In their respective articles Doty and Hilderbrand discuss the surface diversity on Glee and Modern Family. While both shows seem to push a liberal agenda, both authors argue this agenda is only superficial and within the hierarchy of characters and conservative or at least heteronormative values are privileged.

Upon watching the pilot episode and a more recent episode of the show I would agree at least with regards to the issue of race. The central characters that we are supposed to empathize with (at least based on screen time) are all white and despite their underdog status, especially or rather specifically talking about Rachel, attractive and en par with common ideals of body image in the media. There are characters of color, an obese girl (that doesn’t get to talk though) and a character in a wheelchair. They all seem to be sidekicks though. The show is giving a larger platform to the gay characters of Blaine and Kurt who even get to kiss. I found it refreshing to see a gay love story between teenagers play out on the show at the same time I found it to be cheesy (for a lack of better words) and very much have to agree with Hilderbrand that this romantic storyline breaks with the show’s otherwise rather satirical tone. Overall that’s what struck me the most about Glee – its unevenness and inconsistency in tone. The musical numbers are often vibrant, the character of Sue Sylvester provides comic relief and the show does attempt to tackle teen issues (most recently an extended storyline on teen bullying, which was a little disappointing though). The problem with Glee seems that the bits and pieces of the show are better than what it all adds up to.

The show tries very hard to send a positive message to kids while at same time trying to reflect quite cynically on the realities of high school and the feeling of being othered. Unfortunately this creates a somewhat schizophrenic tone.

I found myself a little irritated by the criticism of heteronormativity (a term I have generally struggle with) regarding Modern Family. The author attacks the show for portraying the relationship of the gay couple as emulating the dynamic of a “normal” heterosexual couple with one playing the role of the husband and the other one being the wife. I don’t think this necessarily has to be the case but what is wrong with presenting a couple where this to an extent might be the case. Overall there seems to be a lot of criticism as to how certain sexual orientations or races are represented on shows – as if these shows would claim or could possibly ever portray a minority in its totality. Showing a gay married couple raising a child is not something you commonly see on TV so this isn’t really stereotypical altogether. If this one couple has to stand in for all gay couples how should they be portrayed? I think my general problem with this approach is that no TV show could possibly do justice to a minority because sexual orientation and race are just one feature of the individual. There is no such thing as one single coherent way of representing them. In that sense people like doty might never be satisfied with what they see on television.