In an era of transnational tv, how, what, when and where we watch our television has opened up to endless possibilities. I went from sitting in a living room with my family all consuming locally and nationally produced television at the one time , to not watching television at all whilst at uni due to the convenience of streaming television series on my laptop through platforms such as Netflix. I watch a diverse range of TV shows produced from different countries ranging from the US TV hits ‘ Modern Family’ and ‘Stranger Things’ along with getting my trashy Australian TV fix, catching up on episodes of ‘The Bachelor Australia’ and ‘Kath and Kim’.
When asking myself why I choose these shows to watch, I believe that cultural proximity has a major influence, as I can identify with the language of the shows and the humour they produce. In The Bachelor, the girls often cause drama that reminds me of growing up as teenage girl, Modern Family reminds me of my own family, where my dad cracks the dorky dad jokes and we are slightly dysfunctional at times, and Kath and Kim reflects the bogan subculture I feel so familiar with being a part of the Australian culture. However, the way these shows are translated internationally can be perceived in opposition to my views depending on the ‘cultural similarity or proximity’ (Straubhaar 2007).
In ‘The Bachelor’, the girls often show a lot of skin, flaunting their bodies in bikinis. ‘Modern Family’ demonstrates scenes of gay marriage and kissing scenes between two men, and in Kath and Kim terminology such as ‘Noice’ and ‘Look at Moi’ are all elements that may not be funny, understood or accepted in other cultures, particularly conservative ones.
The family sitcom Modern Family first aired on the ABC on September 23rd 2009 and has been renewed for an 11th and final season which will premiere this year. The show features a variety of families reflected in today’s society including the nuclear, step and same sex families. I resonate with the values of Modern Family quite well as they remind me of what my family is like and many other families in Australia whom are no longer just husband and wife with a few kids. Growing up in such a multicultural society where sensitive topics such as gay marriage is becoming increasingly accepted, especially with the legalisation of it in Australia, I view Modern Family as a reflection of the world I live in today. American television has been adapted and hybridised for other countries as audiences tend to reject cultural products like television programs that are ‘too distant from their own cultural realities’ (Straubhaar 2007).
Modern Family has been reproduced in countries including Greece, Chile, Iran and Spain, in which succeeded in culturally adapting to their audience. Much of Modern Family’s success in countries other than America can be credited to how it has been adapted. There have been remakes of the show in Chile and Greece, however the remakes ‘feature local actors’ and are adapted for their local audience. Chile is unlike Australia in the sense that it is quite a conservative country with gay marriage being illegal. In their adaption of the show, Cameron and Mitchell are not portrayed as a gay couple and Gloria is made to be less ’flamboyant, loud, emotional and sexualised’(Kane 2014). If Modern family had not been culturally adapted it would have had ‘a diminished appeal elsewhere as viewers find it difficult to identify with the style, values, beliefs, institutions and behavioural patterns of the material in question’(Straubhaar 2014).
References
Hellard, P 2008, US critics pans American Kath and Kim as ‘dreadful’, https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/us-critic-pans-american-kath-kim-as-dreadful/news-story/64e9096ecf31e8e3bb952754b148bb09?sv=37e361f6470480c64a4873479e0ee399, viewed 15 August
Hughes, S 2012, Relative Values: Why isn’t modern family a bigger hit on this side of the Atlantic, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/relative-values-why-isnt-modern-family-a-bigger-hit-on-this-side-of-the-atlantic-8160314.html, viewed 14 August
Idato, M 2014, Modern Family goes global, Sydney Morning Herald, https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/modern-family-goes-global-meet-chiles-familia-moderna-greeces-moderna-oikogeneia-20140630-zsqk1.html, viewed 14 August
Kane, V 2014, How Chile Took the Gay Out of ‘Modern Family’, https://www.pajiba.com/miscellaneous/how-chile-took-the-gay-out-of-modern-family.php, viewed 15 August
Georgia Woods 