Critical Analysis of Sisters TV Series: Family & Media Influence

This essay critically analyzes the Australian TV series 'Sisters,' examining its portrayal of family dynamics, particularly in the context of a family formed through IVF and a father's sperm donations. The essay explores how the media shapes public perceptions of families, focusing on the relationsh...Read More

Running head: SISTERS, A REFLECTION OF FAMILIES
Sisters, a Reflection of Families
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Not

1SISTERS, A REFLECTION OF FAMILIES
Public perception of families
Sister is a television series of Australia created by Jonathan Gavin and Imogen Banks.
It was showed in Network ten in 2017 October. It was launched as an original series of
Netflix. The story talks about Julia Bechly and her life. The target audience was women
between the age of 18 to 54. The premiere did not record in the first night of its release. The
series although had the capacity to do great with the service of Ten’s catch-up service. This
show was recommended to the friends. The story depicts the life of Julia (Maria Angelico)
who is a 30 years old daughter of Noble prizewinner Julius Bechly (Barry Otto) in IVF. Her
life was focused on the health of her father that was deteriorating every day. She proved
herself to be a brilliant daughter over and over again. The media portrays the father daughter
relationship of Julia and her father Julius that turned into a chaotic circumstance. Julius made
a deathbed revelation to the media that he helps couple to become pregnant by frequently
donating sperm to the couples (YouTube, 2019). The media ensures the controversy between
Julia and her father. Julia’s throwing a party soon after the revelation for her half siblings to
know them was out of doubt and hope. The media focused on the main three characters,
which was Julia and her two sisters. This clearly depicts the strong bond of the sisters in time
of good and bad. This series shows the wonderful relationship of Roxy with her mother
which started to strengthen after the revelation. Julius awkwardness with his daughters grew
but he found a great dynamic with the daughters. All the three sisters lived a messy life after
their father’s revelation. Meanwhile, the drama between Julia and Edie on the fact that Dr.
Bechly had all the pictures of his sired children whereas Julia was unaware of the inception
and nature of the relationship they shared. Media on the other hand also portrayed the
entertainment value of the family along with drama. Julia in search of love accidently slept
with one of the brothers before anyone could know the story of her father. Soon after the

2SISTERS, A REFLECTION OF FAMILIES
news hit her office, she was fired from the job. This shows a sense of hatred in Julia towards
her father. The bonding between the sisters also depicted a sense of chaos and uncomfortable
situation in the family.
Impact of the media and family module
The themes in all the sisters depicted the ideas of family and love. The portrayal of
the story of the family by the media was confusing and contradictory. The sisters explored
various topics on family, motherhood, fatherhood which talks about Reality versus what the
sister wanted it to be. Media also shows the characters of the stereotypical and trope. They
evolved as individuals than a family after the drama became intense. Each family is uniquely
building up a home with a team of people who invests in helping the members of the family
to achieve the necessary change. The task is to figure out which team player is in your
support in the team; In this case, Julia was finding it difficult to understand her family
scenario and the awkward equations with her father and her sisters. Julia and her family in in
the ‘greatest impact’ module. In this stage and time of the family, the bad effects of a
situation or circumstances are observed. Each member of the family is under the great impact
of the revelations. Julia and her life shook up as the impact was the most on her. She could
not believe the lies she had been told all her life. This situation can be overcome by giving
more love and attention to the family. The mother and the father of these kind of children
should be more careful in bringing up the child by making them know the realities. Media has
impacted the lives of the character in various ways. The depiction of the series from media;s
point of view gave a vividly experience of the family confusion of Julie.

3SISTERS, A REFLECTION OF FAMILIES
The relevance of this type of family for your work.
The TV series “Sisters” is a television drama in which Julia Bechly learns that her father,
Julius Bechly, who is a pioneer in vitro fertilisation, has used his own sperms during his
career as fertility specialist. Her father has made a deathbed confession of the fact that he
could potentially be a father of about hundreds of children. Soon her house filled up with
many live-ins who claimed themselves to be her brothers and sisters. Gradually, Julia learns
that she actually has two sisters named Roxy Karibas and Edie Flanagan. Julia and Edie were
childhood friends and this news of their relation created a sense of rivalry and jealousy
among the two. Such type of siblings are called half-siblings. It is to note that the adolescents
who have such type of family or who themselves have half-siblings with different mother or
father are much more to support and cooperate led at school (Beer, 2017). The roles of sibling
influence the way and the time these adolescent support each other at the schools. With the
same, the children from such family also find it harder to develop the social skills compared
to the ones who are from normal and loving families. This might even set back their
achievements in their academic years. They often feels ashamed and children of their ages
often seems to tease and mock them about their identity (Pearce et al., 2018). For most of the
children and students, it is very stressful and it affects their reactions, behavior and
experiences. Their emotional and social well-being also stay influenced for several years
because of the half-sibling influence on these children (Harcourt et al., 2015). This makes our
role as early childhood professional, more challenging. We need to help these children make
some positive adjustments. We see these children the most every day apart from their
families as they spend most of their day in school. It is us who are in the ideal positions for
providing the necessary support to these children. What has already happened, cannot be
changed and we being an outsider can never interfere in the family matters of other people.

4SISTERS, A REFLECTION OF FAMILIES
However, we do have a role to play in the positive growth and development of children
belonging from these types of families.
These children needs special treatment and care from the rest others. Being an early
childhood professional, my role will be greatly influenced because of children from this type
of family where they need to spend their life with their half siblings. It would be my duty to
develop an understanding of the reactions of the children to their parents and their siblings by
means of reflecting on my conversations and observations with these type of children. I
would also try to have private conversations with these children and would ask them if they
are ok or not, being a good listener, good friend and by letting them talk and provide
reassurance that everything will be alright one day. I shall also try my best to be available to
these children and their parents for speaking to. With the same, it would be my duty to create
a safe and friendly environment where the children would feel free to talk. Furthermore, in
order to get a good insight of the issue, I shall be talking regarding the catastrophic scales for
helping these children put their areas of concerns into perspective on a scale from 0 to 10.
Here, 0 would signify “no problem” and 10 will signify “worst problem ever”. It is also to
note that children from such families are likely to avoid making social connections. Often, the
impact of this variation in the family form results in anti-social behaviours among the young
children (Kaukinen & Apel, 2017). Hence, it is not sure and certain that they will open up to
me, on their own or in a single try. Hence, I need to keep on trying to develop their trust and
love for me. A good teacher always seeks for the betterment of each and every student.
Therefore, it would be my responsibility to ensure that I am providing encouragement for
these children in order to make good decisions and to accept the facts they see around. I
would also be arranging tutoring for these children with teachers and other parents aside.

5SISTERS, A REFLECTION OF FAMILIES
References
Beer, W. R. (2017). Strangers in the house: The world of stepsiblings and half-siblings.
Routledge.
Harcourt, K. T., Adler-Baeder, F., Erath, S., & Pettit, G. S. (2015). Examining family
structure and half-sibling influence on adolescent well-being. Journal of Family
Issues, 36(2), 250-272.
Kaukinen, C. & Apel, R., (2017). The effect of variation in intact family forms on deviant
and antisocial behavior. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 42(2), pp.350-372.
Pearce, L. D., Hayward, G. M., Chassin, L., & Curran, P. J. (2018). The increasing diversity
and complexity of family structures for adolescents. Journal of Research on
Adolescence, 28(3), 591-608.
YouTube. (2019). Sneak Peek Of TEN's New Drama 'Sisters' | Studio 10. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF-NRUafKsA