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Observational studies that utilize Hollywood films are an excellent way for students to apply the knowledge they learn during Psychology courses. The following document has been designed not as your typical play by play of events for movie buffs, but rather as a way for students and others of interest to embark on an educational journey. It will use a combination of three movies along with the terms cited in City University’s Psychology 412 Sociology of the Family Course to focus on the way families maintain their unity while dealing with stress, unusual circumstances, and/or extreme levels of mental anguish.

When most people think about what constitutes a family, they think about homes where there are prestigious fathers, who financially support submissive mothers, who stay home and take care of their children. They imagine these children as being respectful, obedient, and law biding. However, this concept is a traditional myth (Schwartz & Scott, 2007) because, families actually come in many different forms including but not limited to the Nuclear Families[1], Single parent families[2], and Parentless families[3]. Matter-a-fact, the idea of a perfect family doesn’t exist at all, because, there is always going to be something that places stress on the family unit and therefore it is up to the family to unite and decide how to cope with these issues (Schwartz & Scott, 2007).

In 1996, Joel Schumacher directed a movie called “A Time to kill”. This movie was based on a story about an African-American (Ascribed Status[4]) father named Carl Lee Hailey from Canton, Mississippi. Carl Lee shot and killed two Caucasian twenty-three year old men that had raped, beaten, hung, and left his little girl to die. Unfortunately for him, he lived in an area of the United States where institutional racism[5] and prejudice[6] was not a myth[7]; it was still alive and strong. With such a situation such as this, Carl Lee, his wife, and his family (Nuclear family1) needed assistance, and they needed it fast. Thankfully a remarkable young Caucasian (Ascribed Status) attorney by the name of Jake Brigance was near by. Now Jake was an educated man (ascribed status), but he was caught in the mist of the working poor[8] at the same time; making Carl Lee’s case was no picnic, especially since it required extremely long hours, and Carl Lee didn’t have much money. Matter a fact; Jake really didn’t understand what he was getting himself into. If he had, he may not have taken the case.

For instance, Jake’s involvement in Carl Lee’s case placed his family as well as his marriage in danger. His daughter would go to school and come home crying that people were calling her a “nigger lover”. People called his home making threats. The Kluge Klux Klan’s terrorism[9] attacks eventually forced his wife and daughter to go to her parent’s, and then cost them their home. His wife didn’t understand his mission, which caused extreme tension in their marriage. But, Jake was a man of integrity who felt that he had to stand up for his beliefs and the only way to accomplish such tasks under the situation was by modeling[10](Comer, 2004) the same behavior that he stood. In the end, Jake’s dedication to the Hailey family did a variety of things. He gained justice for a little girl who would have lost her father. He set an example for his family and the public by showing racism and prejudice is wrong and won’t be tolerated. But above all, he helped to allow Carl Lee to return to his family where he could once again provide them with his love and support.

(As for Tonya Hailey, the little girl who was victimized in the beginning of the movie. She did live. However, the sexual abuse[11] left her unable to conceive and bear children[12]. Therefore, when the time comes, Tonya will have to utilize other forms of reproductive technology[13] such as surrogacy[14] and adoption[15], or enter a relationship as a stepparent[16] in order to fulfill any desire to have a family of her own.)

Of course, life doesn’t always work out the way people want it to and when it comes to the idea of family unity, it doesn’t always mean that a family has two parents. Situations happen where parents separate, or by natural causes one parent is left to take full responsibility for the entire family unit. In the case of single parenthood[17], there will always be more stress than when the family is able to stay together (Schwartz & Scott). This stress is even more substantial when the child/ren has suffered from parental alienation[18](Szabo, N.D.); especially if the tables turn, and the child/ren is/are then forced to reunite with the opposite parent due to a fatality. This was the situation I found in the 1996 film “Fly Away Home.”

In this movie, nine years of guilt, anger, and shame over came Tom Alden after he and his wife divorced. Feelings of abandonment, pain, and grief built inside Amy his 13-year-old daughter because her family parted, went their separate ways, and she was forced to live fatherless. To make matters worse, when Amy’s mother was killed and Amy wounded during a car accident, Amy was once again pushed to live with her father; a man she now barely knew. Basically, this single parent family was forced into a dilemma. They no longer knew how to function as a family and to top it all off Tom was now co-habituating[19] with his new girlfriend Susan; which upset Amy very much. Obviously, it’s not easy to become a single parent, but becoming a single parent after such a tragedy can create a role conflict[20]. For example, on one hand, you want your child to feel the same closeness and love you once shared. You want them to like you. You want them to trust you. You want to be a friend, and you don’t want to push so hard that you push them away. On the other hand, you’re the parent. It’s your responsibility to create rules, establish boundaries, and enforce consequences. In Tom’s case, this was a conflict he had to manage at the same time as he battled his way through the bereavement process, was being pushed by Susan to keep it together, and watched Amy become more and more distant.

Eventually, something had to give and miraculously something did. One day while walking through a nearby field, Amy stumbled upon sixteen wild goose eggs. Without delay she gathered the eggs, hid them in an old dresser in the barn and equipped it with a heat lamp. With in no time, to her surprise, the eggs had hatched. Mean while, Amy attended school and hid her discovery from her father and Susan. That is until one night after being left with her uncle David; she came up missing and was found asleep in the barn surrounded by her baby geese. This is when this father-daughter relationship began to change. You see, this quiet, withdrawn, depressed, child not only became interested in her father’s work, but her father became interested in her hobby. The geese on the other hand engage in what is called imprinting, which means they follow the first thing they seen; making Amy the Momma duck in their eyes. As the baby geese grew, the fact that they would eventually need guidance to fly south became evident so Tom, David and their friend Barry began to do scientific research. They hypothesized that if they could get the geese to follow Tom’s plane, that he could escort them south and that they would return on their own. However, the variables were much too grand and each attempt failed. That is until Amy attempted to try the project herself. She snuck into her father’s plane, and sure enough, her geese followed; giving the project the validity it needed. Unfortunately, Amy wrecked the plane and scared her father to tears. But then this is the role of both parents and children. Children often do a thing that parents don’t approve of, which causes parents to feel extreme emotions. Tom handled the situation wonderfully. Instead of over reacting, he used his daughter’s determination, built on her passion and taught her to fly. With that the mourning process was over and their new life had begun.

In the end, Tom, and Amy lead sixteen Geese from Canada to North Carolina and through the use of the Scientific Method had learned what the true meaning of family really was. You see, they learned that despite the loss of life, life goes on. They learned that letting go doesn’t always mean letting go forever. They learned that despite confusion, pain, and conflict, they could not only save their own family, but they could also discover new ways of helping others; including an orphaned flock of geese whose parents had flown away and left them as long as they stood united as a family.

Movies about orphan Geese, this really says a lot about humanity doesn’t it? The fact is when society thinks about families they seldom actually consider orphan siblings as a family. But maybe they should. Which is why the next movie has such a great importance. You see, Although “Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events” was meant to be a fairy tale of sorts, it actually provides a wonderful look at a variety of family issues that can help us see how family unity is kept when people are faced with hardship. Even more interesting than that, this movie provides a window into the world of mortality, guardianship, arranged marriage, dual relationships, child abuse, and a variety of other areas that we shall cover as we embark on the journey of the Baudelaire children.

Violet, Clause, and Sunny Baudelaire were perhaps three of the most loved and cherished children in the world. Their biological parents[21] provided them with everything that a child could ever want or need and they were happy. That is until an unexpected fire left the children orphans and they were sent to live in a ran down, rat infested, fallen ceiling castle with a their distant cousin[22] known only as Count Olaf. Now, Count Olaf was a wonderful actor, he made Banker Mr. Poe believe he truly wanted the children, but in reality all Olaf really wanted was their money. So, after Mr. Poe left, Olaf tried to run a patriarchal family [23]unit. He was dominating, and pushed his authority while overpowering the children to do his will. However, he actually, surpassed his attempts and became abusive both emotionally[24] and physically[25](Kraizer, 2006) as he locked the children in their rooms, forced them to slave around his home, snatched Sonny around, and even slapped Clause causing him to hit the ground. Obviously this was no way to treat children, but the judicial system wouldn’t listen and gave Olaf guardianship[26] anyway. After the hearing, things only got worse. Olaf pulled over to a roadside station, parked on a train track and locked the kids on the car and waited on the train to hit. Thankfully the children were no fools and managed to trip the switch using their imagination and pieces from the car to free them selves. But then unfortunately like with real life abuse situations, the children were taken to live with a new family and the abusive Olaf got to watch them pull away; of course, not with out a series of threats.

As the children and Mr. Poe walk up to the home of Uncle Monty, their minds are full of curiosity and worry about what they may face inside. Will he be anything like the Count Olaf? Will he be abusive or will he love them? Will he be like their parents and take care of them (Functional[27]) or will he want them to take care of him (Dysfunctional[28])? As the door opens a shining, extremely happy, welcoming face appears. The children are escorted into the house that is full of exotic creatures and they look around in amazement. The fact is Uncle Monty was a widower[29]. He had lost his wife and child in a fire, which meant he had much in common with his new additions. He told the children he took them in because that’s what family does, which allowed the children to begin to form an immediate bond. Matter a fact, for a moment in time, they were beginning to know happiness again. After all, living with Uncle Monty was much like living with their own parents again. That’s when Olaf appears again, this time he was posing under the name of Stefano. Of course the children recognized Olaf, but he wasn’t about to allow them to tell. That was ok. Monty was already hot on his case and knew he was an imposter. Sadly, the information was irrelevant because that night, Olaf murdered[30] Monty which once again left the children in a position of mourning[31]. Olaf on the other hand was forced to flee when the children’s intelligent actions blew his cover.

As before, the children found them selves in the back seat of Mr. Poe’s Car. Together they arrive at their Aunt Josephine’s house. By this point, everyone was a bit anxious and no longer very enthusiastic, however three minors couldn’t exactly live alone, now could they? So they took a deep breath and knocked on the door. When Aunt Josephine answered the door, everyone questioned her sanity. Josephine was a paranoid[32], over protective[33] woman. She refused to allow the children to do or touch anything in fear they would be hurt; this included touching the refrigerator, stove or doorknobs. But, soon the children learned that their Aunt hadn’t always been this strange. She was once an interesting, ambitious, and daring woman that is until her husband was killed on one of their expeditions, which left Josephine full of obsessive compulsiveness[34], depression[35], and irrational fears[36]. The children could see her loving qualities and that made them like her. So, they tried to make things work by taking her out in public so that she might face her fears and eliminate them (A method is called flooding[37]) (Comer, 2004). Sadly, this is where Count Olaf appears again dressed as a peg legged elderly man named Captain Cham. This time, the children weren’t about to let Olaf wreck their happiness, so they tried to tell Josephine who he was, but she wouldn’t listen and so Olaf again murdered their guardian. This time he came out looking like a hero and managed to regain sole custody[38] of the children.

Now, returning to Olaf’s home brought with it no surprises. The man still had only one thing on his mind; MONEY! Obviously he couldn’t kill the children to get it, so instead he had a new plan. He had found out he could gain access through marriage[39] and marriage is what he would do. Olaf came up with a plan, he convinced the local judge to play the role of justice of the peace, he would be the groom, Violet would be the bride, and without anyone knowing they would all put on a public performance where the marriage vows[40] would be real. Obviously when the children learned of his plot they objected but he had that covered. He had placed Sonny in a cage and tied it high above the castle, warning if they spoke of the event to anyone, they would never see her again. When Clause questioned how he would get away with Violet’s age, he simply stated that he was her guardian and he gives permission. He had covered all his based, which made the victimized Violet feel trapped and since she and Clause were like Sonny’s parents, they had to protect her; even if it meant marring that horrible man. (In a way this can be compared to old fashion arranged marriages[41] because it didn’t matter what the young lady wanted. It was up to the guardian/parent. Not to mention that these marriages were generally based on materialistic values instead of love.)

In the end, Clause rescues Sonny, stops the wedding from becoming legalized, and Olaf is arrested and charged with the crimes against the children. Violet, Clause, and Sonny are placed in Mr. Poe’s car and are escorted off to another destination where they would hopefully never have to endure the emotional heartaches of losing another guardian again.

When viewing the above films one after the other, it allows us to evaluate the word family through many different lenses. You see, although there was a great deal of differences when it came to age, race[42], atmosphere, economic structure[43] (UNU), and social status[44] (Schwartz & Scott, 2007) of the actors, the over-all prospective remained the same. Our society has long past the structural functionalists [45](Schwartz & Scott, 2007) views. The nuclear unit of yesterday is no longer as common and this does not pose a threat to traditional marriage, family or to society as a whole. It simply means that we have evolved into a new pattern of thinking that says that family is a state of mind. More or less, these days, family is a collection of thoughts, feelings, and emotions that are felt between groups of people that hold a close bond and support one another and these bonds rely greatly on symbolic interaction[46]; (McClelland, 2000) otherwise known as communication. It is through this communication that families survive the hardships life throws their way. In other words family unity is based on how individuals react toward each other during civil as well as difficult times. The combination of these interactions will say whether a group will either remain a family or will divide and go their separate ways when faced with a difficult situation. In conclusion, the reality of the matter is that a family can be one of the most wonderful connections a person can have, even when it experiences hardships, heartache, and pain. However, family unity requires individuals to work together for the over all well-being of the family unit in order for them to reap these benefits.

Compulsiveness. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth

Kraizer, Sherryll. (2006). Emotional Abuse. Retrieved August 18, 2007, From Coalition for

Kraizer, Sherryll. (2006). Physical Abuse. Retrieved August 18, 2007, From Coalition for

Kraizer, Sherryll. (2006). Sexual Abuse. Retrieved August 18, 2007, From Coalition for

McClelland, Kent. (2000.). Symbolic Interactionism. Retrieved August 19, 2007, from the

Overprotective. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth

Paranoid. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.

Sandallar, A. (Director). (1996). Fly Away Home [Motion picture].
(Available from Columbia Pictures, 10202 W. Washington Blvd, Culver City, California 90232-3192)

Schumacher, Joel. (Director). (1996). A Time To Kill [Motion picture].
(Available from Warner Brothers Home Video, 4000 Warner Blvd, Burbank, California 991522)

Sexual abuse. (N.D.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved August 19, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sexual abuse

Silberling, Brad. (Director). (1995). Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events [Motion picture]. (Available from Paramount Pictures, 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, California 90038)

[1] Nuclear Families: A family that consists of a mother, father and their biological or adopted children.

[2] Single Parent Families: A family that has either a father or a mother and their biological or adoptive children.

[3] Parentless Family: A family of blood or adopted siblings whose parents have died leaving them orphans.

[4] Ascribed Status: A position in society that we are born into, such as our race or gender.

[5] Institutional racism: A set of laws or customs that produce racism within a society even if it’s not intended.

[6] Prejudice:

[7] myth: A belief about something that isn’t true (Could stem from a story that has been passed down)

[8] Working poor: People who work full time but who don’t make enough to support their families.

[9] Terrorism: The use of or threat of violence, or intimidation by one or more people to achieve a goal.

[10] Modeling: A process in which a person acquires skills based on observing and imitating another person. (Comer, 2004)

[11] Sexual abuse: The forcing of unwanted sexual activity by one person on another, as by the use of threats or coercion.

[12] Conceive and bear children: The process of getting pregnant, carrying a child, and giving birth to the child.

[13] Reproductive technology: This is when families use science to either have or keep from having children. (Pills, test tubes, Peachtree dishes, surgery, etc)

[14] Surrogacy: This is when a sperm and egg that have been previously fertilized are placed in a non-biological mother’s body.

[15] Adoption: This is when someone who is not the biological parent becomes the legal parent of a child and the biological parent no longer has parental rights to said child.

[16] Stepparent: This is a person who marries the biological parent, then acts as a parent to a child.

[17] Single parenthood: A single parent is a father or a mother who is the sole guardian of a child.

[18] Parental alienation: Although we did not discuss this in Psy412 it is an issue that affects children. These words mean that the parent who holds custody of the children continuously keep the children and the other parent from having contact and maintaining a bond. Such circumstances have been known to cause extreme emotional trauma to said children. (Szabo, N.D.)

[19] Co-habituating: When two people who are not married live together as man and wife. This can also be the situation between gay or lesbian partners since gay marriage is illegal.

[20] Role conflict: This happens when a person is taking on two roles at one time, such as a father/friend, mother/friend, and are expected to perform two different jobs at once.

[21] Biological parents: The male and female who actually provided the sperm and egg that were used to procreate a child.

[22] Distant cousin: Basically, anything past a second cousin, or that can’t be tracked is considered a distant relative. In this case we are talking about cousins.

[23] Patriarchal family: These families are ran by a firm father figure who dominates his families finances and decision making procedures.

[24] Emotional Abuse: Emotional abuse is a pattern of behavior that attacks a child's emotional development and sense of self-worth. Emotional abuse includes excessive, aggressive or unreasonable demands that place expectations on a child beyond his or her capacity.

[25] Physical Abuse: Non-accidental physical injury may include severe beatings, burns, biting, strangulation and scalding with resulting bruises, welts, broken bones, scars or serious internal injuries.

[26] Guardianship: A person who is legally responsible for the care and management of another person who is not their legal child.

[27] Functional: having a balanced system that produced healthy, quality effects.

[28] Dysfunctional: having an unbalanced system that produced negative unhealthy effects.

[29] Widower: A man who has lost his wife due to death. (A widow is a woman who lost her husband the same way)

[30] Murder: When one-person purposfully takes another person’s life.

[31] Mourning: The outward expression of grief. (Swartz & Scott)

[32] Paranoid: Exhibiting or characterized by extreme and irrational fear or distrust of others: a paranoid suspicion that the refrigerator might crush the children.

[33] Overprotective: To protect too much; coddle: overprotected their children

[34] Compulsiveness: Psychologically caused or conditioned pattern of behavior that affects a person’s day to day life.

[35] Depression: Low states, marked by significant levels of sadness, lack of energy, low self worth, guilt, or related symptoms. (Comer, 2004)

[36] Irrational fears:

[37] Flooding: A treatment that is used to cure phobias. This treatment forces the patient to be exposed to the object feared over and over until they understand that it will not harm them. (Comer, 2004)

[38] Sole Custody:

[39] Marriage: A “Legal” union between 1 man and 1 woman that joins them sexually, socially, and economically. This union also provides the couple with many rights and responsibilities that no other persons, or couples have.

[40] Marriage Vows: A precise set of words used by a legal affiliate to join a man and woman together in a binding legal marriage.

[41] Arranged Marriages: This type of marriage is a marriage in which neither the bride or the groom usually has any official say over the selection of their future spouses. However, females in most cases were considered property therefore they had even less say. (Swartz & Scott, 2007)

[42] Race: Refers to the color of a person’s skin (Ethnic background)

[43] Economic structure: Economists focus on the household - a residential unit - whose members pool their resources (at least to some degree) to provide for the welfare of all. (UNU)

[44] Social Status: A social position that a person occupies in society. (Swartz & Scott, 2007)

[45] Structural functionalists: Believe that they system is set up as it is for a reason and that if it is changed it will upset balance. For example Marriage, if people begin to acknowledge “gay” marriage, it will take away from the meaning of marriage and therefore upset the values of the family. (Schwartz & Scott, 2007)

[46] Symbolic Interactions: “humans are pragmatic actors who continually must adjust their behavior to the actions of other actors. We can adjust to these actions only because we are able to interpret them, i.e., to denote them symbolically and treat the actions and those who perform them as symbolic objects. This process of adjustment is aided by our ability to imaginatively rehearse alternative lines of action before we act. The process is further aided by our ability to think about and to react to our own actions and even our selves as symbolic objects. Thus, the interactionist theorist sees humans as active, creative participants who construct their social world, not as passive, conforming objects of socialization.” (McClelland, 2000)