help the women to change the flat tire. All women help — and the mysterious lady enters Gloria’s car and steals it. A wasted opportunity to show sorority. And Luke, who apparently is now also interested in fighting for equality, runs away when his crush says that she won’t have sex until equality is reached. What could possibly be the lesson here? That feminists will use a sex strike as a weapon? That no man can be interested in equality if he’s not rewarded with sex later?
“Modern Family” has done it right many times. This episode really disappointed me, and for the right reasons — not the wrong reasons pointed by the IMDb commenters. In times like the ones we’re living in, an episode like this is the last thing we need. We need forward thinking. We need to be REALLY modern. Maybe it’s time for a series called Progressive Family?
