All in the Family vs. Modern Family

One of my favorite new sitcoms on TV is ABC's Modern Family. It's a hilarious comedy about the all challenges and opportunities that a family these days might face. So who is this modern family? The father of the family, Jay, who's divorced his crazy wife and remarried a younger, beautiful Columbian woman who's accompanied by a very mature young son from a previous marriage. Jay's son who's gay lives with his partner and they've recently adopted a baby from China. Then there's the more "typical" family of Jay's daughter, the responsible Mom trying to control her kids, the Dad who tries to be cool, the ditsy boy-crazy older sister, nerdy middle sister, and idiotic younger brother. It's a crazy cast and a crazy family, but the show puts a comedic spin on real issues that are important in today's society, just as All in the Family did in the 1970's. The show's styles are very different though. All in the Family was more of a typical sitcom, while Modern Family has been styled after many other current shows in the mockumentary genre. With this style, you get more of a personal perspective from each character rather than having to read into what they say or do to develop their character more, as in All in the Family. Although I'm not an avid watcher of All in the Family, from the episode we watched, the issue of homosexuality that they dealt with there was surprisingly similar to what's still a crucial part of shows like Modern Family. In both shows, the traditional father is struggling with accepting homosexuality, whether it's his son's friend, as in All in the Family, or his own son, as in Modern Family. But the issues being dealt with have definitely grown in variety since the 1970's. On current shows such as Modern Family, more issues that have become acceptable in society are discussed, like teen relationships, sexuality, and drinking, marital struggles and even divorce to name a few. But what goes beyond comedy and even the cultural issues in these shows is the overall importance of family. The beauty of a sitcom is that no matter what happens in the episode, usually by the end of the show the family has come back together as a unified group who still cares about each other.