A word about 'dysfunctional'
Jan. 8th, 2008 12:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amatyultareThis is just a bit of musing that I've had in my head for a while, and figured I'd post. (This post may have some 'Little Miss Sunshine' spoilers for those who haven't seen the movie)
My friend![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
deliriumdriver posted about the movie 'Juno', which she's just seen. In her post, she mentions that 'Juno' is "somewhat less dysfunctional than Little Miss Sunshine, but that's not really a difficult distinction to achieve."
Funnily enough, the idea of the family in 'Little Miss Sunshine' being dysfunctional seems popular among people who have grown up in normal households. But when I mention it to others who have grown up in truly dysfunctional families, they agree with me--the family in 'Little Miss Sunshine' is not at all dysfunctional.
'Dysfunctional' generally refers to a group or a system, not an individual. On Dictionary.com, the two definitions are medical and sociological; the sociological definition is Abnormal or impaired functioning; failing to serve an adjustive purpose. Not to put too fine a point on it, but a dysfunctional family doesn't function, or at least doesn't function properly.
Now, what do we see in 'Little Miss Sunshine'? Certainly some seriously f-ed up people; we've got a drug addict, an attempted suicide, a narcissist, a codependent, and a kid who hasn't spoken in months. The only halfway normal one is Olive. I would be the last to call the characters, as individuals, normal or healthy.
But what to make of this 'dysfunctional family' accusation? I would argue that the family, as a whole, is amazingly functional. They have a goal and they come together to achieve it, even with serious setbacks (car problems, personal disappointments, even death). And in the end, despite their personal issues, they love each other and take care of each other.
As a contrast, I tried to imagine what that sort of trip would be like with my family circa, oh, 1994 or so, when I was Olive's age. Coincidentally, around that time we actually had a road trip (Erica got good enough gymnastics scores to go to the regional meet in Connecticut)--much shorter than the road trip in 'Little Miss Sunshine', but still a road trip. I could list a lot of differences, but let's just say: about half a day into the 'Little Miss Sunshine' trip, Dad would be having hysterical tantrums, Mom would be either in tears or furious or both and telling Dad to turn around and just go home, Erica would be screaming how much she hated Dad and Dad would be threatening to give her up to the state because she was such a bad kid, and I would be either trying to intervene and solve everything or reading and trying to block it all out.
All of that isn't to make people sorry for me--to be honest, my family was NOT that bad by 'dysfunctional family' standards. I just think it's important to remember that 'dysfunctional' doesn't mean 'doing things in a quirky way', it means 'unable to get things done altogether'.
All of the above is NOT meant to be an attack ondeliriumdriver or her views, nor am I upset in the slightest. It's just something I thought about when I first read reviews that called the 'Little Miss Sunshine' family 'dysfunctional', and her comment brought it up in my mind again.
My friend
deliriumdriver posted about the movie 'Juno', which she's just seen. In her post, she mentions that 'Juno' is "somewhat less dysfunctional than Little Miss Sunshine, but that's not really a difficult distinction to achieve."Funnily enough, the idea of the family in 'Little Miss Sunshine' being dysfunctional seems popular among people who have grown up in normal households. But when I mention it to others who have grown up in truly dysfunctional families, they agree with me--the family in 'Little Miss Sunshine' is not at all dysfunctional.
'Dysfunctional' generally refers to a group or a system, not an individual. On Dictionary.com, the two definitions are medical and sociological; the sociological definition is Abnormal or impaired functioning; failing to serve an adjustive purpose. Not to put too fine a point on it, but a dysfunctional family doesn't function, or at least doesn't function properly.
Now, what do we see in 'Little Miss Sunshine'? Certainly some seriously f-ed up people; we've got a drug addict, an attempted suicide, a narcissist, a codependent, and a kid who hasn't spoken in months. The only halfway normal one is Olive. I would be the last to call the characters, as individuals, normal or healthy.
But what to make of this 'dysfunctional family' accusation? I would argue that the family, as a whole, is amazingly functional. They have a goal and they come together to achieve it, even with serious setbacks (car problems, personal disappointments, even death). And in the end, despite their personal issues, they love each other and take care of each other.
As a contrast, I tried to imagine what that sort of trip would be like with my family circa, oh, 1994 or so, when I was Olive's age. Coincidentally, around that time we actually had a road trip (Erica got good enough gymnastics scores to go to the regional meet in Connecticut)--much shorter than the road trip in 'Little Miss Sunshine', but still a road trip. I could list a lot of differences, but let's just say: about half a day into the 'Little Miss Sunshine' trip, Dad would be having hysterical tantrums, Mom would be either in tears or furious or both and telling Dad to turn around and just go home, Erica would be screaming how much she hated Dad and Dad would be threatening to give her up to the state because she was such a bad kid, and I would be either trying to intervene and solve everything or reading and trying to block it all out.
All of that isn't to make people sorry for me--to be honest, my family was NOT that bad by 'dysfunctional family' standards. I just think it's important to remember that 'dysfunctional' doesn't mean 'doing things in a quirky way', it means 'unable to get things done altogether'.
All of the above is NOT meant to be an attack on
deliriumdriver or her views, nor am I upset in the slightest. It's just something I thought about when I first read reviews that called the 'Little Miss Sunshine' family 'dysfunctional', and her comment brought it up in my mind again.