Family Structure In The Film Parenthood (1989)

The family structure is a group of individuals that provide support to one another, the structure varies and are composed of different members. Some family stretchers are nuclear family, single parent families, blended families, kinship families, and military families (Bigner & Gerhardt, 2014). The film Parenthood (1989) demonstrations some of the family stretchers and possible conflicts the family structure may face.

Summary

The film Parenthood (1989) is based on the Buckman family. The family consists of the grandfather, Frank and his wife Marilyn, and their adult children Gil, Helen, Susan, and Larry, and each have a family structure of their own. Gil and his wife Karen have three biological children Keven, Taylor and Justin. The family

Julie is an in-love teen with her boyfriend Todd which leads to problems such as unexpected sexual behaviors that creates an altercation between mother and daughter that leads Julie to run away and later return a pregnant teen. Helen youngest son Garry is facing rejection from his biological father in a time of his self-identity development when it is important to have a role model, the rejection leads to vandalism. Helen dates and remarries which may solve Garry absence of male role model. Then there is Susan and her husband Nathan and their only child Patty. Nathan is a well-educated individual that wants Patty to success academically at the age of five which lead Patty to social interaction problem with her peers. Nathan focuses on Patty education leads to the neglect of his marriage that causes tension with Susan. Lastly there is Larry and his son Cool. Larry recently became a single parent of his strange son Cool. This leads Larry to seek assistance of his father, Frank opens his home to Larry and Cool and relieves Larry of many of his responsibilities particularly caring for his son Cool. The film portrays different family structures, two-parent families usually married opposite-sex parents and children, single parent family

Cool is the son of Larry, the youngest of the four siblings. Larry is considered the lost cause of the family, because he disappears for months at a time and comes back when he needs something from his family. In addition, he has a gambling problem and falls into get rich skims. As he returns once again to the family after disappearing for a while he brings along his five-year-old son Cool. He explains to his family that Cools mother dropped him off because she was on run from authorities. This lead Larry to return home and seek his father help, during his return Larry gets into debt with the wrong people. This leads his Frank to sell his classic car and pay Larry’s debt. Frank wants to teach Larry responsibility which he has lacked on since Frank favors him. Frank offers Larry a job to help him pay back the debt he owes him and to get him back on his feet. Larry declines the offer and decides to leave to Peru for another get rich quick scam. This leads him to leave Cool behind because of the possible dangers in the new country. The most memorable sense between Frank and Cool is when Frank askes Cool if he would like to stay and Cool gleefully accepts. Frank and Marilyn step up to the plate and become Cool’s primary