The Squid and the Whale
The Negative Implications of Divorce/ Cohabitation
The structure of the family is changing over time, and as a result, various challenges occur. These new events, such as divorce and remarriage, offer new difficulties for individuals and families. The divorce rates in the US have increased in recent times, and sociologists suggest that people in modern times are less inclined to maintain unhappy and unhealthy relationships for the sake of sustaining the family unit.
The film Squid and the Whale elaborates on various aspects that facilitate the upsurge of divorce cases and also highlights the adverse impacts that divorce has on the children. The film showcases Bernard, the father of the family, who is a university professor. Bernad is portrayed as selfish and cheap, who rationalizes every attitude. In this aspect, the bernard focuses more on personal and income earning, which consume vital family time. The element of individualism is a significant contributor to the many divorce cases around the world, and it is well captured in the film.
Sociologists also suggest that having less mutual feelings could result in people ending their marriages. In the film, Joan has completely lost interest with his husband, and she finds more comfort among men who are not the same as the character depicted by Bernand. Joan results in committing adultery which brings conflicts and argument that further facilitates their detachment
Additionally, women’s independence, according to sociologists, has a major contribution to divorce rates in society. Women supporting themselves, are more focused on their career development and thus will have less family time. This, in result, creates problems, and the movie squid, and the Whale puts light on this aspect. Joan is a much more successful writer and financially stable. These aspects insinuate that she can handle divorce well being dependent and thus requires not the assistance of his husband.
Additionally, divorce is becoming more socially accepted in today’s generation. It is much easier to get a divorce if one is in an unhealthy relationship. The Divorce Act of 1968 makes it possible for one to legally separate from their partners. In the film, both Bernand and Joan handled the family affair by having joint custody that allowed alternate daily schedules and shared spending time with their sons.
Various scholars have tried to explain why people enter, stay in, and end relationships. Levinger’s divorce theory includes three essential aspects, namely, attractions, barriers, and alternatives. In the film, both the parents and the children are facing inadequacy in companionship, daily assistance, and emotional support of the family unit. This leads to infidelity cases and argument scenarios between Bernand and Joan, which in the end, results in a dissolution of their family unit.
There are notably adverse to the wellbeing of individuals and, in particular, the children. According to Judith, young adults with divorced parents are faced with psychological and sociological challenges and find it hard to maintain and sustain relationships. In the film, Walt imitates his father’s superior attitudes toward cinema and literature and brags these things to her girlfriend. Wallerstein also suggests that children will often have poor relationships with their parents. The movie showcases Walt to be having troubled relationships with her mother when together on trips to a museum. Frank also results in indulging in alcohol at a tender age. The effects as depicted in the film have significantly impacted the children, and it is very apparent that this dysfunctional behavior for coping up with parental separation resulted from experiencing psychological and familial risk factors that increase vulnerability to harm as emphasized by the movie. Frank showed characteristics such as anger and inattentiveness in some parts of the movie. Moreover, he came from distant, hostile, and conflicted family relationships that lead to his dysfunctional behavior.
Conclusion
The Squid and the Whale provided concrete examples of different concepts from developmental psychology, such as the concepts discussed above tied with the significant events in the movie. Moreover, it focused on parental separations. After watching the movie, one is more afraid of divorce. It is never easy to explain divorce to the children. The movie taught about making the right choice for marriage. Development psychology helped me understand that traumatic experiences such as divorce for children have a significant impact on their attitudes and behaviors through cognitive and socio-emotional aspects. Dysfunctional behaviors for coping up with traumatic experiences can be long-lasting.