Parenthood Character Analysis

The comedic drama “Parenthood” launches with its pilot episode overflowing with illustrations of the ups and downs of everyday life through the eyes of the Braverman family. The stage is set with an intertwined introduction of the main characters and scattered foreshadowing events that help compel the audience to keep watching. Like most families, each member of the Braverman family fills a unique role and brings their own baggage to the dinner table. Eldest son Adam serves as the glue of the family, uniting and supporting his siblings. As the episode progresses; however, we discover that Adam and his wife Kristina face problems of their own with their son being diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. It’s also evident that the couple will have …show more content…
However, to focus on the interpersonal dimension, all we have to do is consider some of their statements that dredge up past hurt feelings and subtle resentment. For example, Sarah’s statements are somewhat jealous and accusatory, “You always have to prove you’re better than me.” In turn, Julia responds defensively, “Oh God, Sarah, will you just grow up already? Everything’s not a goddamn conspiracy.” It’s clear they’ve had similar arguments in the past and have yet to grow out of their dysfunctional conflict management style. Perhaps this can be explained by Systems Theory by suggesting that their relationship has distinct dynamics and boundaries as a function of their family unit. Their relationship and “sisterhood” is inescapable, so they approach conflict in a more destructive manner because they know they’ll still have each other at the end of it. As a result, they fail to take advice from managing conflicts systems (as mentioned in our textbook) and prefer to just let all of their negative feelings and emotions out, especially in this case, over the phone, where it’s harder to personalize and cater our communication styles towards the