Modern Family Portrayal of Women in Media

People like being happy and laughing. Ask anyone. Now, often to facilitate this laughter plenty of people watch comedy shows on tv, because they can relate well to the characters. So much so in fact that people take on the views of the characters. This, however, can often cause stereotypes to be the accepted norm of everyday life. One show people love in particular is Modern Family that shows three interconnected families in northern California. However, Modern Family portrays the gender stereotype that women are weak.

First, women are showed to be weak intellectually. Anyone can see this clearly by looking at the Dunphy’s oldest daughter Haley. Haley fits the stereotypical “popular” girl; she is good-looking, dumb and parties all the time. She quoted on the show saying “ If I want good grades I have to look good.” Shown very clearly in the episode called “Halloween” where she dressed as Mother Teresa, back when she was hot. She reinforces the gender stereotypes that girls are ditzy and are not the most knowledgeable or even caring. We can see this again with Gloria, the wife in the Pritchett family. Gloria has a ditzy persona, often misusing phrases, mispronouncing words and saying whatever is on her mind even though it might hurt another character’s feeling or come off wrong. In the episode “Planes, Trains and Cars” Gloria and Jay are engaged in conversation, Gloria does not want to fly in a helicopter. However, in explaining it to Jay, she has trouble searching for the right word, “helicopter.” Gloria then asks, “How do you say it in English the takatakatka?” Jay responds saying, “Helicopter.” The helicopter example stereotypes women because it shows how she is not as knowledgeable of the English language and therefore not able to explain her ideas as well. Finally, we have Claire Dunphy, Haley’s mother. She is the typical stay-at-home mother who watches her kids and husband. We can see this throughout the show as she tries to apply for different jobs so she can buy her husband a gift. Overall she fails, getting rejected many times, until finally, she works at a family business in Season 5.

Persevering, Modern Family also shows how women are weak socially. Throughout the season the Dunphy’s second daughter Alex is seen as having nobody liking her. In the episode “Baby on Board” we can see this when her her mysterious Prom date appears. Who turns out to be her homosexual friend Michael. This worsened as she shown to be highly intelligent, not only enforcing our previous point but pushing this one. Suggesting that women who possess a masculine trait will suffer socially. Again let us talk about her mother, Claire. In one episode where she is running for local office, a poll reveals that she is thought of as angry and unlikeable. Her family then forces her to practice her debating skills in front of them so they could mercilessly point out her every angry and unlikeable tic. Showing how women are naturally weak and need guidance on their behavior. Moving forwards, we once again have Gloria when she is driving her son, Manny, and his friend to school. She is talking about what she plans and Manny has to translate her bad English to his