Stories Case

Stories have been intriguing the human mind for centuries through the accounts of familiar knowledge but as well as the element of surprise. In the reality show, The Joe Schmo Show, Chase is deceived into thinking he is participating in a fake bounty hunter reality show when the truly, all his rivals are actually acting. However, in the sitcom Modern Family, it follows three families and how their lives unravel as new challenges arise each day. The shows both contain stereotypical characters in order to create a more realistic approach to their nature. Also, the acting in Modern Family and The Joe Schmo Show are believable in order to achieve the feeling of being able to relate to the reactions of certain events. Moreover, the exposure of everday relationships in the two shows allows the audience to relate and find the shows more realistic. However, Modern Family authentically captures reality better than The Joe Schmo Show through the use of more relatable circumstances.

Stereotypes shown in The Joe Schmo Show are placed on characters in order for Chase to find it more believable. During the obstacle course, Chase must either choose between the deaf girl's translator; Stan, or a dummy. Normally, this choice should be rather easy seeing that one is a human and one is not, but Stan fits the stereotype of a nerd or geek entirely. With his button up shirt and glasses, Chase thinks Stan will only slow them down and is not athletic due to his appearance and stereotype of a nerd. Furthermore, P-nut shares heartfelt experiences with Chase about his past. P-nut is not playing the role of a criminal properly as a convict usually does not trust someone enough to talk to them about their personal life. Stereotypically, criminals are seen as drug addicts, tough, mean, and mentally unstable but P-but does not effectively fit into his role well by being too open to Chase. Also, the trophy wife who appears in the show is very young and acts dumb. It can be assumed that due to the blonde hair, she is not the brightest person, a stereotype associated with blondes. As well, she appears to be young and beautiful while married to a much older man, acting as his status symbol. The over-exaggeration and down play of stereotypes in this show reduces the realistic element of the characters.

The characters in Modern Family are easy to associate with because of their stereotypical personalities. From the appearance of the gay couple, Cameron is flamboyant while Mitchell appears to be more serious. As seen in the show, Cameron fit the stereotype, but not to the extreme and otherwise, he basically acts like any other man. However, Mitchell is far more serious and is constantly in stress, as a lawyer normally feels. Additionally, Gloria's son is a proud descendant from Colombia and attempts to wear a poncho to school. Although he is proud of his heritage he does overdo it at times to the eyes of society, there are indeed many people in the world who keep their culture very close even while living in other cultures. Wearing a poncho is a stereotype since Colombians do not actually wear them every day, but more for celebratory festivals. Also, the teenage daughter brings a senior boy home and refuses to allow her parents do anything embarrassing. Essentially, teens are seen as rebellious, along with naive and unable to think ahead. She is doing something against her parents' wishes in an act of showing them she does not need to be taken care of anymore and is growing up. Stereotypical characters help the audience laugh, and recognize characters as well as relate it back to their own lives, making the show more realistic.

In The Joe Schmo Show, the acting at times can be seen as fake because of mess up from the crew. Such as when the supposedly deaf girl begins to laugh from playing with her doll, almost leading Chase to believe that he is on a fake show. Since the script is only half planned, the cast must cover for each other if one of them messes up, which may make their acting less realistic as they try to advert Chase's attention elsewhere. It is harder to stay in role when the cast must keep the character's personality for most of the day and when the script is not fully planned. Moving on, another incident where the guard walks away when P-nut has to use the bathroom seems to be less likely to happen in real life. As a guard, they must insure safety, therefore, when the guard walks away, it should send a wave of alarm to Chase that something is wrong. The cast is too concerned with moving on to the events planned than making the whole show seem rational. Likewise, when Allison and her partner plan to give immunity to each other in order to find a way around the instructions, it appears to be planned ahead. Even though Allison is suppose to be smart, the acting there is unbelievable because she thinks of the solution too quickly. In the midst of a competition, people should not be able to find ways