Yesterday I caught up with some television viewing by checking out a recent episode of Modern Family.
I hestitate to watch these sorts of shows. Given my job, it can feel more like work than fun. But Modern Family has many charms. For one thing, the family structures on the show approach a reality I’m familiar with from my own childhood. (Check out the genogram of the show’s characters on the wikipedia site!)
And of course I’m interested in how the show depicts the gay male couple — Mitchell and Cameron — who adopted Lily from Vietnam. A friend told me that one episode featured their panic when little Lily called her Asian-American woman pediatrician “mama.” I found that an admirable element to work into the script. Yesterday’s episode, “Hawaii,” features the whole gang trooping to that exotic land for a family vacation. As someone who has children myself, I always find myself examining depictions of actors with babies and toddlers, looking for signs that said baby/toddler knows this isn’t *really* his or her mom or dad. What struck me about yesterday’s episode was how completely comfortable baby Lily was on Cameron’s shoulder. He’s a big bear shaped man, completely cuddly looking but he’s an actor, not her dad in reality or her bio dad on the show. Yet she perches on his chest, rests her head on his shoulder, and sits in his lap like she’s completely at home — maybe all the more surprising to me because his character has such a smarmy schtick, at least with the other adults on the show.
Cameron, the character, and the actor himself, is doing something right.
Categories: Fatherhood, Marriage
