"Modern Family" is a TV sitcom set in suburban Los Angeles. This extended family is made up of interracial, gay, and traditional marriages, making it an accurate representation of how there is no one perfect example of today's modern family. From left to right the characters include: Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, Manny Delgado, Jay Pritchett, Luke Dunphy, Alex Dunphy (front), Claire Dunphy (back), Haley Dunphy (front), Phil Dunphy (back), Lily Tucker-Pritchett, Mitchell Pritchett, and Cameron Tucker.
One part of this extended family are the Dunphys. They represent the traditional, white, mother-father and children family type.
The mother-figure of the Dunphy family is Claire Dunphy. Claire is the epitome of the stay at home mother, she doesn't work and spends much of her time running errands and doing things like making cupcakes for her kids bake sales. She's Phil's wife, Mitchell's older brother, and Jay's daughter.
Phil Dunphy plays the role of your typical American father. He's a real-estate agent and the breadwinner of the Dunphy family.
Haley Dunphy is the eldest child of Phil and Claire Dunphy. Haley is meant to portray the role of a typical teenage girl in the 21st century.
Haley is always attached to her phone and constantly checks her twitter, facebook, pinterest, tumblr etc. In this way, the show makes a joke out of how the younger generation in our society is obsessed with technology and social media.
The youngest daughter of the Dunphy family is Alex Dunphy, she too is meant to depict the teenage girl archetype. Alex, instead of being boy-crazy like her sister, is classified as being the "nerdy" type.
The youngest member of the Dunphys is Luke, he's an illustration of the quintessential young boy. He messes around, gets dirty, and likes to be active.
The Delgado-Pritchett family renders many different modern family situations. Many families these days are blended, meaning that someone brings a child into another marriage that isn't their first. Jay and Gloria have both been married before, this is a way in which the show represents how ordinary a family like theirs has become.
The Delgado-Pritchett family is also a representation of an interracial marriage. Gloria and Manny are both Colombian, while Jay is an American white man. This is another way "Modern Family" displays the diverse range of the present-day family.
Furthermore, Jay is much older than Gloria. This relationship plays out the stereotype of the young, beautiful woman marrying the rich, older man. Yet another way the writers of "Modern Family" show the mélange of contemporary families.
Jay Pritchett, the grandfather of the children in the extended family and Claire and Mitchell's father, is an old-fashion macho man. He's meant to show how the older generation fits into the mix of diverse families today.
Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, Jay's second wife and Manny's mother, plays the role of a hispanic young woman. She's painted as kind of a bimbo who rides on her looks, this is an example of the manner in which "Modern Family" plays with the stereotypes of our society to create comedy.
Manny Delgado is Gloria's son and Jay's step-son. By society's standards, Manny is an abnormal boy because he enjoys poems, romance, and Shakespeare. This is something that Jay struggles with because he is so macho and traditional in his views of what a man should be.
The Pritchett-Tucker family is another representation of a modern family. Mitchell and Cameron are boyfriends, something you would have never seen on TV during the times of traditional situational comedy like "Leave it to Beaver".
Cameron Tucker, Mitchell's husband, is a depiction of the very feminine gay man stereotype. Although it could be considered controversial for "Modern Family" to exploit this stereotype, I believe it is meant to add to the diversity of the Pritchett-Tucker-Dunphy-Delgado family.
Because Jay has many traditional views, it is sometimes hard for him to grapple with his only son being a homosexual. The dynamic between Jay and Mitchell is meant to show how the miscellany of today's modern family may not always go over so well with the old-fashioned generation.
An additional example of the way "Modern Family" shows how the typical family has changed over the years is Mitchell and Cameron's daughter, Lily. Lily is Vietnamese, and was adopted by Mitchell and Cameron when she was a baby, this concept is something that would not have been on air when situational comedies first came to light.
In conclusion, the sitcom, "Modern Family", is an accurate representation of families in the 21st century. Each of the characters and the relationships between them epitomizes the assortment of today's "normal" families.