Family Stone Genogram (Movie Review Sample)

Family stone Genogram
Students name:
Institution:
Introduction;
The movie that goes by the title "The Family Stone" is very entertaining. It revolves a setting of a family of the Stones which takes a unique shift in everything. Meredith, a psychologically traumatized individual who suffers from acceptance issue, is the central character in this movie.
Her husband, Everett, invites her or takes her to meet his entire family over the Christmas Holidays. Amy is Everett’s sister who is the meanest person in the family. She practically bullies everyone around apart from her elders.
She does have a problem getting along with everyone. Darius is Amy’s brother who has a hearing problem; based on the fact that everyone uses sign language, and it’s a clear indication there is a communication problem somewhere.
Darius is a gay boy who is in love with Patrick, who is of a different Race that her family has come amazingly to accept him. Kelly or Mr. Stone is the father of Everett. He is a kind and understanding man. He shows the importance of fatherhood in every family.
Kelly’s wife is very attractive, a very selfish and proud woman who only wants everything to go her way. As a mother Sybil plays an enormous role in her children’s life. Julie comes in the picture half way of the movie; everybody has a soft spot for her since she is the opposite of her sister Meredith.
This scenario creates a little bit of tension in their relationship as siblings. Suzanna is the mother of Elizabeth, and both are siblings with Ben. The both of them in this family are the best who get along with everyone. They were friendly to Meredith and kind to her no wonders Ben and Meredith fall in love after she has gone through a nightmare in the family.
Significant life Events:
Sickness/Illness;
The head of the family, Mr. Stone comes to face with a difficult situation, his dear beloved wife is sick. She meditates and thinks that no one can help her out. The burden of the husband to break the news to the children after Christmas is scary; he faces a situation that no man would wish to have. A terminal illness kills the running grace in a pattern, and it inflicts fear, no wonder Kelly’s wife says to him that she is scared.
Sicknesses drain resources of a family, and it leaves an imprinted memory of something, a puzzle if I may say. Once a family can’t hold themselves together by being strong, it tears bonds, love changes to pity, and the original bond becomes replaced with something else. This event becomes a tall order for a family.
Marriage;
It is the oldest institution in the whole world, but amazingly this has always been an avenue of conflict in a family. From the movie, we learn that the two love birds Everett and Meredith are planning to get married. Her future spouse hopes to convince his mother to hand him his grandmother’s wedding ring. Sadly his mother has developed cold feet towards her.
We see the struggle and the hustle Everett goes through trying to make his family members to understand his fiancé. For example, after she was targeted by Amy while playing a game of body sign movement and interpretation. She gets way too offended and goes off. At a particular point, she decided to go and sleep in the Inn. Naturally her fiancée stood up for her and confronted his family who later realized their mistake and invited her over for dinner.
Life cycle:
When a person becomes used to a particular way of life or routine especially an adult, it’s tough for them to adjust to a change in environment. Making friends and meeting in-laws can be a tall order for some people.
As we see the main Character is very uncomfortable sleeping in the same room with her fiancé she opts for another room. This idea doesn’t end well since Amy gets kicked out of her room for the sake of the guest. She returns the favor, or rather Amy hits back at her by making her life miserable in the house in every chance she gets. There are many challenges of location since they have to adjust to the countryside as opposed being used to the city life.
Effects of Identification:
In the family setup or any family set up, the breadwinner is the person who takes away the eye of most family folks. For Example, Patrick comes from a different race. We learn from the movie that it took Amy a whole year to say that she loved Patrick. Patrick has been ridiculed primarily by Amy while they were having a game in the evening that makes Meredith walk away on them.
This analogy is a reflection that not only the Stones faced this problem but also many other families. Racism has been an old age problem whereby families have been unable to address this matter. No wonder there was a famous international Law on human rights that is against Racism.
Social Class:
This is an imperative element that revolves around families; people tend to relate to each other based on thief lifetime achievements. Money is a score card, and King Solomon wrote that a poor man has no friends.
Everett and her husband is a working class people, they come to terms with relating to mostly hustles of dealing with a domestic house. Amazingly he has a problem of adjusting to this kind of life, this is evident during dinner, and he is still wearing a tie. This stage play shows that moving from one social class in relation to another can be very difficult sometimes to adjust.
Underdogs suffer a lot in any family or institution, For Example; Meredith has to fight her way in the family to get recognition. A family resident is paramount, especially when it comes to ease of access and transport. The setting of the facility based on the countryside setting that I think is pretty remarkable since it helps one to have a change of environment.
Themes in the Family.
Theme of Homosexuality;
A mother is supposed to be an instructor to the family, one who gives directions and brings up a child in a way that is acceptable to the community. Homosexuality has always been a heated debate over history. The mother of the family i.e. Kelly’s wife admits to her children at the dinner table that she wanted them or hoped that all of them would be gay so that they would never leave her.
This level of selfishness faces opposition from Meredith who doesn’t see it fitting for such a thing to be allowed. In her sense of mind, she feels that Darius has been denied a stage in life as a child. Julie questions the idea of the gay couple to bring in the family to raise as parents. Perhaps she sees that the role that parents play will be impossible for the gay couple to impact the life of the child.
Theme of rejection:
Meredith faces a lot of rejection from her in-laws. Apart from Ben and Suzanna, the rest of the family seems to have negative conceptions about her. Emmy hates her very much. She makes her life miserable to an extent that Meredith asks for forgiveness for whatever wrong she may have committed to Emmy. The struggle continues as she tries to make bonds with Emmy but in return it only becomes worse for Meredith.
Theme of love:
A father’s role is meant to be the protector, the provider for the family. Amazingly through these ups and downs, Kelly can hold his family together. He accepts his gay child with open arms. He tries his best to encourage his sick wife and keeps things to himself that may cause trouble. Though he takes time to accept Meredith, he finally admits his, mistakes and asks Julie to forgive him for where he may have gone wrong.
Theme of betrayal:
Paradoxically, Everett falls in love with Julie, who is Meredith’s sister. Ben, who is Everett’s brother, in turn, falls in love with Meredith. From the beginning of the movie, it seemed like Meredith was eventually going to end up with her fiancée but amazingly the results are not valid as we expected. It even ends up with a fight between Ben and his brother, who accuses him of sleeping with his fiancée. What a chain of events!
Theme of Racism:
Consistently, the gay couple fall victim in this area more than once. In one evening, while they play a game as a family, Amy regularly attacks Patrick by figuratively nailing him to the corner because of his skin color based on the answer to the puzzle or riddle.
Patrick at the beginning admits that Amy doesn’t like anyone, and we see that it took her a year to love or accept Patrick. In the family, it is a custom that the first born if he is a man he gets a right to ask for his grandmother’s wedding ring to propose to his bride.
As we see the young man trying to convince his mother who denies him the ring but later gives in to his requests. One of the rules in this family is that one should never marry anyone whom the family doesn’t love. We regularly see this family behave like a pack of wolves attacking poor Meredith. One major rule of the family or tradition was that the coffee jar should never be empty.
This part caused a bit of trouble when Meredith was in the kitchen trying to be helpful but eventually her efforts become appreciated. Lucy for her mom had a rule about her favorite cup. When Ben poured her a cup of coffee when she headed to the Inn, h...