Second Hand Dad: Movie Analysis

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 Disney Way of Death explains the unfortunate/sad reaction to the evident loss of a loved one (friends and family). The reactions associated were common characteristics that Americans experience when they encountered death- Invisibility, silence, dispassion, institutionalization and taboo. (Laderman, 2000)

Bowen,D.E, & Strickler,S. L. (2004). A good friend for bad times: helping others through grief. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortess

The Parenthood film depicts average family that are changing life course which is the building block of many families. We have the father and mother with marital disfigurations of attachments, and lack of attachment between themselves and the relationships involving their four adult children and grandchildren. Furthermore, in this paper a description of accepting the shift generational roles and Structural Theory is analyzed and discussed in an article moreover, the Buckman’s family members accept financial responsibility for self and their families. Lastly, the subsystem chosen for the analysis, speculation is Larry.

Next, the emotional portion. In this essay, I found a connection in certain areas throughout the essay. I know in life that death happens and sometimes you die alone or with friends and family. Whatever the case maybe it is still a

Death is one of the most avoided topics because of the finality that comes with it and the fear of the unknown after death. However, there are quite a number of authors such as AtulGawande, Elisabeth Kubler-ross and Ira Byock who have attempted to go ahead and deal with death as a topic and other connected topics.Each of these authors have delved into one of the most revered topics that is death including related topics that come with it such as the dying process itself. Ira Byock’s Dying well: Peace and possibilities at the end of life is a book that looks at the moment prior to death when an individual is terminally sick and is at the point of death. A

Family is like a roller coaster and is always changing and adapting as is needed. One day, a family may be permissive and allow their children to do as they please. However, the next day, the parents may feel it is necessary to use a dictatorial style where everything they say is essentially the law of the house. The last parenting style, authoritative, is when the rules are consistent and the parents are flexible. Depending on which of these styles a parent uses, the child will grow up in a different atmosphere that can influence their personality. This is the idea of nurture, whereas the idea of nature would be that the genetics of the parents, not their parenting style, is what decides the children’s characteristics. Arguably, authoritative parenting is the most effective and reliable, whereas permissive parenting can lead to a lack of stability within a family.

I chose the movie “The Stepfather” for my research project and it depicts a man who suffers from Antisocial Personality disorder. There are quite a few similarities in the movie about his actions and the signs and symptoms of the actual disorder. For example, in the opening scene the main character, David Harris, is shown changing his appearance and is family had just been murdered. He walks through the house and doesn’t even feel remorse for the bodies that are laying there in front of him as if they weren’t even there. He then skips town as to not get caught and look for another “perfect family”. This is the same as breaking the law and fleeing not to get into any legal trouble.

Elizabeth Kübler-Ross was a Swiss-born psychiatrist who spent two years of her professional career gathering information from terminally ill patients to create the premise for On Death and Dying. “It is not meant to be a textbook on how to manage dying patients, nor is it intended as a complete study of the psychology of dying.” (Kübler-Ross, 1969). This book was written as a call-to-action; to raise awareness of the voice of the dying. Not only is there stigma surrounding the topic, but also numerous misconceptions concerning the emotional journey of the terminally ill. The Kübler-Ross Model creates a framework for those interacting with dying persons, to help caretakers better understand the transitions that are taking place, resulting in higher-quality care. This model is comprised of five stages, which can be experienced in a variety of combinations. Prior to the first stage, the patient must be delivered the news of their illness or the severity of their illness, which usually results in shock. Denial is the first stage noted by Kübler-Ross. Denial and isolation are normal responses to overwhelming emotions and serve as a temporary response until the individual is ready to accept reality. Although this defense mechanism is normative, it is important to note that it isn’t necessarily healthy, and that some never move past this stage. As reality sets in, pain beings to emerge and manifests itself in the next stage: anger. Rationality takes a

I have seen this concern with multiple terminally ill patients and their family first hand. After reading The Four Things That Matter Most, I am starting to become more aware of my patients and their family expressing love and appreciation for one another. I have witnessed them using the four phrases to say their goodbyes in their own way. “Saying the four things is important for our ongoing relationships to the people we lose through death. One day, after we die, our children and loved ones will benefit from having said the four things to us” (Byock, 2004, p. 13). I will continue to say these four phrases to my loved ones. One thing that I have learned from personal loss, you never know when it will be the last time you can express how you feel to someone you love. Death is unknown and can be imminent. I hope that I can use what I have learned from this book to continue to help my patients and their family make their own relationships

In the movie The Way a Father, Thomas Avery, who travels to France because his son died while on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Ever since his wife died, Thomas’ son Daniel would travel all over the world and always be away from home. When Daniel died, Thomas decided to cremate his son and finish the whole pilgrimage for Daniel. Thomas and Daniel lived completely different lives. Daniel loved traveling and living as a pilgrim, unlike Thomas who was content with his gracious life as an eye doctor in California. Yet, Thomas still continued and finished El Camino for his son. In the beginning, he was reluctant to bond with other pilgrims, but eventually he learns to embrace El Camino just like his son wanted. Tom’s desire to finish his

This film made me angry as a parent! I don’t see my children as something to be sold to the next consumer. I know my children would like to have the things they see in the adds, but they also know that the only way they could have received them was for me to go to work fulltime. They have made comments about how they think other peers are snotty just because they have everything they want. I also worry about the violence and the sex they show on the television. It sends a mixed message to my children; my husband and I are trying to tell them something different. I know the scars and the embarrassment as an adult of having had people see more of me than they should have and so on. I would never want that for my kids or anyone else children.

But things are different now — life has a sense of urgency. My mother is dying of lung cancer, a stage four diagnosis. My sister has suffered three devastating miscarriages and we haven’t spoken in months, maybe even a year. I haven’t spoken to my father since late summer, and I can’t seem to shake my resentment for his decade-long absence in my 20s when I needed him, just as I do now.

In the movie Dad, the character Jake overcame three of the Erik Erikson’s crises. The first crisis that Jake overcame was Industry. In the beginning of the movie we see that his wife Betty wakes him up and lays his clothes out onto the bed. We also learn that Betty butters his bread, does the driving, and all the other main stuff around the house. But when Betty has a heart attack and gets placed into the hospital, Jake begins to overcome industry with the help of his son John. The first thing that Jake does to overcome industry is make his own breakfast, he takes out cereal, fruit, etc… He then learns how to do the laundry by separating the clothes into white and colored piles. Jake also learns how to wash the dishes and during the movie we see him was the dishes. The most important thing that Jake overcame was driving. Throughout the movie we find out that Jake never took his driver's test, so his son John helps him by quizzing him on how to drive and what the rules are. In end Jake finally took his driver’s test and he passed. The second crisis that Jake overcame was Generativity. We find out that Jake has some type of cancer, which leads him to go to his happy place. When Jake wakes up from his coma he is like a ball of energy. When he gets home from the hospital he goes and buys weird clothes; clothes that he is going to wear when doing all the adventuros stuff he wants to do. We see that Jake and Betty goes to their neighbors house across the street and introduces

In the movie The Good Son, Mark (Elijah Wood) stays with his relatives while his father is away on business. Throughout the movie, Mark befriends his corrupted cousin Henry (Macaulay Culkin), who then persuades Mark to perform dangerous tasks. Henry commits hazardous actions, including throwing a dummy off a bridge, causing a car pileup, and he flings his sister off a frozen lake into the frigid water(Joseph Ruben n.pag.) . The Good Son acquired an “ R” rating because studios did not want children to see heroic Culkin in such a nefarious role (Terror Tuesday: R-Rated Films That Should Have Been PG-13 n.pag.). Due to this unfair rating, it leaves us to ponder: how crooked is the rating system and what other movies deserve a different rating?