Psychological Evaluation of Characters in the Film Parenthood

This essay provides a psychological analysis of the film 'Parenthood,' focusing on the parenting styles of the characters Gil and Frank Buckman, and the psychological development of Kelvin, Gil's eldest son. Gil's character is examined through Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, specifically the stage of generativity versus stagnation, highlighting his efforts to balance work and family life while supporting his son. Frank Buckman's parenting is analyzed in terms of his early neglectful behavior and later permissive indulgence, leading to feelings of guilt and despair in his late adulthood. Kelvin's character is evaluated based on Erikson's fourth stage of psychological crisis, industry versus inferiority, noting his struggles with learning disabilities and the impact on his self-esteem. The essay references relevant psychological theories and research to support its analysis, providing a comprehensive understanding of the characters' behaviors and relationships within the context of psychological development.

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The movie Parenthood is a comedy film that chiefly depicts the story of four sub families that
possess their own specific stresses as well as issues. The film demonstrates varied parenting
styles which are based on Baumrind’s model of physiological dynamic.
Analysis of the character Gil
The character “Gil Buckman’ is the lead character of the film. His character is a portrayal
of hard working as well as compassionate parent. In spite of the fact that Gil has demonstrated
“authorative” parenting style, his character has exhibited Generativity. Generativity versus
stagnation is the seventh of eight stages of Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development
that is the stage of middle adulthood in which Gil falls (Knight, 2017). For instance, during the
basket ball match in the film, Kelvin, the eldest son of Gil, was chosen to replace one of the team
mates who had got hurt. While Kelvin was worried and doubtful about whether he should opt for
the position or not, Kelvin encouraged him by telling him that he can do it no matter what
happens and finally, Kelvin was found to be performing really well. The character of Gil was
shown to be assertive but not restrictive or intrusive. When it comes to his work life balance, it
has been seen that Gil faced difficulty while maintaining the same. In the movie was found to be
struggling to distribute adequate attention to his children since his job was highly demanding.
However, when Kelvin was found to be suffering from learning disability, he demonstrated the
willing of devoting more time towards his family.
Analysis of the character Frank Buckman
Frank Buckman was the patriarch of the Buckman family, who had effectively raised four kids to
be responsible adults. In the early stage of his parenthood, he demonstrated the role of a
neglectful father who did not provide enough time to his children due to his demanding job. Due

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to lack of communication and time spent with his children, Frank was not able to emotionally
connect with them. When it comes to Erickson’s sixth stage of physiological development, Frank
has demonstrated Isolation that is characterised by avoiding intimacy and fearing commitment or
relationship during his early adulthood. In his middle adulthood stage, Frank demonstrated
stagnantion. He failed to contribute to nurture the emotion of his children and thus developed a
feeling of disconnection and uninvolvement (Cherry, 2017). However, Frank demonstrated
permissive indulgence to one of his son Larry. Considering the fact that Larry had never been
provided effective guidance towards moral and ethics by his father, he is found to misuse Frank’s
trust on him. When it comes to the late adulthood state of Frank, both Ego integrity and Despair
was fund to be experienced by him. He felt guilty about his inappropriate parenting in the past
and a sense of dissatisfaction was found to creep up in him. This feeling in turn was found to
lead Frank to depression in his late adulthood.
Analysis of the character of Kelvin
Kelvin was the eldest son of the three children of Gil. He is 9 years old and a highly
imaginary child. For instance, the choice he showed during his birthday party format and also
during his predisposition towards video game is the evidence of his imaginative nature. He was
in Erickson’s Fourth stage of psychological crisis that involves industry or competence versus
inferiority. According to Dunkel and Harbke, (2017), in this stage the peer group of the children
get greater significance in his or her life and becomes a major source of his or her self esteem.
The child feels the need of approval for demonstrating specific competencies which are valued in
the society. Unfortunately, Kelvin was suffering from lack of competence in that stage. Kelvin
had learning disabilities for which he was bullied by his peers that in turn developed inferiority
complex in him. In one of the scenes of the film, Gil and his wife Karen was called by the

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counsellor in order to inform them that their child is suffering from concentration issue an thus
belongs to the “special” child group. This had further imposed negative impact on the child’s
mind. He became doubtful about his capability and developed lack of self confidence. According
to the Erickson’s Theory of psychological crisis, in case a child is unable to develop specific skill
they think the society is demanding, they stated developing a sense of inferiority within
themselves (Malone et al., 2016). However, both of his parents were found to be providing
effective support to Kelvin so that he and deal with psychological crisis and develop effective
self-confidence.

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Reference List
Cherry, K. (2017). Erik Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development. Psychology.
Psychosocial Theories. Päivitetty, 14, 2017.
Dunkel, C. S., & Harbke, C. (2017). A review of measures of Erikson’s stages of psychosocial
development: Evidence for a general factor. Journal of Adult Development, 24(1), 58-76.
Knight, Z. G. (2017). A proposed model of psychodynamic psychotherapy linked to Erik
Erikson's eight stages of psychosocial development. Clinical psychology &
psychotherapy, 24(5), 1047-1058.
Malone, J. C., Liu, S. R., Vaillant, G. E., Rentz, D. M., & Waldinger, R. J. (2016). Midlife
Eriksonian psychosocial development: Setting the stage for late-life cognitive and
emotional health. Developmental psychology, 52(3), 496.