The misconceptions of today’s male television characters

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.

It’s been argued for quite some time, now, that men on television have slowly become more and more simplistic and idiotic. On the contrary, the exact opposite has happened. Over the past fifty years, male characters have slowly evolved into the most complex characters in all of television. Starting in the 1960s and ending in the 2010s, men have developed from simple, one-dimensional characters into complicated, multi-dimensional societal figures. It would be absurd to say the portrayal of men has slowly declined over the past half-century. Not only have male characters become more intricate, but they have also become more realistic when compared to real-life men. Not only does this make the characters more easily relatable, but it also diminishes the awful message that television used to force-feed viewers that told men they had to be perfect in every aspect of their lives. Beginning with Rob Petrie and ending with Phil Dunphy, television has greatly improved its overall portrayal of men.