Modern Family success reflects mood of US public on gay marriage
THE wedding of Mitch and Cam on TV comedy Modern Family was watched by over 800,000 Australians last night, becoming one of Sunday’s 10 top-rated programs and providing some ratings relief to Channel 10.
However, in the US ratings topped the 10 million mark with its popularity echoing a recent poll that showed acceptance of gay marriage is now solidly in the majority and has reached a “tipping point.”
Viewers across the globe saw Mitchell Pritchett and Cameron Tucker, played by actors Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet (pictured above), tie the knot following a chaotic run up to the big day involving double-booked venues, familial misunderstandings and the odd fire.
Talking to the Hollywood Reporter, Ferguson, who married his partner Justin Mikita last July, said the viewers saw Mitch and Cam’s nuptial: “as a marriage between two people that they care very much about and [they’ve forgotten] that it is a wedding between two men specifically.”
Co-creator Christopher Lloyd said the show wasn’t political “ but our hope is that people who are a tiny bit squeamish about a gay wedding might find themselves getting caught up in the show, thinking, ‘That, in a strange way, invokes emotions in me that I wasn’t expecting’.”
A Gallup poll released the same day of the Modern Family finale’s US airing last week, revealed that acceptance of same sex marriage continued to make steady progress with 55 per cent of Americans now in favour, compared to 42 per cent against.
Ten years ago, the positions were reversed with 55 per cent against.
Support was strongest amongst young people with 78 per cent of those under 29 believing same sex marriage was valid.
In older age groups, support plummeted to 42 per cent. However, even that figure was significantly above the only 14 per cent of over 65s who were in favour of same sex marriage in 1996.
An analysis by pollsters Gallup said marriage equality campaigns had worked: “Years of playing offence have finally paid off as this movement has reached a tipping point in recent years – both legally and in the curt of opinion.”
In the last week, Oregon and Pennsylvania respectively became the 18th and 19th US states to allow same-sex marriage.
Mitch and Cam wed in California, which became he second state to allow same sex partners to wed in 2008.
While filming the recent Australian episodes of Modern Family, Ferguson and Stonestreet appeared in a video for Australian Marriage Equality expressing disbelief that same sex marriage was illegal, despite 65 per cent of the population being in favour.
