The Squid And The Whale Analysis

The Squid and the Whale is a film that focuses on the aftermath of separation between two parents, Bernard and Joan, and its effect on their sons, Frank and Walt. Throughout the film, Frank and Walt become different individuals, developing negative traits portrayed by their parents and other sources. The relationship status of their parents continues to tarnish, showing animosity towards each other. In the end, the disappearance of Walt and the collapsing of Bernard somewhat bring the family “back together” again. However, the tension between the family members remains the same. There were background issues raised in the film that were relevant to course themes. The home environment Frank and Walt grew up in displayed intense verbal abuse between their parents. Bernard and Joan failed to display their arguments behind closed doors and lowering their voices to prevent their children from becoming affected by it. Bernard’s parenting skills shown throughout the film are traits of an Authoritarian parent. Perspectives that were opposite from his were not to …show more content…
The lack of nurture and support received from their parents led Frank and Walt to seek parental affection separately. Bernard became Walt’s secure base and Joan became Frank’s. The child-adult relationships between Walt and Joan, and Frank and Bernard were negative. Walt displayed aggressive emotions towards Joan, accusing her for the destruction of their family system. When he found out vital information on his mother, Walt’s dislike for Joan grew into pure hatred. Frank also displayed aggressive emotions towards Bernard because he would make negative comments about Joan. Walt’s inabilities to maintain his relationship with Sophie was due to modeling his father’s own actions and his mother’s scandalous affairs. Sophie mentioned to him, “my mother said you don’t have a very good role model for relationships because of your