Parenthood Is A Great Movie

In the movie Parenthood (1989), many developmental stages can be observed. With that being said, one character that can be observed is Gil who is middle-aged adult. Gil has a beautiful wife and 3 children. In Santrock (2016, pp. 362-363) security, love, loyalty, and emotional interests are important during middle adulthood. Both Gil and his wife (Karen) believe that they have raised their children the correct way, but it can be seen that some people in his family think otherwise. He also has 2 sisters and 1 brother. In addition, he has a mother, father, nieces/nephews, and a brother-in-law. According to Santrock (2016, p. 342), during middle-aged adulthood adults normally reach peak position at their jobs, but in this case the promotion that Gil wanted was given to someone else, so Gil struggled with this concept of not moving up. Also, his household seems to be hectic and not perfect, but somehow he pushes through (Parenthood, 1989). According to Santrock (2016, p. 354), Erickson’s developmental stage that pertains to Gil is generativity vs. stagnation. In this stage, adults feel a sense of wanting to leave their legacy when they are gone (generativity), but at the same time feel as though they have not done anything for the next generation (stagnation). In the movie Parenthood (1989), Gil can be seen exhibiting this developmental stage in various scenes, but there is one seen in particular that stands out. Him and his wife are called to school for a meeting with the

Parenthood (1989) is a movie that deals with family life and the stages of human development. Gil Buckman is the father of three children Kevin, Taylor and Justin Buckman. Also, the husband of Karen Buckman. He works at a firm where he thinks he is on the track for a partnership. He coaches Kevin team in baseball and wants to be a better father than his dad. Also, he cares a lot about what other people think. In this movie Gil goes through a couple of stages dealing with his career, family, household and marriage.

The family consists of the mother Beth, father Calvin, and their son Conrad who are living in the aftermath of the death of the oldest son Buck. Conrad, who has attempted suicide and hospitalized because he inability to overcome grief and misplaced guilt, and therapy as way to feel more in control. Beth on the other hand always favored Buck and does not connect with Conrad. Whereas, the father Calvin is trapped in trying to hold the family together, but those pressures are building and he is coming to realizations of his own.

The movie Parenthood (1989) revolves around the psychological stresses that are faced by families. From the name of the movie, the main theme is coined, involving the issues that are faced by parents while raising up their children. The movie is centered in the family of Gil and Karen, and their extended family. Set in a middle-class white society, the anxieties and pains of raising children are presented in the movie. Gil Buckman is a parent and businessman. His wife, Karen, comes out as a nearly perfect parent, and always stays at home. Gil and Karen have three children. The oldest child is Kevin, a nine-year old boy with emotional problems. The emotional problems that are experienced by Kevin form a very significant aspect of the movie,

The movie Parenthood cover’s many of the topics we have discussed this semester in class. But it obviously focused very strongly on parenting and marriage. During the course of the movie we see the four Buckman children’s very different style of parenting. Although all four were raised by the same parents the culture of their individual families are all look very different. Gil Buckman felt abandoned and ignored by his father and therefore responded, with his wife Karen, by being a very active and attentive parent. Gil and Karen are on the authoritative end of the parenting spectrum, and their families’ culture revolves around activities such as baseball games, Kevin’s baseball game, Birthday parties, school plays and basically having fun together (Lecture, 4/22). On the opposite end of the parenting spectrum are Nathan and Susan. They are very authoritarian and reminded me of the “tiger Mom’s” of China. The culture of their family means that they don’t have their daughter in preschool, they are waiting a prescribed amount of time to have a second child and Nathan is continuously drilling facts into their daughter. Susan feels like she should be playing with children her own age but Nathan’s feelings have taken over their family’s culture.

The loss of her husband causes Amanda to develop a dependence on her children. She wants Tom and Laura to become successful. Amanda complains that Tom does not earn enough money at the shoe factory. She wants him to attend night school so he can attain a better career.

This personal confession shows that Mrs. Mallard, though she will mourn at first, now is free to “live for herself,” (228) not for her imposing husband. Before her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard believed she was in a healthy, normal marriage. This death revealed to her how while she cared about her husband, she despised the lack of freedom her marriage had given her. All of the realizations that Mrs. Mallard reaches during her time of reflection shows the readers exactly why she will no longer mourn the death of her husband.

In the movie Parenthood it is about just what you may think, family. In every one there are complications to maintaining a stable, happy home. There are times where you may think that you have lost control of your relationship and your own life. In this film, that is what it showcases. Reality. Life. Not everything is going to go the way you planned, thus causing you to think your whole world is coming down on you. The main points the director emphasized that caught my attention in this movie were adversity, denial and exhaustion.

Parenthood is the story of the Buckman family and their friends and how they attempt to bring up their children. They suffer and enjoy all the different aspects of life including estranged relatives, the "black sheep" of the family, the eccentrics, the skeletons in the closet, and the rebellious teenagers. The Buckman family is a typical midwestern family dealing with the basic tribulations of their lives, relatives, raising children, pressures of the job, and learning to be a good parent and spouse.

Furthermore, Jimmy’s relationship with his mother is destroyed by the distress caused from the polarization of their society. Disturbed by the prominence of third world poverty and her husband’s immoral experimentation, it is evident that Sharon is suffering from depression. For Jimmy, her wallowing reaffirms the stigma that women are emotionally inferior to men. As a result, he intentionally triggers and manipulates his mother, much like his father did, until she is broken down. Afterwards, “he would pat her …saying 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry.' And he was sorry, but there was more to it: he was also gloating, congratulating himself, because he'd managed to create such an effect." (33) After years of neglect, and disinterest, Jimmy resented that his mother never pursued a significant relationship with him, and took advantage of the only way he could meaningfully interact with her, even if it was vicious. His attempt at a relationship spiraled into a self-important, power-hungry cycle much like Sharon’s dynamic with her husband and the powers that control society. Given her ethical concerns over the corporatization of scientific experimentation, Sharon leaves the compound and Jimmy behind. Years later

(Forster 181). As a sister looking out for what’s best, I understand that this announcement of his proposal may come as a shock and Helen suggests he does not really truly love her. Helen fears that Margaret will start to be like Mrs. Wilcox and become “gruffer, more downright, and inclined to patronize the more foolish virgin” (Forster 160). Here, we see the true feelings of Helen as she becomes disconnected with her sister and feels anger towards her sister’s fiancé, Henry. Helen punishes her sister by disconnecting herself from Margaret’s life and moving far away; out of sight, out of mind. Unsatisfied with the way things were left after telling Helen about the engagement and their continuous arguments on the subject, Margaret asks to meet up at Howard’s End where they start reminiscing about all the strong family bonding experiences they had years ago. By talking and laughing about the good old days, the sisters were able to reunite and rebuild that family connection they had lost. It is evident in this realistic example between to loving sisters’ causes family bonds and connections to forever remain. Although they may be damaged due to disagreements, these close relationships can never be broke. John Colmer mentions in his critique, “Marriage and Personal Relationships in Forster’s Fiction, that, “Personal relationships triumph between the two Schelgel sisters,

After the death of her husband, Mother struggles to keep her family together by providing the support and guidance they need, and encouraging them to use good judgment and think of the family as a whole before making their decisions. As the family faces various obstacles, each seemingly more severe than the last, Mother begins

Helen was once an actress and did commercials and she stills collects the videotapes from those days (Walker). Helen is now teaches drama and history. The book does not tell too much about Helen in the beginning but it lets the reader make inferences about who she once was by letting Julia compare her mother to how she once was. Helen comes down with the sickness and begins to slowly die. This slow death brings the family close again.

However, at the age of sixteen, Lisa’s desired to escape even more. The thought of having to live with Frank and endure his rapes were not part of her future. She tried to escape but her mom stopped her and begged her to stay. Because Lisa loved her mom and wanted her mother’s approval so bad, she stayed. However, Lisa’s mother could not even make her stay. The second time Lisa escaped, she got her own home. Then her mom called and told her that Frank had moved out of the country. Lisa wanted her mother and her sister in her life so bad that she went back and was trapped again. Now that Lisa knew that there was no hope in the relationship with her mother, it made escaping easier. The last time Lisa escaped she never

After receiving the news about the murder, Jimmy explodes with emotions. “I remember, I was more afraid of my little daughter than I ever was of being in prison” (Dennis 34). This quote shows the fatherly love Jimmy had for Katie. It compared the strength Jimmy had through the rough times in jail and how afraid he was of losing Katie. Ultimately, Jimmy follows the wrong path. Jimmy not only fails to find his daughter’s murderer, but he also kills Dave along too. By looking though a psychoanalytic lens, one can interpret Jimmy’s fatherly instincts which are to try to unearth his daughter’s murderer no matter the cost.