Introduction
Within todays media, the relationships between each characters have become a focal point for those who watch as they try to connect themselves to the characters they see in an effort to place themselves into their shoes. In August: Osage County, we are greeted to the Weston family of Pawhuska, Oklahoma during a very hot August. As the plot unfurls, we learn the problems that tie this family together and how they try to handle them, be it in a positive or negative manner. Unlike many family based films, the characters from our main Violet, the cancer patient who is addicted to a plethora of pain pills and has a strained relationship with her husband, Beverly, who commits suicide, to each of her daughters …show more content…
Jean, the granddaughter of Violet, shows her displeasure for having to participate at all when she could instead be watching the television. Little Charlie, who Mattie Fae is constantly putting down accidentally breaks her casserole and casserole dish almost immediately upon entering the room. Instead of calmly handling the situation, Mattie Fae yells and blames him, saying that the breaking of the dish hurts her the deepest, even though she’s shaming him in front of not only the entire family, but the extended guests as well. After the dish has been picked up and Charlie tries to calm his wife Mattie Fae, Violet enters the dining room and shuns the men’s wardrobe as they have all taken off their suits jackets, even though the houses air conditioning is never on and the temperature is well over 108 degrees Fahrenheit. Not wanting to start an argument with Violet, who has already been through enough with the earlier funeral of her husband, the men all rush up to redress themselves. Already, the scene makes for uncomfortable watching to anyone who has had experience with a person who will not take to being argued …show more content…
Both characters are extremely aggressive towards one another, shouting the entire time and placing blame on one another for how their daughter, Jean, has grown up and how they have influenced her or been absent when they were needed. While Barbara places all of her blame towards Bill, he tries to dispute her claims and state that it isn’t wholly his fault. Bill tries to reason that while she is a great person with these fantastic qualities, she just “isn’t open” and that makes it quite difficult to work their problems out with one another. Neither person was effective in communicating their opinions or feelings in the film because they were more focused on handing blame off to the other to really understand why they had issues in the first place. Instead of using empathy to understand one another’s viewpoints, they’re only venting their anger towards one another with no real purpose or attempt to fix their