The patriarch has been a character in fiction since fiction began. However, modern attitudes mean that modern stories are willing to examine such characters from a wider range of perspectives in a wider range of stories, with the result that the patriarch has become more complicated and thus more interesting figure in modern fiction.
Here are five of the top patriarch characters that can be found on TV at the moment:
Mr. Wednesday – American Gods
People who remember who Wednesday was named for will have no problems connecting Wednesday to his real self, who presided over an enormous number of offspring as well as all of those associated with said individuals. However, his cunning nature as a trickster god meant that his real self was often not what we would expect from a divine patriarch, which seems to be something that has continued in American Gods. Still, there can be no doubt that Wednesday’s relationship with Shadow serves as the crux of the TV show, which is even more meaningful than it seems.
Mike Ehrmantraut – Better Call Saul
Mike Ehrmantraut is interesting in that he is a patriarch with his own narrative in spite of the fact that the events show in Better Call Saul would have made him so well-suited for being a side character in someone else’s narrative. After all, he is the one who inspired his son to follow him into a corrupt police force, where his encouragement resulted in him not just becoming corrupt but also becoming corrupt for no purpose when his fellow police officers murdered him anyways in spite of his acceptance of what was happening on the police force. The result is Ehrmantraut’s gradual change towards the enforcer that he was on Breaking Bad.
Commander Fred Waterford – The Handmaid’s Tale
Commander Fred Waterford is not a patriarch but a wannabe patriarch. After all, while it comes with new horrors enabled by new techniques and technologies, the social institutions of the monstrous regime that he has helped set up in the ruins of the United States are more than a little bit reminiscent of historical arrangements, which is by no means a coincidence either in the narrative or outside of the narrative. However, the state of his home is a microcosm of his state, which is not a subtle statement but perhaps necessary in these times.
Jay Pritchett – Modern Family
In some ways, Jay Pritchett is a classical example of the patriarch. For example, he has a strained relationship with his son Mitchell, who came out as gay, as well as a tense relationship with his son-in-law Phil, who seeks his open approval in spite of the fact that Jay doesn’t like showing open approval. In other ways, Jay Pritchett lives up to the title of the TV show, as shown by him becoming a stepfather as well as a statement suggesting that he expects his granddaughter Alex to be the one who will take over his position as the head of the family in time.
Maura Pfefferman – Transparent
Maura Pfefferman isn’t a patriarch, but for a time, she would’ve been thought of as one. After all, she is a transwoman who has just come out about that fact to her children after most of a lifetime as their father Mort, resulting in a mix of reactions. In a way, it is an interesting reminder that no one is immune from being pressured into their expected roles by social convention.
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