T. V Drama Analysis

The T.V Drama I chose was This is Us. There are two reasons I chose this show for my assignment. The first reason was I had heard it was fantastic and have been waiting for this semester to be complete before I emerged myself in a Netflix binge. This assignment gave me the opportunity to start a little early, but I have committed to watching only the pilot and first three episodes and will reward myself with the rest when I have completed my other courses. The second reason was I felt that the family dynamic will fit well with the assignment. The story line is truly all about a family and how the family systems all mash together to create the mess that make their family what it is.
The three key issues that Randall Pearson and his extended …show more content…
We are seeing a triangle relationship between Kevin, Randal and their mother that is changing the dynamic of the relationship. As suggested by Kerr (2000) family members are interdependent through the connectedness and reactivity of the functioning of the family. If one person changes their function it will be predictably followed by reciprocal changes in the functioning of other family members. Rebecca is starting to realize that Randal is not being accepted in their “white” community, outside of their home. She worked hard to help Randal find a connection to his heritage by immersing him with other families of color. In doing this, Kevin got jealous of the time and effort his mother put in to helping Randal. Kevin wanted his mother to love him more than she loves Randal, because of this he is trying to make Randal the odd man out to show his mother that others don’t like Randal, so she shouldn’t as well. Kerr (2000), states, “People’s actions in a triangle reflect their efforts to assure their emotional attachments to important others, their reactions to too much intensity in the attachments, and their taking sides in others’ conflicts”. This is conflict in favoritism, adoption, and racism between three family members and is being displayed as the triangle in one of the eight concepts of the family systems. Rebecca does her best to correct the conflict triangle of racism and adoption for Randal. According to Brenner (2017), …show more content…
It is one of the most precious commodities in the world, and unfortunately, one that will not slow down or stop. The Pearson’s are a typical nuclear family. The father goes to work each day to support the family financially, and the mother stays home to raise the children. They have a stable marriage, and this system seems to work well. The first few episodes of This is Us (2016) show Jack Pearson leaving to work, trying to get the bills paid, and coming home to spend time with his family, but he does not seem satisfied in both of these roles. Jack is struggling with his work-family balance. Ward (2015), describes this balance as having three components. With Jack struggling to balance these components, his dissatisfaction with his world is spilling over to Rebekah, who is carrying the balance of work that Jack is leaving behind. This leaves Rebekah to give Jack an ultimatum to change his ways and figure out how to re-balance or there will be no family to be worrying about. This sequence of events is leading to both partners on the road to burn out. Rebekah is getting tired of carrying the childrearing load on her own, and Jack is tired of working long hours in a job he dislikes and was spending time self medicating his burnout with alcohol. According to Kerr (2000), this family is experiencing marital conflict in the nuclear family emotional process. This conflict will eventually spill over to affect all members of the