Ordinary People Movie Analysis free essay sample

People is about the Jarrett family once a family of four –now of three- live a comfortable upper-mid-class lifestyle in suburban in Lake Forest, Illinois, during the 1970s. In good times, they can weather anything, but when a storm comes along, there are dangerous flaws that there are not aware of. Love, once a feeling, is now nothing more than an expectation or an obligation especially for the mother. After the death of Bucky, his older brother Conrad became deeply troubled and depressed, blaming himself for the boating accident. He tried to commit suicide by slashing his wrists and was hospitalized in a mental institution. After Conrad is released from the hospital while he is physically cured, he is by no means emotionally cured, and at the request of his father, he begins to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Berger to help him gain more control, help him come to terms with his brothers death and learn how to cope with his everyday stressors. We will write a custom essay sample on Ordinary People Movie Analysis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The movie focuses on his family life,  Conrad is becoming increasingly alienated from his mother, who he thinks wishes he wouldve died instead of his brother, because Bucky was the outgoing, handsome and perfect son. The mother She is beautiful and perfect†, a complete perfectionist who wants everything to appear to be normal and thinks Conrads suicide attempt was just to hurt her. She  doesn’t know how to deal with Conrad. She doesnt know how to really show affection for Conrad after Buck dies. She has become cold and withdrawn  while the father is paralyzed by sorrow and indecision about how to move on, and the remaining son is wracked by survivor’s guilt. The father tries way too hard to watch over Conrad because he blames himself for missing the warning signs before Conrads attempted suicide. The film will tell the story of how Conrad attempts to deal with the guilt he feels after his brother’s death, and the way they deal with it as a family, the lack of communication or affective communication and disagreements over what is priority for each member. Shows the dysfunctional nature of mother-child interaction and its devastating envelope of intense emotional pain and tragedy. 2. Identify major psychiatric disorders: Major Depression Disorder in the main character due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder . Textbook clinical manifestations: * Fatigue or loss of energy almost very day * Depressed mood * Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt * Reduced ability to concentrate or think, or indecisiveness * Insomnia or hypersomnia (excessive sleeping) almost every day * Significant loss of interest or pleasure in all activities nearly every day (called anhedonia, this symptom can be indicated by reports from significant others). * Restlessness or feeling slowed down Recurring thoughts of death or suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, or plan of committing suicide. * Significant weight loss or gain (a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month) * Psychomotor agitation or retardation 4. Discuss the character clinical manifestation of the disorder He exhibits signs of depression and PTSD. He has trouble sleeping and has nightmares of trauma, which might have triggered those symptoms. He has survivor’s guilt, blames himself for a boating accident, which killed his brother. He is ruled by fear, has low self-esteem. He does not have an appetite, has very little social contact with his friends, cannot concentrate in class, is quitting the swimming team, and does not display good relationship with his parents. You also see him very anxious, disorganized and agitated behavior, pacing back and forth, talking to himself. 5. How does the protagonist’s mental illness and associated behaviors affect the family/friends/co workers/community? The father is portrayed as a unique example of fatherhood, especially understanding the demand of the situation and the dysfunction of the family. He tried to build a bridge between his wife and his son out of his natural instinct and the tendency that to maintain the secure structure of the family but ignoring the factor of human-mind complexities that were quite evidently. He tried to be the balance of the family, was suffering from frustration as he was not able to find any solution for the emotional agony between his wife and son. The conflict between his willingness to provide emotional support to his son and his wife’s unwillingness to convey any emotional message to Conrad made the father very emotionally vulnerable to a breakdown. The mother acts like an ogre and has no interest in any emotional communication with anyone in her family. She feels embarrassed of her own child, she feels like Conrad should be happy that he has a great family and that at least he is still alive; but deep down I think that she feels like he’s really guilty of his brother’s death and that he should’ve been the one that died, because his brother was stronger and was going to be able to cope with his death better not by trying to commit suicide. He’s isolating himself from his friends, especially from L, who was his and his brother’s best friend; his friend confronts him and asks him why he was to go through this alone and Conrad tells him that it just hurts too much being around him because it remind him of his brother. 6. Discuss how mental illness is portrayed in the movie? Positive or Negative   I think in a negative way due to a lack of knowledge back then. A mental illness was viewed as an embarrassment; people thought that just because you have a mental disorder you are crazy. The victims of mental illness are portrayed most often as aggressive, dangerous, and unpredictable. The main character is portrayed helpless, like he is unable to control his life and is dictated by the will of others. Although he was shown as a victim of verbal abuse, when pushed too far, he became dangerously aggressive and violent to the point where he punched one of his friends in school after he was being bullied. 7. Discuss social and or cultural attitudes in regard to mental illness as portrayed in the movie’s time frame. Compare it to present day attitude? This movie was filmed in the 1980’s which makes it play better than it would do in the present times;  because nowadays family dysfunction has become more openly acknowledged, and its often a lot more seamy and macabre than what is represented here. The title implies that the kinds of family fissures chronicled in the movie are commonplace, but the forward progress of time and the continued deterioration of the so-called â€Å"nuclear family† have diminished what was â€Å"ordinary† in 1980 to something â€Å"trite† in the 21st entury. Even though after 30 years this movie still holds and emotional value, but today this movie wouldn’t have had the  Ã‚  Ã‚   emotional punch that had in the 1980’s. 8. What treatments are utilized to treat the mental disorder? Where they effective? First treatment for the character was hospitalization in a mental hospital after he tried to commit suicide and was experienci ng an unhealthy grief. After he was released from the hospital he didn’t seek treatment until he was unable to cope with his every day life routine and with his own feelings. He attended psychotherapy twice weekly that helped him open up about his feelings, helped him learn coping with stress, and taught him how to express his feelings and not to bottle them up. At the end of the movie that was what helped the character and the father. He helped him with his insights. 9. How are mental health professionals portrayed in the movie? Psychiatrists, psychologists, and other health professionals who work with these patients, are often portrayed as â€Å"arrogant and ineffectual,† â€Å"cold-hearted and authoritarian,† â€Å"passive and apathetic,† or† shrewd and manipulative†. At the beginning he was obviously frustrated with his patient because of his inability to express his feelings. 10. Discuss moral and or ethical issues in the movie regarding mental illness? Then versus now. 11. How did you react to the characters of the movie on a personal level? Beginning vs by the end of movie. How did you react to the characters on a professional level? Did your views change? If so what point? Why? His character is foul-mouthed, disrespectful, giving tantrums here and there, but given his situation agreeable. 2. Does your knowledge of mental health/mental illness influence your response to the characters and their problems? 13. How did this film help you better understand mental illness and its treatments? I can understand better that anxiety is an essential part of the human condition, and that it needs to be confronted rather than avoided. And the more you bottle up your feelings and dont communicate the way you are feeling it just hurts you more and it can eve n become dangerous for you or anyone around you.