I watched the 22nd episode of the first season of Modern Family. In this episode there are a few basic storylines: First, Gloria is taking her husband, Jay, on vacation to Maui for his birthday. But, she surprises him by bringing along the whole family. He is frustrated throughout the episode because he was looking forward to a quiet vacation. He eventually finds out that his family will only be in Maui for half of the vacation. Within the episode, Mitchell and Cameron, Jay and Gloria and Claire and Phil all struggle with their relationships. Ironically, the people having the issues are the father (Jay) and his two children (Claire and Mitchell). This episode focuses on the importance of family as well as working through issues in a relationship and realizing they may be blowing an issue out of proportion.
One of the reasons I absolutely love Modern Family is its ability to translate “realness” and its reliability factor. This show is hilarious because it is so easy to relate to since several of the themes and story lines presented are things that most people have encountered at least once in their life within their own families.
For the rhetorical analysis aspect of this blog, I’m going to focus on messages surrounding air travel. Obviously, since the family is going across the ocean for a vacation, they must travel by plane. Our generation has come to understand many aspects that can be associated with air travel. The main signs I will be focusing on are the many different issues that happen within an airport and preparing for vacation.
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First, there is the typical worrying surrounded with making sure nothing is forgotten when packing for a vacation. Mitchell, who may be the most high-strung character in the show, is, inevitably, the one who winds up forgetting his wallet (which he needs because he can’t fly without his identification) after he has arrived at the airport. He drives all the back to his house with Phil and realizes he left his keys with Cameron, who is at the airport. Although this is a bit extreme case of forgetting something for vacation, it is hilarious because this is a prominent fear most people have when packing and preparing for vacation.
Second, there are the problems that are involved with the actual flight. Cameron tries his best to keep his baby daughter, Lily, awake because “no one likes a crying baby.” This is an issue that many parents with young children and other flyers worry about, because flying can be stressful enough for some people, that a crying baby only creates more stress and anxiety. Claire is one of those people who has a phobia of flying. Throughout the episode, Claire is constantly acting like or reminding people of her fear of flying. She is jittery and anxious the few hours before the family will be leaving for the airport, then Phil “abandons” her at the airport while he takes Mitchell home to retrieve his wallet, finally, she gets drunk at the bar to relieve her anxiety. In the real world, many people do often take medication or drink alcohol to relieve the fear of flying.
Lastly, but most significantly, is the racial profiling that ensues in this episode. Manny, being the mature, extremely confident 11-year-old he is comes to the airport dressed in a suit. Manny is called, over the loud speaker, down to the security office for a background check, just because he looks like a foreigner and has the same name as another individual, who is actually an adult Manny Delgado, and the adult has been put on a “no-flying” list. Gloria begins to tell the security guard that he is confusing her son with someone else, and the security guard proceeds to grab her by the arm and won’t let her find her husband, Jay. She stated that they already cleared up this issue at check-in, but the guard refuses to believe her. This is a real issue that many people in our generation have had to deal with because of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and many other terrorist acts that have ensued in the real world. The security guard questions him, in an attempt to figure out if he is truly innocent or not.
The guard asks him questions like, “Have you ever been to Japan?” and asks if Manny was at a consumer electronics show, but Manny would have only been four-years-old at the time. Gloria then asks the guard why he isn’t harassing an elderly lady with a cane because she could be hiding a knife in it. The guard then turns the questioning around on Gloria, telling her, “Ma’am, you seem to know a lot about sneaking contraband onto a plane.” She answers, “Yeah, I’m Columbian.” He then proceeds to question her the same way he questioned her son. After the interview is nearly complete, the guard allows Gloria to make a phone call to Jay. This is too often an issue in our own government. Innocent people are wrongfully accused of being a terrorist or criminal simply because of people’s tendency to racial profile, based purely on presumptions and poor judgment. During the interview, there are signs prominent in the background that assist in showing racial profiling and stereotypes. The guards are all dressed in airport security attire: black slacks and a blue button down with several badges and iron-on’s. There is a large sign that reads ‘The U.S. Department of Transportation’ as well as several flags displayed throughout the office to enhance “American pride and patriotism.” There is also a man with long scraggly and torn clothing who is being questioned in a glass room behind the security guard whom is questioning the Delgados. This man presumably is there for questioning because he was robbing or soliciting, which is why he would be portrayed in that specific clothing. The only people in that office who looked like normal, up-standing citizens were the security guards and office workers. Though Modern Family manages to make light of this situation, this is a real problem that our generation has had to deal with.
Something absent from this episode would be visible problems that other families are dealing with at the airport. Most other people are listening to headphones or reading. The calm from others enhances the dysfunctionality of the families in the cast of Modern Family.
Other media mentioned in this episode included use of cell phones, Bluetooth in the car, and text messages (between cast members and from the alarm system company to Phil). Jay also uses a book reader instead of an actual book to read. Phil references The Bride of Frankenstein when trying to change the flight attendant’s attention after she asks if Claire is drunk. Luke also references the TV show Lost, when talking to his mom Claire about a “cool scenario” with an airplane.
One of the reasons this episode works so well is because the viewers can relate so well to this situation. Whether the viewer is an anxious flyer, who has been too nervous to fly, or has taken the risk of overcoming a phobia and actually flown. Or the viewer can be the person who happens be to in charge of gathering and packing and making sure everyone is ready to go for the vacation. Or more seriously, if one has been harassed at the airport due t racial profiling, or as some security guards like to refer to this situation as, a “routine check.” Though ironically, it seems as though the people whom are ‘routinely checked’ happen to be of the same ethnicity.
These signs are other messages that can be related to air travel and airports and share similar concepts to the ones presented in this episode of Modern Family. The threat level chart reflects not only if there have been security threats or attacks, but also how long flyers will have to wait in line. The second image is a representation of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, when the twin towers were attacked. After this tragedy, security increased tenfold and flying became less enjoyable and a much more complicated, thorough process. The last image represents racial profiling. If you can’t read the text, it says: “Which man looks guilty? If you picked the man on the right, you’re wrong. Wrong for judging people based on the color of their skin. Because if you look closely, you’ll see they’re the same man. Unfortunately, racial stereotyping like this happens every day. On America’s highways, police stop drives based on their skin color rather than for the way they are driving. For example, in Florida 80 percent of those stopped and searched were black and Hispanic, while they constituted only five percent of all drivers. These humiliating and illegal searches are violations of the Constitution and must be fought. Help us defend your rights. Support the ACLU. www.aclu.org. American Civil Liberties Union.”
These images all share a common theme with the portion of the plot that I have discussed; real issues are presented in media, however by making jokes about reality allows the viewers to laugh a little at all the issues we deal with on a daily basis, and hopefully encourages us to understand and examine real-life problems more carefully.
