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Lack Of Communication In The Film Ordinary People

Decent Essays

The film Ordinary People is about the Jarett family dealing with some hard times. The sons of Calvin and Beth Jarett, Conrad and his older brother, Buck, got in a boating accident, leaving Buck dead eighteen months before the film begins. Conrad has just come back from the mental hospital for attempting suicide because he felt responsible for his brothers death. Beth is very proper and wants to keep the family's reputation by not talking about Conrad’s attempted suicide. This lack of communication was very unhealthy for the family. Calvin tried to be very supportive, open, kind-hearted, and even convinced Conrad to talk to a therapist. When Conrad finally starting seeing a therapist, Dr. Berger, he started opening up more and being more communicative. Not only did his mother have a lack of communication, but Conrad did too at the beginning of the film. Since the Jared family had very poor communication, it often led …show more content…

One of her fight responses is when she walks in on Calvin and Conrad decorating the christmas tree and soon after she starts yelling at him for quitting the swim team. This leads to Conrad cursing at her. They did not communicate well at all and Conrad never got to explain that he could not do swim team because it reminded him of Buck and the boating accident. An example of her going into flight mode is when they are sitting at the breakfast table and she makes Conrad’s favorite breakfast food, french toast, and he only responds with “I’m not hungry.” Beth immediately throws his food away and says “If you’re not hungry, you’re not hungry.” She never let Conrad explain and she did not give Calvin a chance to ask Conrad why he was not hungry or why he did not want to eat. She uses masking as her form of silence to make sure people know she is upset without her actually getting upset. She uses controlling as her form of violence to get everyone to agree with her opinions and

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