Full-time Mom and CEO TV character, Claire Dunphy has it all but no support.
-Neerja Kambil
Claire Melinda Dunphy, married, mother of three and a successful CEO of a Closet company. Although many find her habit of controlling and being right all the time annoying, yet she is an underrated character.
Claire being a daughter of a rich businessman, still married Phil, and was still with him despite his financial struggle in their earlier days.
We know how working mothers have to constantly juggle between their work and family, we neglect their input as a contributor to the economy and to the family. Why do we not like them on TV too? Claire Dunphy and Gloria Delgado Pritchett are often compared and mostly everyone seems to love and praise Gloria’s beauty and figure on the show more than Claire. Sadly, in reality as an audience too we idealise Gloria and her perfect body type and tend to neglect her personality. Most people were unfair to Claire which made her into the person she was now.
Philip Dunphy
In an episode where her “problem” was to prove how correct she was always, the scene shows when Claire fell down in the pyramid of juice cans, when Phil pushed her, (as a matter of fact he did). Her own kids and Phil did not believe her that she was pushed but rather fell on her own and now is blaming Phil, so she of course, did take it too far to prove her point, but here too people only criticized her need to be right and they just overlooked her husband’s fault, who literally drools over any hot woman but his wife.
Phil made Claire constantly feel inferior to Gloria in terms of looks, which is a sad media portrayal, that indirectly just displays to let the wives accept this behaviour as normal, and allow their long term partners just to stare at other hot women because they are not pretty enough.
He once even pretended Gloria was his wife in front of his ex-classmate. It wasn't funny anymore because he crushed on Gloria constantly throughout the seasons. Phil-Claire is considered as an ideal relationship by the majority of their fanbase. This constant tendency of borderline cheating is meant to be viewed as a cute quirk rather than a topic to be confronted and communicated about. Claire is just shown as annoyed and the deep issues are left unresolved. This just leaves the young minds to accept “Let boys be boys'' and if you are not pretty enough as a woman then it is okay for your husband to look at other women. Which again people would comment and defend saying it’s not cheating but is staring at random women for being hot or pretty justified? Are we really promoting other women as mere sexual objects? (Yes most media representation is that way).
A show that should demonstrate healthy relationships but what it delivered is toxicity intended as a cute quirk. I wish that they had shown Phil drooling over how a perfect CEO, wife and mother Claire was instead of him just sexualising Gloria’s body.
Dede Pritchett
Claire had also mentioned (when Dede died) that her mother didn't let her wear a dress to prom (she had to wear pants) because she expected that would delay her teenage pregnancy chances. Claire’s mother constantly criticised Claire and often sided with Mitchell, which naturally led her to incline towards Jay, a dad filled with toxic masculinity.
Jason Francis Pritchett
Jay admitted he tried to raise Claire as a boy, and he never let her feel emotional and vulnerable. Growing in a chaotic family made her the controlling freak she is today. Although it is quite fascinating how she used her flaws into something productive like running a business. However both his kids Claire and Mitch seem to blame their parents a lot for their actions instead of taking some healthy steps to change it for their current relationships and children too.
Gloria Delgado Pritchett
Gloria kissed Claire’s husband and never objected when Phil was constantly giving her attention. Later she even slut shamed Claire’s past. Claire never disrespected Gloria for having two kids from different fathers. However, many would say Claire had dated many boys, but she remained loyal to her partner by never showing cheating tendencies, unlike her celebrated husband Phil Dunphy.
Claire did feel that Gloria was a gold digger initially, but she did it out of concern of protecting her dad’s feelings. She obviously had a complicated relationship with Jay, probably an unresolved electra complex which was not explored too.
Sitcoms are meant to have drama and be funny but I don’t think it should be at the expense of relationship portrayal that shapes a lot of minds. Even Amy Santiago and Jake Peralta had a similar relationship with their Modern Family counterparts, Claire and Phil, but overall I think Brooklyn Nine-Nine aired more recently and has more healthy relationships.
We can’t blame the audience entirely and justify they always demand unhealthy drama.
A sitcom can shape a generation like from FRIENDS, to TBBT, Modern Family and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. We have seen huge positive changes in romantic relationships among the star couples like Rachel-Ross, Penny-Leonard, Phil-Claire, Jay-Gloria and Amy-Jake.
Rachel-Ross (dumb girl, smart guy)
Penny-Leonard (dumb blonde, intelligent guy)
Claire-Phil (smart blonde, fun guy)
Gloria-Jay (hot Latina housewife, smart successful man)
Amy-Jake (smart successful Latina, smart man)
Clearly women have gotten more character development about their strengths and intelligence rather than just casting them as sexual objects. This “Modern” portrayal has already started to affect how we perceive the new era women. Also now, men don’t have the pressure to provide solely for their family.
