wait i haven’t watched the show in a while, why is canon cam bad?
Ooh boy, I could talk about this for ages. I’ll just list the main things. In the majority of the episodes in most of the seasons but primarily in the later half, Cam is toxic, controlling, manipulative, and just all-around a bad partner. He treats Mitchell terribly, from diminishing his trauma and belittling him to flat-out not caring when his own mother, Barb, and his sister, Pam, sexually assaulted Mitchell on multiple occasions.
He plays on Mitchell’s abandonment issues (such as keeping a packed suitcase to leave whenever he wants), he mocks Mitchell for not being romantic but scorns him when he does (‘Manny Get Your Gun’ is the biggest example of this), and openly scorns Mitchell for having boundaries (‘The Kiss’ comes to mind, but this happens in almost every episode). Additionally, there are so many scenes where he just appears to not care about Mitchell whatsoever; in ‘The Wild’, for example, when Mitchell is left outside alone in the middle of the woods at night, Cam doesn’t care at all, or in ‘Summer Lovin’ when his only priority is to shove Mitchell back into work rather than help him work through what’s really going on/what he’s struggling with.
The three worst things Cam has done, however, is 1) in s11 when he lied about Mitchell to their friend group and faked a breakup in order to gain sympathy for no reason other than his own ego, something I have had an ex do to me which makes it more personal, 2) in the episode ‘Mother!’ when Cam is shown to have befriended DeDe (who is portrayed as someone who abused Mitchell and Claire!!) and talked shit about Mitchell to her for their entire relationship, and 3) in the episode ‘Grab It’ when Cam forces Mitchell into a role on stage where he is non-consensually kissed by a girl and forces Mitchell to apologize for ‘ruining his play’ afterward (I’ve actually written a fix-it for several of these aforementioned situations, which you can find on my ao3, link in bio).
I won’t even go into detail about the ending of s11 for them, because I know some people are still watching it, but Mitchell was forced into that too, even when it was an awful situation that would bring good for no one other than - you guessed it - Cameron.
Some people might say that Mitchell is toxic, too. I wholeheartedly disagree, however. One example is, as previously listed, ‘Manny Get Your Gun’, when Mitchell is part of a flash mob to surprise Cam with a romantic gesture, but Cam is ungrateful and angry and just a douche overall.
When Mitchell tells Cam he is being sensitive, he is one hundred percent correct. On the flip side, when Mitchell is sexually assaulted by Cam’s mother and voices his discomfort to Cam, and Cam calls him sensitive - that is toxic. That is not okay. That is disgusting behavior.
I could go on and on and on about how Mitchell deserves so much better, how Cam is terrible, how the homophobia is so deeply rooted in the show’s writers that they made the one gay couple into one of the most manipulative and toxic relationships I’ve ever seen in media. I could also stress how bad this could be for someone in real life (i.e., ‘my favorite TV couple acts like this and so if my relationship is also like that, it must be healthy!’) or how terrible it is given what we know about Mitchell’s past with shitty boyfriends only to be thrust into this new environment with another toxic partner. But I believe I’ve given enough broad examples to this.
Unfortunately, this really can be blamed on the homophobia of the writers/network and of just bad writing itself; sitcoms often fall apart when going on too long, or relationships lose their charm with the audience. That’s my biggest issue with sitcoms, though- I guarantee that no one was laughing when Cam got angry at Mitchell because Cam’s sister assaulted him.
TLDR: Cam is manipulative and toxic and shitty, which is why I write fanfiction for them. Because Mitchell deserves better, and in the fleeting, rare episodes where Cam sticks to his pilot version rather than an awful partner, he is just as wonderful. Fanon Cam, my beloved; canon Cam, you can, disrespectfully, rot in hell
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I'm rewatching Modern Family and I still enjoy it. This picture makes me happy. You don't go with your co-star to a high school play of another co-star if you don't really like each other.
jessetyler: Took my sis to see the kiddo in her school musical, The Theory of Relativity. So proud of you @aubreyandersonemmons! If you are near @viphstheatre go check it out this weekend. ❤️
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I can see you Mitchell- I mean Jesse {what do you mean this isn’t a lost modern family episode?}
Would Lily be a Taylor fan? Maybe only reputation or 1989?
Cam would love Lover and all her country songs. And probably try to be in any music videos he could, especially YNTCD
What are Mitchell’s top three favorite Taylor songs?
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