1. Outline the five common elements of families as presented in lecture.
Describe at least five examples from the episode of Modern Family and
identify the example as one or more of the common elements.
The five common elements of families as presented in lecture are dependency &
intimacy, sexuality, protection, material & financial support, and socialization. Based on
the Modern Family clip viewed in class it is easy to see that the five common elements of
a family can be easily incorporated into the show. The first instance of the one of the
elements we see in the modern family is protection, which refers to the safety from
internal and external dangers; however, family violence may be a social problem. Lily’s
protection is compromised because of Mitchell and Cameron’s sexuality. Although their
sexuality won’t bring any internal/external dangers, it may attract unwarranted family
violence between Jay and his son Mitchell, because of Jay’s disregard for his Mitchell’s
sexuality.
The second instance is socialization, which refers to guidance, discipline, social
rules, and cultural reproduction. This concept is evident in the scenario when Luke
‘accidently’ shoots Alex in the arm with a pellet gun. In this scene Claire tells Phil to deal
with the situation, but when Claire feels that Luke’s punishment wasn’t severe enough,
she refers back to the time they made an agreement where if Luke ever shot someone, he
would be shot back. Shocked, Phil asks Claire if “she was serious about that.”
The third instance is dependency & intimacy, which relates to the attachment,
interdependency, and long-term commitment of a family. This concept is evident in the
scene where Jay is reciting a quote to the whole family while they were all gathered
around the baby. This shows the start of a newly formed attachment, which is essentially
a long-term commitment i.e. caring for the child and raising it until adulthood. Another
instance of dependency and intimacy is in the scene where Gloria provides emotional
support and guidance to Manny when he is romantically involved with a girl who is much
older than he is.
The fourth instance is sexuality. Sexuality refers to adult partners who are in a
long-term, exclusive relationship and regulates sexual behaviour among family members.
This is evident with the relationship between Phil and Claire, who have been married for
over a decade and live in a suburban home with three children, Luke, Haley, and Alex.
2. What does it mean to say that social relations are inscribed on our bodies?
Drawing specifically on the two clips shown in lecture (Miss Congeniality and
The Birdcage), how are emphasized femininity and hegemonic heterosexual
masculinity commonly constructed through our bodies?
To say that social relations are inscribed in our body essentially means that every
