The Not So Modern Problem With Haley Dunphy

Throughout the run of Modern Family we saw our lovable cast of characters grow up right before our eyes. Something like this hasn't been done before, and should have been a story about change and development. Though it seems the Modern Family creators fell short with the character of Haley Dunphy. She seems to grow past the immature demeanor early in the show, only to divert right back to where she was before Modern Family's final episode.

#modernfamily #haleydunphy #nerdstalgic

Written by Chris Teregis
Edited by Brian Nappi

[Thebugthebugthebug]

Her “IM NOT GOING ANYWHERE” car scene was so iconic and was just about herself and no one else showing that there was potential for a plot line where there isn’t a romantic element.

[BlazinBritBrat]

They wrote the character based on what Sarah could physically handle. She was sleeping 12 hours a day at one point. She's had two kidney transplants.

[jade]

as disappointing as haley's ending was, I think it's actually quite realistic.

[Shalalacls]

To be fair, as someone who has been watching the first season on background for the past 2 days, Haley was always set up as a parallel of Claire. Jay, Dede and Mitchell all have lines about it and joke calling Claire a hypocrite for the rules she gives Haley. So it makes sense that she does what she wants, gets into trouble, gets pregnant and ends up with a lovable dummy who is actually absolutely perfect for her. That's Claire and Phil.

[martidodger]

Everyone complaining about Dylan always ignores the fact that Dylan went through nursing school and became a nurse BECAUSE he wanted to be worthy of Hayley. He bettered himself, got an education, and a stable job rather than being a burned out failed rock musician. Hayley’s story doesn’t have to stop at the babies, she was successful and Claire will help her be a mom and a successful career woman. Hayley and Dylan are echos of Claire and Phil. Claire was in the beginning of her career when Phil knocked her up, and she and he had to scramble to get things together so they could start their family. Phil left his dreams of becoming a magical to become a realtor to support his Claire and their baby. So while I agree Hayley wasn’t given much development/is a tired trope, I hate how ppl act as if she left behind a mountain of character development and “lowered herself” to be with Dylan, when it was obvious that these two were going to end up with each-other from the moment he was introduced. I am just glad the two of them had time to grow up before ending up together

[trinaq]

I hated how they had Haley go back to her immature boyfriend Dylan, and start a family with him. She'd grown so much since their breakup, and her character development was one of my favourite aspects of later seasons. Andy seemed like a better match for Haley, but Adam Devine's busy schedule possibly resulted in him being written out quicker than anticipated.

[rapaz]

I think that Modern Family's biggest problem was how the kids grew up and they didn't knew what to do with them. Alex and Manny area perfect examples of a good characters that keeper going into adventures that had little to no set up and ended way too early.

[MegaTheBard]

Haley not knowing who she is, where she’s going, or what she wants makes her feel like the most realistic 20 something I’ve ever seen on tv. She’s the only sitcom character who feels as aimless and unmoored as I do. The writers struggling to know what to do with her reminds me of how I don’t know what to do with myself

[aurora]

If Haley had been more successful, she would have made Alex more interesting. The whole "popular girl gets pregnant, and the geek gets a fancy job" is really tiring, and I would have liked it if they were both confronted with the fact that most people end up being just fine. Popular girls usually get what they want out of life, just the same as the unsocial geek, maybe even more due to the way society is structured. Having Alex be confronted with the fact that she spent her whole life looking down at her popular sister because of their academic differences, and still having Haley find success in life, would have forced her to reflect on the fact that she's really mean to people that aren't as smart as her. Her superiority complex (while understandable, because she is Really Smart) also stagnates her personal development, because outside of school she has very little likability factor. We know she is smart from the first episode so having her struggle in her personal life AND GROWING FROM IT would have really helped her storylines.

[danagunter]

Actually I find Haley's story line incredibly realistic. Everyone knows this girl - either we were friends with her or she bullied us or we ARE her. That's why shows like Modern Family work - they're relatable.

[spencermoody]

As uninspired and lazy Haley's character was over the course of the show, I do think the character as a whole played an interesting role in the overall composition of the character universe. As someone who was fairly close in age to Haley during the show's run, she did feel very reminiscent of many people I knew and in many ways served as a cautionary tale of being vapid, superficial, and "normal" in a family full of unique perspectives. Her codependence in her adult life is a direct result of her lack of individualism in high school and can be seen as the repercussion for being such a prototype of "popular young female". In many ways, Haley's lack of growth and development during the series serves to reverse long standing tropes in TV and society; striving for status quo equates to stagnation

[camx]

My favorite Haley arc was her being a determined working woman in the fashion industry or Nerp. She had actual goals and it seemed like exactly the life a girl like her would want in California. It was really weird that she had never said in the show that she WANTED to be a mom or WANTED kids, it was just forced on her instead of the show writers letting her be up there with Alex in terms of being successful. They wasted a strong minded witty character on my least favorite sitcom trope (adding babies). PLEASE GIVE MORE REPRESENTATION TO HOT POPULAR GIRLS THAT ARE INDEPENDENT INSTEAD OF MOTHERS BY FORCE.

[slospop]

Andy was probably Haley's best relationship, he inspired her and she became determine to grow and be a better person for herself. I understand why they wrote Andy off, with Adam's busy schedule. What I don't understand is why her character devolved after he left, or why put her back with Dylan. 
I liked Dylan, but it never felt like he and Haley weren't right for each other. They never really seemed like. I thought a big show of character growth was her braking up with Dylan that last time.

[Oblio]

I wouldnt call this a character writing flaw at all. It seems way more realistic than anything. People dont really change deep down. Sure some things will change short term and when everything's happy, but mostly people will revert to what they have become comfortable with when things go sideways, especially personality habits.

[TheSinlessAssassin]

Feel like Lily and Manny also got left in the dust in terms of character development.

[eastsidereviews]

I didn't notice this until I rewatched the series, but yeah it's so strange how little development Haley gets and how much things revolve around her relationships. I think they really missed a great opportunity to write her off by having her and Andy end up together. They seemed like they balanced each other out as a couple and the chemistry was great between Sarah and Adam.
They also botched Dylan by having them end up together because he managed to move on in life, but the writers lazily smashed them together instead of letting them go in better, more interesting places.

[percy]

The show got me hooked for the first few seasons right until the end. All of Haley's relationships (hell, even with the weatherman and ESPECIALLY Andy) have more depth than with Dylan, who appeared no more than 10 times ever since they broke up in the first seasons. It is so mind blowing how she chose Dylan out of anyone

[LionUniverse]

Might be an unpopular opinion, but I think that Haley actually has an interesting development. There are many people that are serial monogamous, that don't feel comfortable being single, and people who do struggle with their own identity after school (especially so-called popular kids)... and I think that Haley is hit with these things, and slowly but surely develops a lot throughout the series.
Even with Dylan, I interpret their relationship at the beginning being more about what he represents ('popular boy in a band that your mom disapproves of') than actually For him.
At the end, she comes to not only see his faults but also his qualities, and loves him genuinely for who he is. I also really like how he was given a proper development even with the little time he had in the show, and how he tries to bring out the best in this family even when he's just an acquaintance.

As much as we like Andy, and how interesting they were as a couple, it was the wrong place, wrong time and wrong motivations.. all the cheating and the lies tainted their relationship, and at the end, neither actually trusted that the other was fully committed. I think that was handled really well.. it is sad, especially for Andy it seems, but life is like this too..

[thespiderstation]

Bro I cried when Haley gave up on Andy, they were so perfect for each other 😭

[giannabruce]

Seasons 5-7 with Andy and especially the parts where Andy and Hailey are together are some of my favorite episodes of Modern Family. The two of them just have so much chemistry, and I was disappointed when they didn't end up together. I feel like the writers wanted them to, but that was when Adam Devine was starting to get more famous and most likely had other opportunities.