Family on Film Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Family on Film - Movie Review Example In both of these movies, the directors show these mothers in different terms of success: Beth does not succeed because she cares too much about society, and Antonia and Danielle succeed because they are willing to break free from society’s constraints. In â€Å"Ordinary People,† Beth is the mother of Conrad and Buck. After Buck dies in a boating accident, Beth focuses a lot of pent-up guilt and blame on Conrad, and acts in a way that defies the expectations of what it means to be maternal. Mostly, people think of maternal nature as being warm and nurturing, abut Beth is cold and sarcastic towards Conrad, and berates him for being weak, just because he needs to see a psychiatrist about their dysfunctional family. Beth is fixated on the idea that the family should appear â€Å"normal,† and fit in to society. For example, when Calvin, Conrad’s father, lets it slip that Conrad has been seeking mental help at a party, Beth is furious, because this disrupts the idea of the normal family that she has strived so hard for (Ordinary, 1980). And when Conrad finally gathers the courage to tell Beth that he blames her for never visiting him in the mental hospital, she is still cold and sarcastic to him, using this as an opportunity to tell him once again how much more she loved Buck than she loves him.