Season 5, Episode 13 - Three Dinners

This episode focuses on three dinners: Phil, Claire and Hayley, Mitchell and Cam, and finally Gloria and Jay dinning with their good friends. Phil and Claire took their “lazy” daughter Hayley out to a fancy dinner to in order to discuss her plans for the future.  Meanwhile, in the midst of planning their marriage, Mitchell and Cam decide to go out to dinner to get some alone time. Lastly, over good food and wine, Jay and Gloria learn that their good friends have decided to move to Costa Rica. 

Hayley and her attitude. 

  The very first thing I noticed was the way Hayley and her parents interact. This is a trend that has come up over the last three episodes as well. The parent-child relationship is more of a friendship. The parents order drinks, and tell Hayley that they're just going out as friends. Hayley has absolutely no respect for her parents, which is obvious in the way she talks to them. Personally, I find this unfortunate, yet it is all too common in today’s “modern family.” There is a lack of respect and a lack of discipline. 

Finding similarities

Our second dinner introduces gender stereotypes. During their dinner, Cam and Mitchell start talking to the couple beside them. They find out quickly that Cam is much like the woman (Katie) in that they are both willing to share their food, whereas Mitchell and the man (Brandon) do not like others touching their plates (shame on them). While Mitchell and Cam are gay, Cam is the more feminine of the two, in my opinion, as he can relate to Katie. The message? Women are more willing to share, whereas men are greedy. Women are selfless, and men are selfish. This idea was formed over time where women are seen as loving, selfless homemakers, whereas men are greedy businessmen with no time for their families. It is also society categorizing what is selfish and what is not. Mitchell and Brandon may be worried about germs, it isn't about whether or not they want to share their meals.

Gloria accessing the issue

Another gender stereotype came up with Jay and his friend “Shorty” at dinner and the days that followed. Jay is upset that his friend is leaving, and covers up his hurt by finding every way he can to criticize Costa Rica. Gloria points this out to him saying, “you pretend to be so tough, but you are the most sensitive person in this house.” This is a BIG one for guys. They must be tough and they cannot express their feelings otherwise they will be portrayed as weak and therefore unattractive. Jay resolves his conflict with Shorty in an interaction that is funny, because it is so unnatural. They express their love for each other as friends and hug and cry. Gloria, shot on the staircase with Manny, has a look of disgust on her face, and proceeds to say that, “this is a little more girly than I thought.” That's exactly the world sees sensitivity in men: girly. 

It upsets me how men and women are put into little boxes of how they should and shouldn’t act. I was happy with the final scene between Jay and Shorty, until I realized it was supposed to be humorous, not touching. This episode gave clear insight into cultural gender stereotypes and gave me insight into how absolutely ridiculous these stereotypes really are.