Film Analysis: The Keller Family

The Keller family has been plagued by tragic events, which have completely transformed the family that it once was. Unfortunately, for this family it only took one bad decision to result in long lasting irreversible damage, which altered their path forever. Sometimes it is hard to see how one wrong move can send the whole tower tumbling to the ground, but this movie shines a light on that very unsettling fact. In Joe Keller’s mind he was only trying to do right by his family. He felt he was making the best decision for them. His own selfish thoughts blinded him to the obvious atrocity that he was going to create. His decision not only affected every person within his family but it negatively impacted people outside of it as well. One theory that the Keller family displays is from the McMaster model, more specifically the Hazardous task area. This aspect of the McMaster model deals with handling a crisis that arises from illness., accident, loss of income and job change (Epstein, Bishop, Baldwin, 1982). These are unforeseen crises, which greatly impact the structure of the family unit. According to Epstein, Bishop and Baldwin (1982), families that are unable to deal effectively with the three tasks are more likely to develop clinically significant problems (p.118). The mother represented within the movie displays her inability to deal with …show more content…
This theory implies that there are codes that regulate behavior in the family (Lesson Commentary). Joe Keller and his interactions with his wife and both sons show that there was a violation of function boundary within the movie. As we discover towards the end of the movie Joe Keller was responsible for the tragic event that killed all those men, including his own son. Unbeknownst to the family, Larry Keller did not die from the broken parts his father sent, he killed himself once he realized what his father had