Around the world in 30 days? More like Australia’s clichés and stereotypes in 20 minutes.
On Sunday night, Modern Family’s one-off Australian episode aired on channel 10. The episode highlights Phil Dunphey’s Australian roots as we are made aware that he was in fact conceived on Australian soil and as a tribute to his Mother will return for a holiday with his family.
As expected this episode was overrun with Aussie stereotypes and clichés, with the first scene seeing Luke Dunphy doing a handstand and referencing Australia’s geographical origins at the bottom of the Earth. Obviously this sequence of scenes was shot with the renowned Sydney Harbour in the background; a glorious big shot of both the opera house and the bridge.
The clichés managed to keep on rolling on throughout the episode, ensuring they didn’t leave out the iconic Aussie animals, a day at Bondi Beach, and of course a walk through the bush – which seemed to have a lot more upkeep than the typical outback.
The reference to Lindy Chamberlain’s iconic “the dingo stole my baby” line was nauseating, with Claire Dunphy constantly referring to the deal she was breaking at work as her ‘baby’ throughout the episode, and claiming “a wild dog stole my laptop!” out of the tent. Regardless of how many years, I still think that was too soon.
Though this episode was sure not to leave any of it out, we had references to Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Melbourne’s trams, and Darwin’s crocs, but I couldn’t seem to see Lara Bingle in there anywhere? I wouldn’t be surprised if she received a call from the producers upon landing, questioning, “where the bloody hell are ya?”
QANTAS jumped in on the gag as the family’s choice of airline home, featuring a massive shot of the plane in the sky. I couldn’t help but question how much was paid for that screen-time especially once QANTAS had made so many cuts recently due to a decreasing budget.
Modern Family is quirky. It’s why we love it; it’s different and makes us laugh. However watching this episode made me roll my eyes at how laid-back and care-free Aussies are portrayed – if only we all had lives where we could spend our days topless in Bondi. One things from sure, if that episode doesn’t boost tourism, nothing will.
Words by Alyshia Anderson
