Angelina
Gutierrez
WMST
205
Blog
# 2
Blog
# 2: Gender in Specific Contexts: Sofia Vergara-Modern Family
Prompt
# 1- The cultural artifact that I will be identifying is a television show called Modern Family. The cultural Object that I will be discussing
is the character of Gloria Pritchett played by Sofia Vergara. She plays an overly sexy and loud trophy
wife. Gloria has many of her mom and
aunt’s temperamental traits. The social
world would include Americans (women, LGBTQ community and men) and the rest of
the world who televise Modern Family. Christopher Lloyd is co-creator and
producer of the TV series. The reason
why I selected Gloria Pritchett character is that she challenges the norm. She is not the average Latina who is
submissive to her husband and does everything for her family. She has a mind of her own and is not affair
to express her feelings. I am not saying
she is a role model to the Latin@ Community, but she does start a spark when it
comes to expressing her emotions.
Prompt
# 2- Analyze. (1) The character Gloria Pritchett
is portrayed as an overly sexy and loud trophy wife. However, the producer, Christopher Lloyd, is
sending mixed messages to the receiver because Gloria is a sexy trophy wife who
is married to an older man. The message
is constructed because it fits the norm in our society today. The man always gets his trophy, but Gloria is
not your typical Latina wife who would not express her opinion or show her
temper when needed. As the audience,
once must keep in mind that Gloria’s character is challenging the norm, but at
the same context viewed through the lens of a male. I believe if Gloria was not so overly sexy
and represented the majority of Latina women, her character would be more
submissive and would be the glue of the family.
(2) While examining the format of
the show, I noticed that the camera focuses on her boobs and her body. Although
she expresses her emotions, she is loud and with a heavy accent. The focus is on her body and not what is
being said. The lighting always reflects
on her boobs and her slim figure. Her
movement is very “hot tamale” like and takes the focus of what is being said in
the prompt. The producer is focusing on
the male audience and drawing more attention to the Latino stereotypes. (3) I
believe people might interpret her role differently than I do because some
might say Gloria is a role model to the Latino community because she speaks her
mind and others might think she is representing the typical stereotypes that
exist for Latina women. I believe she presents both a role model and a
stereotype among Latina Women. Some might
say the show is supposed to be light-hearted, but do we really want a Gloria
Pritchett to represent the Latina Community?
Why can we not look for role models who are more positive and will overcome
all the stereotypes that exist within the Latina community and among women in
general? There are so many positive and negative interpretations of her
character. For example, one positive
interpretation is her ability to speak her mind. One negative interpretation is her heavy
accent and her sex appeal. The producer
should have made her character as a very calm person who speaks her mind. Instead, he made he a loud trophy wife who is out of control. Why did she have an accent and sound uneducated? Not all Latinos have an accent. (4) The
lifestyle and values are presented in this message is a character who is on her
second marriage and has a joint family.
She is the trophy wife who has a temper with a heavy accent. Of course, the first wife is much older and
fatter. The message conveyed is the
second wife is always better than the first when it comes to looks. The value presented in this message is appearance,
which is very important. The husband can
look old and out of shape, but the wife is the trophy. Gloria’s husband always made fun of her and shows
no respect. I believe the statement made
is that women are second-class citizens.
Even though, she has no problem expressing her opinion, she is always
the loud and crazy woman. I believe what
is missing from her character is self-respect.
I believe a woman can be beauty and intelligent at the same time. I believe the need for a male’s attention is
setting women back. (5) The producer of Modern Family is in control of creating
the message. Of course, he makes money
from the commercials and ratings. This
is a moneymaking enterprise that draws the audience’s attention and takes them
away from reality. The more people who
watch the television show, the higher the ratings, which brings more advertising/commercials
and money. The audience is entertained
with a slight Schadenfreude. The public
who review television shows with an open mind and question the message received. What audience is the producer trying to attract
and is it being looked as Male Gaze? One
might say they watch this program for entertainment; however, one must exam the
dialog that conveyed and question how this is helping women, minorities and the
LGBTQ Community. Is it setting us back
or moving us forward? I am going to
start paying more attention to the message sent to the audiences while engaged
in a television show.
