ABC’s Modern Family is a television series that focuses on “types” of families found in America today. There are three households: The Dunphys—a married couple with three children, Cam and Mitchell—a homosexual couple with an adopted daughter, and The Pritchetts—an older man with a younger wife who moved from Colombia with her son. All three of these individual households are part of the same complex and hilarious family. Where else in the world could you find such a diverse family? Modern Family satirizes the America of today and outlines in a comic way the stereotypes of our nation.
Modern Family contributes to the American narrative by showing America as a place of acceptance, freedom, and hard work. It demonstrates the white picket fence and all of the things that can go awry within it. No one in the family considers Cam and Mitchell’s relationship to be strange and no one cares that Gloria and Manny are from Colombia. While they make fun of each other’s quirks as all families do, there is no loss of acceptance due to background, sexuality, or ethnicity. Modern Family promotes America as a place of acceptance, a place where you are free to be the person that you are. This television series shows America as a melting pot, where all people are accepted, but where sometimes our differences boil over in a comic fashion. 
Wholeheartedly, I agree with this post. Modern Family is a perfect portrayal of how America can be that melting pot of all races and religions. But it can’t be overlooked that even though in some places your background and ethnicity is overlooked and people are treated equally, that this is not the case everywhere, and certainly has not always been the case.
When people other ethnicities and nationalities were coming to America initially, almost all of them were not accepted in the beginning. There were lots of stereotypes and racism, even towards other European immigrants.
It’s been hard work over the years to get to the level of equality we are at today. And sure, not everywhere is like Modern Family, but every generation gets a bit closer to it. We’re on the right track, we’re just not there yet.
Like davaniak’s comment above, I also wholeheartedly agree with the idea that Modern Family is a perfect portrayal of how America can be a melting pot. I think Modern Family is one of the more overt examples of television shows that reaffirm or reconstruct the way American’s view American culture. While the subject matter is different from other shows, it essentially does what other shows (like Scandal, American Horror Story, or even That 70’s Show) do.
Modern Family is very funny but deals with serious issues. However, I think the show fails to portray socioeconomic inequality that America faces. The inequality portrayed in the show comes mostly from Cam & Mitchell’s homosexual relationship and some suggestion that Gloria and Manny are treated differently, by others, because of their Columbian background. What Modern Family does not acknowledge is any sense of financial struggle the American family may face. I find this strange since the show premiered (and has aired since) during the recession (and the economic turmoil following). While the family represents America’s diversity in sexuality and ethnicity, it suggests that the American family is economically well off. Not just well off, all three representations (The Dunphys, Pritchetts, and Cam&Mitchell) are all upper-class, California residents.
I only bring this into the discussion because I think the absence of economic hardship, or the show’s overt depiction of success and wealth (resulting from hard work), ties in perfectly with texts we’ve studied. Modern Family suggests that all families can be diverse and successful, which is exactly what the earliest American writers were doing.