Abstract
Films themselves not only provide a useful reflection of the society creating them but also contribute to a reshaping of that very society. Unfortunately, an examination of family portrayals in contemporary films reflects a microcosmic California film community largely deformed by deracination and divorce. That deformation leads, in turn, to films that may encourage in the audience a sense of anomie and estrangement. Such deformation and dysphoria, in karma-like fashion, echoes reminiscently the fractured African American “family” legacy from slavery practices. This Hollywood reflection and spread of personal anomie and estrangement as well as relationship fluidity and family instability reaches global proportions with the vigorous export of Hollywood fare, and, thus, Hollywood values. Hollywood may accidentally champion the attraction toward cohesion among cultures worldwide, but at what cost if the content of the cohesion capriciously escapes scrutiny and lacks sculpting toward healthy function? This does not have to be so. Hollywood has a responsibility not only for successful exportation, but also for what is being sent abroad and at home. Like it or not. Films have the power to reveal a positive psychology, pro-social construction of “healthy family,” which includes—and encourages—stability, faith, community, growth, personal responsibility, and rich extended relationships. The problem is not that Hollywood no longer wishes to make such films. The problem may be that Hollywood may no longer know how.
I was still looking for a panacea, for some kind of relief from all of that life, from all that damage.
Tatum O’Neal, A Paper Life (2004)
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Cashill, J. (2010). When Will Hollywood Get the Family Right?. In: Gregerson, M. (eds) The Cinematic Mirror for Psychology and Life Coaching. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1114-8_3
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