Why I stopped watching Modern Family

I was a huge fan of Modern Family for the longest time... I mean who doesn't crack up at Phil's idiocy? But I couldn't watch it anymore when I realized that the show was doing a horrible job of portraying a real, Modern Family.

While it's great that the show is promoting gay relationships, sometimes the way Cam and Mitch's relationship is portrayed creates delusions about gay relationships. The characters have these huge, overdramatic fights in every episode and they don't seem very well-suited to one another. It's almost as if the show is acting like gay guys will date each other just because they are both gay, which is totally not true. Gay people are looking for the right connection just as much as straight people are.

The second part that bothered me was the fact that none of the women worked. HOW can you call a show Modern Family and not have a single working woman on it? Not only do they not have a working woman, but also when Claire runs for office to make positive change, trying to do something other than her 1950s housewife duties, she loses to a man that is a total scumbag. Here's to the not-so-subliminal messages telling young girls not to try doing "men's work"! I haven't watched the new season, but I've heard that Claire recently did start working. The problem is that that she got her job through her rich dad. Again, I just adore the message telling girls that they have to have powerful, male connections if they want to work. Just to be clear, I don't have a problem with women not working. If they want to stay home to cook, clean, and care for the kids and their partner is okay with that, then they should, but the media also needs to show that women can balance work and kids.

Finally, my last issue with the show has to do with Jay in the newest season. I watched part of a couple episodes and it seems like he does almost nothing to care for the new baby. TV not only needs to portray the working woman, but it also needs to show the engaged father. The modern man cares about his kids and wants to be a part of their lives. Besides, how can the working woman balance work and kids if she doesn't have a partner who helps with housework and childcare? 

I know it's just supposed to be a funny show and that the creators probably don't mean to give across these messages, but people in the media need to take responsibility for how they portray people. TV, magazines, and websites are so prevalent in our lives today that they have as much, if not more, effect on our minds than the people around us do. We need to recognize the power the media holds and send more positive messages out into the world by portraying more diverse people and relationships.