The family is defined as two parents and their children living together in a home. This definition may not be that simple if the current multicultural, same-gender marriages are considered. The role of the parents is to maintain the wellbeing of their children and have a mutually loving relationship while earning bread for the whole family. The types of families have changed since adoption and children of their spouses from their previous marriages making the family system more complex and difficult to understand.
In this context, the episode ‘The Long Honeymoon’ from the TV series ‘The Modern Family’ season six shows how relative and confusing the family system has become. The overall concept of the show is to differentiate the traditional family system from the modern family system like children now make more decisions and have more liberty than a couple of decades back. The series shows three different families with three different set of parents and children who are interlinked in some ways but their experiences are unique. The siblings of all the three families are shown having difficulties in the family system. Alex Dunphy as an example is the daughter of Phil Dunphy and Claire Dunphy but the modernization in the family has shown that Alex is way smarter than the parent should be. This can be seen in the scene where Alex pulls the pin of the fire extinguisher while Phil was helplessly struggling to use it to stop the smoke in the oven.
Cameron and Mitchel are shown as the newly married couple but the twist here is that both are men, and Cameron seems very proud to have this relationship but it ends up being awkward for Mitchel when Cameron comes to his office. Then we have Jay and Gloria who are husband and wife but the age difference in them keeps them struggling to be more attractive to each other since Jay was much older than Gloria.
Work Cited
“Modern Family: Season 6 Premiere: The Long Honeymoon – Watch Season 6 Episode 01”. ABC, 2018, http://abc.go.com/shows/modern-family/episode-guide/season-6/01-season-6-premiere-the-long-honeymoon. Accessed 8 Mar 2018.
