Modern Family And The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air

In TV shows the production context of a TV show affects the way social groups are represented, this is evident in shows from 1970s to the 2000s and can act as a timeline on how much our culture has evolved and the way we perceive certain social groups. Sitcoms have been a part of the TV culture for a long time and have represented social groups in many different ways and this representation has changed drastically over the last 2 decades. The sitcoms Modern Family, 2010, USA, and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, 1990, USA, are the examples I chose to compare and contrast the change in social groups as each show is around two decades apart and they are both aired within the USA. In this essay I will be discussing how these sitcoms represent age
Modern Family is a show about one big family, each part of the family has a different culture, there are the gay couple, the generic family and the rich older guy with the younger wife. On the contrary The Fresh Prince of Bell Air depict a rich family with the twist of them being African American, and the mixed culture of a ghetto teen called Will Smith living with the posh family. In Modern Family the Dunphy family culture is a medium to high income with the stay at home mum doing all the cooking and cleaning. In the quote “you’re right I guess, the power cord will do” Luke is discussing with his parents about getting a new belt this is a clear representation of how Luke is used to the lifestyle of not being bought many things as he answers his own question without needing a response. In stark contrast to this the Banks family is a very high-income family where both parents are always busy and they hire a butler to do the cooking and cleaning. This culture breaks the stereotype of African Americans back in the 90s where they were perceived to be poor and criminalized. An example of this is in the quote, “some people will do anything for money… why don’t they just ask their father”, this is said by Ashley when people were seen
Back in the 90s African Americans were seen as criminals with low-income jobs, if any, and a bad attitude, but The Fresh Prince of Bel Air depicted a family that broke through this stereotype, as they were rich and African American. Nowadays we wouldn’t be so surprised that a black family was successful but back then it was something new and unheard of, this aided to the shows success. In the 90s women were just starting to break out of the usual housewife role and started to get jobs and earn a living, this was reflected in the fact that Vivian, the mother figure in the show was a dominant independent women who sometimes was even more influential then the