For those of you who don’t know, Modern Family is an American sitcom about three contemporary California families who deal with their children, eccentric spouses, and occupations in their own special ways, frequently getting themselves into amusing situations.
We have the Pritchett clan, the Tucker clan and most importantly the Dunphy’s.
Each family has its own muse and their own problems which definitely resemble Pakistani families more than you think.
With Claire’s eccentric style of being a controlling mother, Alex’s ability of being the overachiever cousin and well Manny just being Manny; I had the chance to rewatch modern family and this is what I found out
1. The Dunphy Family:
Claire, Phil, Haley, Alex, and Luke make quite the team when paired up together. They are always there for each other and will be there for each other through thick and thin, and they are a perfect example of what middle-class families are. Although they get on each other’s nerves from time to time, unlike desi middle-class families, they come to terms with what’s what at the end of every 25 minutes.
Phil is a perfect dad and there is no doubt about it, he might be the only unrealistic part about this but it is a modern family after all.
Claire is an overly controlling mom with a slight, teeny bit of anger issues and always wants it her way. She is dealing with generational trauma and wants her family to be perfect (like our moms). Not pursuing her career till her children were old enough, and then always trying to please her parents no matter what the situation is. She is the epitome of what happens when you put an older child in a tense situation without therapy.
Haley and Luke and two ends of the same coin—I like to call this the companionship of the first and last born. It’s always the first and last born who get treated the same but also the exact opposite; they are mirrors facing each other, but the mirrors are broken because one has set standards of living and the other is just trying to follow in their footsteps. They love each other to bits and honestly will if the other one wants food at 3 a.m.
Alex is a typical middle child. Too much is expected from them, and little is known about them. I’m not a middle child, but I can definitely say they are undermined for a lot they do. They are most likely to be sent to Antarctica and forgotten about because, let’s be honest, who knows where they are and what they do? All we know is that they are making us proud because the others couldn’t do it.
2. The OG Pritchett’s
Jay, Gloria, Manny, Joe, and Stella The nana/dada’s side of the family—the good side of the family Just like any other Pakistani household, almost all the functions, birthdays, and events are held there. Jay is trying to be the greatest grandfather ever, and Gloria is being a cool step-nanny. The family tree is weird, but so is ours, considering every single one is married to their cousins. Anyway, Jay and Gloria are the rich side of the family, whom everyone admires and is secretly jealous of.
Gloria is the aunt everyone can go to with their secrets, and she will accept them with love and care, while Jay is the uncle who likes to talk about politics and will ask for chai after every meal he’s had. They are both lovely in their own way, and sometimes Jay might come up with a misogynistic comment about having a second wife, but we have to forget about it and move on because he is older, and in desi households we do not disrespect elders.
And well, Manny is just Manny.
3. The Tucker Fam
Mitchell, Cam, and Lily are the perfect family if the perfect family had an aunty (Cam) from a different region (for example, Punjabis can’t marry anywhere else but Punjabis, etc.), and that is what makes them great and extra. These types of people in the family are your phupos…like literally. They are up to date with all the gossip; they know everything that is going on, and for some reason, at every event, they have to be the people who are the most extra. Sometimes extra is good because I would definitely trust them with certain things but I do not want them to wear their wedding clothes to a birthday, it’s just not cool. Also, they judge.
4. Family Sticks Together
No matter their differences and no matter how they are, the one thing I’ve learnt from modern family is that family sticks together because that is all you have at the end of the day. I learnt that ‘The most amazing things that can happen to a human being will happen to you, if you just lower your expectations’ and that ‘Life is full of change, some big, some small. I learned a long time ago you can fight it, or you can try to make the best of it, and that’s all a lot easier if you’ve got people who love you, helping you face whatever life throws at you’
What is your favorite character from the show? Let us know down below.
