FAMILY MEDIA PAPER 8

FAMILY MEDIA PAPER 8

Family media paper

Modern Family is a popular family comedy set in contemporary society. It features many types of nuclear families in the modern world. It also features an extended family with three branches of the nuclear family. One of the nuclear families is headed by Jay Pritchett, who is married to Gloria, a young female from Colombia. The family has a teenage son named Manny, who was from Gloria’s previous marriage and Joe, their biological son. The other nuclear family consists of a gay couple named Mitchel and Tucker with their daughter lily. The two view each other in terms of personalities and are seen to enjoy their role as parents to Lily.

The other nuclear family consists of Jay’s daughter, Claire, her husband Phil, their son and two daughters. Claire’s family is a perfect example of the traditional nuclear family. This family values an honest and open relationship with their children. However, their teenage daughter, who, according to the parents, is growing up too fast, their high-spirited son and their intelligent daughter makes it difficult for the family to achieve this. Jay’s family is unconventional in that; he is in his second marriage. However, the considerable age gap between him and Gloria gives him the challenge to adapt to Gloria’s ways of approaching life with vigor. Their cultural differences do not prevent them from enjoying their marriage. The TV show episodes revolve around the modern families that endure many realistic events.

The events and conflicts in the story are seen from a hilarious perspective. The families are seen to be in constant communication and with the community around them. The families’ issues and experiences demonstrate various types of family theories, such as functionalism, conflict, developmental, and feminist theories.

Functionalism theory

The modern families presented in the TV show modern family demonstrates functionalism family theory. This theory holds that a family is like a system or a living organism. This means that if one part of the family stops functioning, the other parts are also affected (Allen, 2017). For instance, if a lung stops to work, other parts of the body will stop functioning too because of the lack of sufficient oxygen. This theory explains the importance of healthy social interactions in a family and society at large. In Modern Family, the importance of healthy social interaction is adequately demonstrated. This is especially true in Claire’s family. Phil and Claire value a strong family tie, and this is among the reasons they believe being honest with each other and with their children strengthen the family. Even though it is challenging to achieve this with naughty children, the parents are seen to struggle to maintain unity in the family. The parents believe that for them to function as a happy family, they all have to be united. This theory is based on the systematic assumption, and it holds that families are connected through communication. Clair and Phil believe that proper communication that fosters honesty will keep them connected. This is among the reason why whenever a family had an issue, if affected the whole family. Phi and Claire insisted on talking to their children after they walked in on them in their bedroom. To the children, talking about the incidence was not essential, and they wanted the parents to ignore the incidence. However, since the incidence psychologically affected Phil and Clare, it affected the entire family by created an awkward situation. As such, they decided to talk to the children, and as a result, they went back to be a happy family.

Mitchell and Cameron also demonstrate functionalism family theory in the TV show. The couple believes that they have to be united for them to take care of their daughter effectively. This family demonstrates that if one member of the family is affected, all the members are affected.

For instance, if one does not perform his duty as expected, the family will be destroyed. This is among the reasons that pushed the couple to negotiate their expectations just like other parents in society. They negotiate their roles in taking care of Lily. They understand that, for them to achieve family goals such as raising their daughter well, they both have to play their expected role. Failure to accomplish this may cause conflict in the family, which may lead to the family breakable. The level of interaction between the two fathers shows the importance of communication and unity in the family.

Conflict theory

The other family theory that is well shown in the TV show is the conflict theory. This theory focuses on how family members are faced with different challenges (Coser, 2017). The theory assumes that in all families, members struggle for resources and power. This means that as family members grow, they tend to compete for wealth, power, and resources, and this leads to conflicts among them. According to this theory, most of the family conflicts are caused by inequality and patriarchal ideologies (Farrington & Chertok, 2017). Some members of the families are seen to be in conflict in the TV show proving that disputes are inevitable in any family. An example is a conflict between Mitch and Cam after the honeymoon. The two are in conflict because of their social expectations. For instance, Cam acts in an extremely loving way and expects Mitch to reciprocate. According to Mitch, Cams acting as overly sweet and loving was annoying and embarrassing. As a result, this created conflict in the family. In the end, Mitch got to understand the reasons behind Cam’s weird behaviors, and they reconciled.

Developmental theory

The family developmental theory is also well applied in “Modern Family.” This theory based on the fact that change is inevitable in any family. As the family members move through the course of life, they are expected to change. The theory is meant to explain the changes experienced in the typical family. For instance, the theory suggests that every family starts the two parents who later procreate (Allen, 2017). After this, the children are expected to grow, bringing more changes to the family. This evident in Modern Family. For instance, in this TV show, all the families begin with marriage as the beginning of the family life cycle, as the family theory suggests. Mitch is married to Cam, Jay is married to Gloria, and Claire is married to Phyl. The theory also indicates that the start of the new family is usually marked with procreation, which gives the married couples a new role of being parents. This is also seen in all the families in Modern Family. All the families in the film have children. This includes Mitch and Cam, who decide to adopt lily after their honeymoon. Jay and Gloria also get another son Joe. According to developmental theory, procreation helps new families to move forward to the stage of parenthood. This theory also claims that a family created by married spouses ends when both parents die. After the children have grown up, the theory explains that they also get married and form their nuclear families too. This is seen in the film after Jay’s children Mitch and Clair grew up and created new families. This theory is applicable to many traditional family setups. However, in the current society, families have experienced various changes. For instance, currently, gay couples can raise children as seen in Modern Family. Moreover, married couples do not need to raise their biological children as they can adopt or decide to raise children from their previous marriages.

Social exchange theory

The social exchange theory is also demonstrated in the TV show Modern Family. This theory postulates that people related based on cost-benefit analysis (Wang & Gruenewald, 2019). This means that before people decide to form families, they analyze the benefits they will gain in the marriage. According to the theory, this does not only happened when people enter a relationship, but it also occurs in the subsequent stages. This implies that everyone has something of value that they plan to bring in a family, making them inter-dependent. This theory is based on the reciprocity idea. This means that the benefits obtained in the marriage are returned. In this TV, Jay and Gloria’s marriage show an example of reciprocity in a family. For instance, it is clear that Jay married Gloria for companionship. Conversely, Gloria married Jay for financial support. Jay in the family’s breadwinner while Gloria is a stay-at-home mom. The coupe does not have a problem with this arrangement in their marriage. This implies that their benefits are well reciprocated. The idea of power as a concept in social exchange theory is also evident in this film. According to this concept, in any relationship, one person usually gets his or her way regardless of their partner’s resistance. In this film, this is portrayed through the patriarchal relationships in the families. This is a film set in modern society where gender equality tends to weaken patriarchy. Despite the resistance from females in the TV show, the males have still managed to be the head of the family. This is especially seen in Phil and Claire’s marriage. Sometimes Phil feels like Claire wants to take his role as the head of the family through her controlling behaviors. Despite this, Phil has still managed to be the head of the household. The concept of cost-benefit analysis in this theory is also revealed in the TV show. For instance, the family of Mitch and Mac, are always seen to be in conflict, Mitch is sometimes irritated by Cam’s preference for Public Display of Affection (PDA), and this hurts Cam. However, despite the constant arguments, the couple still loves each other. This means the couples chose to stay with each other because the benefits they get from the marriage outweigh the costs. To them, their companionship is more beneficial than their issues in marriage. This is among the factors that have made their marriage to survive.

Feminism Theory

The idea of feminist theory is also revealed in Modern Family. This theory is based on the struggle for gender equality (Fitzgerald, 2014). In this film, the images of males and females have been used to reflect the societal belief regarding masculinity, sexuality, and feminism, just like many family movies. This modern sitcom seems to resist the conventional representation of gender identities. The different types of families presented in the show are seen to defy the traditional standards of family structure. An example of this is the gay marriage of Mitch and Cam in the show. This is against the conventional norm of marriage that expects marriage of people from a different gender—this a reflection of the modern changing family structures. Jay’s family also resists traditional family norms through step-parenting. The couple’s mixed marriage between Gloria, a young Latin American lady, and Jay, an older man also defied the conventional marriage setup. Despite the fight for gender equality, the patriarchal gender family ideology is still promoted in the TV show. In these families, we still see that females playing their traditional gender roles of staying at home while their husbands work. Phil and Clair’s family receive that most airtime in the show. Phil is portrayed as a man with childish behaviors; however, his role in the family fits the traditional role of the father, and the breadwinner of the house. This is especially seen in the first four seasons of the TV show, where he is seen providing financially for the family. This part promotes the stereotypical gender role. However, the stereotypes have been harmlessly presented in comical ways.

Despite the patriarchal representation of this family structure, the interaction between females and males in the show resists the traditional image of women in patriarchal marriages. For instance, even though Phil is portrayed as a middle-class man, his characters in the show seem to resist the traditional masculine norms. For example, he is seen an overly sensitive man who was a cheerleader back in college. Also, he is not authoritarian and spends time in the spa. He is also not afraid of showing his emotions, as is sometimes seen crying. Traditionally, these behaviors are associated with feminism. This is also evident in season two, where Gloria wanted to learn to ride a bicycle. She says that she wanted to be taught by someone gentle like a woman. She thinks that Phil has the qualities. Such behaviors in the film do not match the traditional dominant masculinity.

Conclusively, the TV show “Modern Family” presents issues and experiences that demonstrate various types of family theories such as functionalism, conflict, developmental, and feminism theories. The film effectively presents the issues that affect the current family systems. For instance, the current family setups, as portrayed in the movie resist the traditional family setups, especially in terms of feminism. This is seen through characters such as Phil, who portray behaviors that are traditionally associated with feminism. The film is also a representation of a functionalism theory, which assumes that a typical family show functions as a system. The different roles played by different family members make the families complete in the TV show. For instance, males are seen to support the families financially while females stay at home to perform the house duties. The ability of the family members to perform the roles effectively has helped in maintaining a healthy relationship among the family members. Developmental theory is also well portrayed in the film. All the families are seen to start from marriage, followed by procreation apart from Mitch and Can, who adopted a daughter. These are stages of a traditional family set up as posited by developmental theory.

References

Allen, K. (2017). Family Theories: Foundation and Applications. John Wiley & Sons. West Sussex.

Ferrington, K. & Chertok, E. (2017). “Social Conflict Theories of the Family.” Journal of Marriage and Family. Vol 2 (1).

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-0-387-85764-0_15

Coser, L. (2017). “Social Conflict and the Theory of social Change”. The British Journals of Sociology. Vol 8 (3): 197-207.

http://www.csun.edu/~snk1966/Lewis%20A%20Coser%20Social%20Conflict%20and% 20the%20Theory%20of%20Social%20Change.pdf

Fitzgerald, A. (2014). “Feminist Family therapy: A client based description”. Retrospective Theses and Dissertation.

https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=11601&context=rtd

Wang, D. & Gruenewald, T. (2019). The psychological costs of social support imbalance: Variotion across relationship context and age. Journal of Health Psychology. Vol 24 (12): 1615-1625.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7008943