Since the very first television shows, it was obvious that
men were all portrayed the same. They were simple, one-dimensional characters
that always knew the right thing to do, the right thing to say. Men were the
ones to turn to in a crisis. Whether it was a son who needed help with his
homework or a town who needed help with a criminal, the star of the show always
seemed to know what to do. Many people argue that, today, men are still
portrayed as simple, easily understandable characters who merely have different
characteristics than their counterparts from fifty or sixty years ago. That’s
certainly not the case. The way men are portrayed in television shows has
slowly evolved over the past half-century. They undoubtedly have become more
complex throughout this evolution. The journey began in the 1960s with The Dick Van Dyke Show.
The Dick Van Dyke Show—aired
1961-1966—starred lovable US Army sergeant turned television writer, Rob
Petrie. Petrie had the ability to be both wildly spontaneous while staying
professionally disciplined. He was a loving father and husband. He went from
holding a top position in the army to having a prestigious position in the
television industry, so he was both masculine and intelligent. He was
spontaneous as well as disciplined, so he was fun while also serious. After all
this, he still had the energy to go home every single day and show his wife and
kids that he loved them. Rob Petrie was basically the perfect man. He was
masculine, intelligent, professional, fun, and loving. Could anyone ask for a
better father or husband? Realistically, no, but Petrie also isn’t a realistic
person. He’s simply too perfect. He rarely loses his cool or falls off the
pedestal viewers put him on. This makes him an extremely one-dimensional
character. He never strays from what viewers expect from him. In the 1960s, men
were portrayed on television as what society’s ideal men looked and acted like.
Rob Petrie was that ideal man.
The Cosby Show—aired 1984-1992—was based
on the fictional doctor and father of five, Cliff Huxtable. Huxtable was an
all-around eccentric and silly person with almost everyone he interacted with,
especially his family. He was a kind-hearted man and a dedicated father and
husband with an extremely strong sense of humor. Like a good father should do,
he always makes sure his kids try their hardest. Whether it’s education—an
especially important thing in his eyes—or any other part of life, Huxtable
always pushes his children to succeed. Now, here’s where Cliff Huxtable differs
from Petrie. While Huxtable’s main characteristics dictate that
he be a loving, gentle person, his secondary, less present characteristics give
him the ability to occasionally veer from what viewers are used to seeing from
him. For example, Huxtable will most of the time support his children in the
kindest way he can, but when any of them do something he sees as foolish, he
lets them have it. He doesn’t let his anger loose or anything like that, but he
never hesitated to call his son, Theo, an idiot when he said he was going to
drop out of school. He would occasionally have behavior like this with his
children’s friends as well—people who he hardly even knew. Cliff Huxtable was a
first-class, but much more realistic television father compared to those who
came before him. He was, indeed, one of the first multi-dimensional men on
television.
Modern Family—aired 2009-present—is
centered around the lives of three intertwined families, one of which is run by
cool dad, Phil Dunphy. Dunphy is a high-end real-estate agent whose only need
in life is his family. There’s nothing he loves more than his wife and three
kids. While his family gives him happiness, he gives them laughs and love.
Anyone who watches the show knows that Dunphy is really just a big kid at
heart, which is probably why he connects with his youngest child, Luke, so
easily. Between he and his wife, Dunphy is also known as the cool parent. He
uses a strategy—which usually doesn’t work, by the way—which he dubbed
“peerenting,” to discipline his kids. He acts like a parent and talks like a
peer. Seems like a normal, silly dad, right? Wrong. The reason why Phil Dunphy
is one of the most amazing male characters television has ever seen is due to
the fact that he combines the authenticity of Ray Barone (Everybody Loves Raymond) and the complexity of
Tony Soprano (The Sopranos). While Phil Dunphy is much more childish and silly than most
real-life men, it’s impossible to argue that he’s not a regular guy. Most
problems he encounters—a mindless son, a stuck-up daughter, an unaccepting
father-in-law, a stressful job—are ones that the majority of men have been
forced to deal with themselves. To add to his overall realness, Dunphy also
shows the complexity of real-life men. On the outside, Phil Dunphy is a calm,
collected individual who just wants to have fun as much of the time as he can.
The truth: Dunphy is panicking on the inside much of the time. Phil Dunphy acts
as if he worries about nothing, but really, lots of things get to him pretty
easily. For example, when his father-in-law, Jay, doesn’t ask for his help with
some kind of project, Dunphy immediately begins worrying that he has done
something wrong to bother Jay. It’s very possible that Modern Family’s Phil Dunphy is one of the best-portrayed men to
ever appear in a television show.
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