Where can functionialism be applied in the movie "parenthood" (1989)?

Question

if it cannot, what about the viewpoint of a symbolic interactionist?

Answer 1

This is definitely not my best answer ever - it has been so long since I have seen that movie. To put it into perspective, I got my BA in sociology in 2004 officially - I watched "Parenthood" in 1989 IN THE THEATERS, and then again when it FIRST came out on VHS in 1989-1990. So, 15 years elapsed between events and my analysis may be jumbled, as I certainly didn't care about functionalism or symbolic interactionism in 1989.

In retrospect... Parenthood can be interpreted in the functionalist paradigm, because parental norms are a source of social stability. When families break apart through divorce, etc., this source of social stability disintegrates, creating a sense of normlessness. If the nuclear family is our model, with lifelong marriage, then we no longer know how to behave as parents when divorce comes, and we no longer fit the model that was displayed by our parents. How do we react to the new stepparent?  How do we behave toward our ex? In 1989, certainly, we had no precedent for understanding what to do. I was a child of divorce during that era, and many sitcoms, movies (including Parenthood) focused on the child "victims" of divorce - I certainly felt sorry for myself, and didn't know what the h**l to do. TV and film became one of my instructors in a way.

In contrast, in the late 1990s, I remember seeing a cartoon intended for kids in which a child was sent to the guidance counselor for NOT having divorced parents. How much had changed since that 1984 episode of "Growing Pains" in which a child was sent to the guidance counselor for being a child of divorced parents.

Do you remember the seen where the divorced mom was explaining to the son about pornography - she was playing a role that had no norms, no precedent in her experience; and the kid was equally confused that dad wasn't explaining the situation.

In fact, Durkheim may enjoy a resurgence presently. Many empirical studies seemed to indicate that divorce led to bad outcomes like higher incidences of suicide, criminality, drug use, etc. among the children of divorce. But, what really could have been happening is that we were experiencing in the 1980s was a period of normlessness. Now that divorce has become normalized, and people have more models, seminars, etc of what to do in the situation, new norms are being created. If the same empirical methods were employed in 2015, we might find that divorce no longer was strongly associated with suicide, drug use, etc. among children of divorce.

That's my two cents on the subject.

Symbolic interactionist perspective - we play multiple roles, and these roles change over time- divorce brings new roles like single dad, broken kid, mom raising kid without dad's help, and other new roles. Something like that.

d**n, I never realized the movie was so deep.