Pop Culture Blog

Popular Culture is defined as a new name for low culture, referring to those cultural products that most people share and know about, including television, music, videos, and popular magazines (Martin and Nakayama 2013). In this blog i am going to focus on the television side of popular culture, more specifically the show Modern Family. I fell in love with the show because of its crude humor and representation of the "modern" American family. All of the characters in the show portray stereotypical personalities that are taken over the top. There are subtle stereotypes such as the relationship between the two sisters Haley and Alex. Haley portrays a ditsy teenage girl that cares more about her looks and boys than doing good in school. Alex on the other hand is the brains of the family and puts getting good grades over being popular at school. These two girls are always criticizing each other due to their differences. Another subtle stereotype is the parenting style of Clair and Phil Dunphy who are Haley and Alex's parents. They are both always trying to come across as the "cool" parent in front of their kids and their kids' friends. Phil is the clueless dad who will let the kids do anything they want, while Clair tries to keep the family in line as best as she can. If someone of a different culture was to tune into this show they might think that these are the typical roles that a typical American family takes on.
  There are also some stereotypes portrayed in the show that could be more controversial. Such as the relationship between Cam and Mitchell, a gay couple who are about to get married.They are into music, dinner dates, and plays and often argue about what they are wearing. Cam is very flamboyant and doesn't care if he comes across as "gay". Mitchell is the more conservative one who doesn't like to draw attention to himself. Mitchell's attitude stems from his dad who wasn't accepting of him being gay at first. As time passed his dad accepted his decision and started to like his boyfriend Cam, even though he isn't thrilled with Cam's Flamboyant personality. The couple adopted a daughter named Lily who is from Vietnam. Following the stereotype that gay men adopt children who are of a different culture then themselves. They also raise Lily is a more "unconventional" way according to most Americans, but try to fit in with other parents in anyway they can.
 Another major stereotype that comes across in the show is the character of Gloria who is divorced from her sons' father. She is remarried to Jay who is much older than she is but acts as a father figure towards her son Manny. Although Gloria has good intentions, her relationship with Jay can come across as her being a gold digger. She enjoys the finer things in life such as getting her nails done, going to the hair salon, shopping, and having a nanny regardless of her poor upbringing. She was the only one of her siblings that had to opportunity to come to America and takes full advantage of that. If someone of her culture was to watch the show they might be offended by the way she acts. They might think that her character portrays a bad example of what their culture is about and start to resist pop culture.


While pop culture helps us learn about other cultures, we have to be aware of exaggerations of reality. As an American I understand the over the top personalities of the characters in modern family and realize that it is an exaggeration. But someone who isn't of American culture might not understand that and have a distorted idea of what American culture is all about. Not everyone sees the portrayal in the same way. As we might think that TV shows such as Modern Family represent quintessential U.S. American values and lifestyles, some views might see it as their entree into how U.S. Americans live (Martin and Nakayama 2013).

References

Martin J.N. and Nakayama T.K. (2013.) Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th Ed). New York, N.Y.: McGraw Hill