The Likeability of Gloria Pritchett: Does Viewer-Character Group Status Matter in Parasocial Affective Responses Among Modern Family Consumers?

• In Event: Parasocial Relationships

Abstract

As one of the few core characters who embodies cultural difference in ABC’s Modern Family (2009– ), Gloria Delgado-Pritchett’s Latinidad is inescapable and hence imperative in the formation of parasocial bonds and audience’s affective responses toward her. This study examined what character traits associated with Gloria Pritchett contribute to audience likability foregrounding viewer-character dimensions related to ethnicity, gender, and social class, which are often not accounted for in quantitative approaches to media figures’ likeability. A snowball sample of Modern Family viewers (N = 221) concluded that despite her stereotypical ethno-gender and class connotations and viewers ingroup/outgroup statuses, there are other predictors that help explain their likability of Gloria Pritchett. More specifically, the more perceived Latina/o realism or ethno-complexity she exuded, the greater her likeability among sampled audiences. The analysis additionally revealed that the categorical treatment of social identities is not enough to moderate viewers’ likeability, but the combined strength of identification viewers had toward their ethnic, gender, and social class identity.

Author

• Adolfo Rafael Mora, U of Texas - Austin