"Modern Family" and the "Nuclear Family"

 

    "Modern Family" is a wildly popular television show that seeks to capture the reality of internal American family relationships, and to evaluate how our definition and understanding of the "nuclear family" has evolved. Since it first aired in 2009, the show has been credited with an astronomical number of nominations and accolades proving there is something about this "mockumentary" style family comedy that is deeply connecting with viewers.

       
      Our characters comprise a tangled family tree (pictured above) that feels comfortably relatable to many. Bruce Feiler in his article for the New York Times states, "From the beginning, the creators Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd conceived their show around a newfangled family tree: Jay Pritchett, the patriarch; his Colombian trophy wife, Gloria; and her son, Manny; Jay’s grown son, Mitchell; his partner, Cam; and their adopted Vietnamese daughter; Jay’s high-strung daughter, Claire; her goofball husband, Phil; and their three suburban children." The show seeks to represent many different family structures, allowing viewers to find themselves in one of the households. Upon it's initial airing, most of the buzz centered around the homosexual couple, Cam and Mitchell. Creators of the beloved series, Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, say they were not attempting to make a political statement through these characters, but rather viewed them as an essential piece of the "Modern Family" puzzle. The intergenerational and interracial relationship Jay and Gloria share was also a point of conversation among early viewers. Their unit is also a blended family system as both Jay and Gloria had prior marriages, with Gloria bringing her son Manny from her previous marriage into their family. Lastly, we have Phil and Claire who represent the stereotypical "nuclear family" with their 3 children, Haley, Alex, and Luke. 

  Another central aspect of the show is the way it embraces technology as an integral part of our day to day lives. The teenagers in the show are more often than not shown with their cell phones in their hands, just as is true within most households. In a time when family members text one another that dinner is ready or that it is time to go, the ubiquity of technology within the writing of the show is deeply connectable and rings startling true. 

   

    Filming "Modern Family" in mockumentary style does a number of things. Bruce Feiler aptly describes the facet of this style and how it influences the messages the creators are attempting to send. He states, "characters in the middle of a scene will often glance at the camera, a disconcerting aside that has the effect of making the viewer feel both like a part of the family and an observer...second, the characters in “Modern Family” all offer confessional interviews directly to an unidentified cameraperson. Jay may say he pretends to love his daughter’s blueberry pie, but he really hates it. Or Mitchell may say, as he does in this episode, “Cameron has it in his head that I don’t listen to him, but I do.” This not only invites us into these families in a more personal way through breaking that fourth wall, but also is a more realistic representation of true family communication. The interviews give viewers more information the way specific pieces of info are shared among some family members but not others.  While this may seem like a more trivial piece of the "Modern Family," I would argue that this conjoined with the close integration of technology is one of the most essential components of how this show is shaping our understanding of what the modern family communication system and overall functioning looks like. 

    

The "Modern Family" writers upon developing our beloved characters decided not to attempt to break down or challenge stereotypes, but rather to lean into them. Each character embodies and addresses a different commonly held stereotype. This makes them each comical and relatable, but also allows audience members to recognize the presence of these conventional portrayals without being assaulted  by them. Gloria (shown above), for example, is portrayed as a stereotypical Latino woman: sexy, hot tempered, loud, and passionate about everything. She brings an unparalleled color and comedy to the group, and serves as a (rather loud) loving voice of reason that is essential to her household. By each character serving as a representation of these commonly held perceptions, we as a result are met with bold and strongly enunciated family units who feel very real to life despite their slightly overdramatized nature. 

While there are some stereotypes and issues the show leaves untouched, the writers are clear their agenda in the creation of the series was never political in nature. They sought to create a show that rang true with a wide variety viewers, and felt like a honest portrayal of modern family systems. It's incredibly important to evaluate how "Modern Family" and similar forms of mass media influence our perception of and personal ideologies about family systems and other areas of our lives. Viewers are consuming the model's presented within the series as true to life normalcies. They watch the show and subconsciously identify these units as models of the revised "nuclear family." When we look at comparable iconic family comedies that were popularized in the past, such as "The Brady Bunch" or "Full House," we see the value this holds. Twenty years from now, we may very well look back on the huge success of the series and timestamp it as influential within our popular culture's history. "Modern Family" is working to shape the way we as a society define and understand the "nuclear family," and what communication looks like within that system.