What is Family?

Tvfanatic.com

MODERN FAMILY - ABC's "Modern Family" stars Ed O'Neill as Jay, Sofía Vergara as Gloria, Julie Bowen as Claire, Ty Burrell as Phil, Eric Stonestreet as Cameron, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell, Sarah Hyland as Haley, Ariel Winter as Alex, Nolan Gould as Luke and Rico Rodriguez as Manny. (ABC/BOB D'AMICO) TY BURRELL, SARAH HYLAND, NOLAN GOULD (ON FLOOR), SOFIA VERGARA, RICO RODRIGUEZ, JULIE BOWEN, ARIEL WINTER, JESSE TYLER FERGUSON, ED O'NEILL, ERIC STONESTREET

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Destiny Gammon, International Editor
June 7, 2011
Filed under In-Depth

As the increase of reality and family-based television storm the social media world, the idea of what a family should look like changes. Shows like The Fresh Prince Bel-Air, Full House, Kate Plus Eight, 19 Kids and Counting, and Modern Family are contributors.

“Families are different now because the word ‘family’ doesn’t mean they’re just your relatives,” freshman Dana Jannoun said.

The favorite shows of older generations were Leave it to Beaver, Family Ties and The Andy Griffith Show. These trite story lines consisted of white picket-fence families made up of a mom, dad, brother and sister who undergo typical family problems like sibling rivalries.

However, as society changes due to new views of the typical family, television shows are being forced to adapt to these new standards. Modern Family, for example, shows the lives of an extended family that consists of two gay uncles who have adopted a Vietnamese daughter, a grandfather who has a wife over twenty years his junior, and a secretly crazy family of five.

“Families [have] become more unique, because not all families are expected to have two or three children,” freshman Aysha Ghaffar said. “I’m the youngest of six.”

Although most AHS students have one to three siblings, 15% have five or more and 9% have no siblings.

Celebrities are also a strong influence on what is considered as typical for a family. Angelina Jolie, a well-known actress in the Hollywood industry, is famous for her large family of biological daughter Shiloh and five other adopted children.

Divorce is also a common trend among celebrities. There has been a large increase in divorced parents in the US since the fifties and divorce has now become a part of many childrens’ everyday lives.

Celebrity Halle Berry gave birth to her daughter Nala out of wedlock with Gabriel Aubry. Though some people see this to be a negative way to raise a child, but many find marriage to be a burden.

“Actually it’s just that now I’ve come to a place where I think two people can share their lives without the ring, without the piece of paper,” Berry said in a recent interview with People about her ideas of marriage.

Halle Berry is also breaking the racial boundaries by being in relationships with men who are of different decent. Nala was born with a mixed heritage of French, Caucasian and African-American.

“Families are more diverse in America because of the mixing of different cultures,” freshman Ali Ashar said.

According to a recent survey, 15% of AHS’s population is of mixed race, with 14% incorporating different religions into their family’s lifestyle.