This paper will look at the ways in which families are presented in the media, specifically film. For this particular study, the movie MirrorMask will be used. Released in 2005, MirrorMask tells the story of a 15 year old girl named Helena as she attempts to find a way back to the real world after being sucked in to a fantasy world. I chose this movie because it features a family and because part of the story focuses on Helena’s relationship with her mother.
The main family is Helena’s family. The nuclear unit is composed of Helena, her father, and her mother. Later Helena’s grandmother is introduced, as the grandmother takes care of Helena after Helena’s mother is hospitalized. Her parents appear middle-aged and are both employed (as is Helena) at the circus that they run. They appear to be Caucasian; the story is set in the UK. The film reflects the trend of “the traditional family structure with a breadwinner father and homemaker mother” being “replaced by a culture of dual-earner households” (Kelly 107). In the context of gender roles, Helena’s mom is definitely represented as normative. A study of films in general revealed that “Women were nearly twice as likely (66.3% vs. 34.6% [males]) to be parents or in a committed romantic relationship (females = 60.7%, males=31.9%)” (Smith, Pieper, Granados, and Choueiti 783).
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The family seems to be portrayed as functional. Though they own and run a circus and live in trailers, they appear to live together. They appear to have a loving relationship, and they appear to love Helena. Helena and her mother have a fight prior to her mother becoming sick, but it appears to be the kind of fight a teenager would have with a parent: the parent wants the teenager to do something (in this case, the mother wants Helena to get ready for that night’s performance), the teenager doesn’t want to do it (Helena is tired of being part of the circus and wants a normal life), and conflict occurs (the two exchange hurtful words). When Helena’s mother gets sick, Helena is very sad and makes her mother a “Get Well” card, just like a loving child would for a sick parent. While living with her grandmother, she appears to have a good relationship with her grandmother, but she misses her parents and is worried about her mother. These elements all point to a functional family.
Most of the movie is about Helena’s adventures in the fantasy world, so the audience doesn’t get a chance to see a lot of the family’s activities. The audience does see Helena and her father doing a juggling act together at the circus and Helena visiting her mother in the hospital. Because Helena’s mom is in the hospital, the circus can’t stay open, so the audience does see the father meeting with the rest of the circus people to decide what to do. He has to make the financial arrangements for Helena’s mother’s operation. The audience sees the grandmother interacting with Helena. In general, normative gender roles seem present – the father as the leader of the family and the circus; the grandmother being supportive and comforting to Helena; and Helena being scared and vulnerable.
The big trouble the family faces is Helena’s mother’s illness. Not only does it mean the circus can’t go on (literally) because she’s one of the major performers, but also her husband is the ringmaster, and he doesn’t want to leave his wife’s side. He also has to make financial arrangements for the operation since the family doesn’t have much money. These troubles are traditional – a debilitating illness which reduces the income of the family, forcing the family into a difficult financial situation that is also emotionally stressful, which is a traditional economic challenge for contemporary families.
The solutions to the family’s problems are also traditional. They have to take out a loan in order to pay for the mother’s operation. The grandmother has to take care of Helena while her father takes care of business. They are effective in so much as the loan pays for the operation so Helena’s mother can get well. The grandmother takes care of Helena to make sure she is getting fed and supervised by an adult, as well as providing emotional support. In an immediate sense, the solutions work.
However, relating to sociological explanations for the troubles faced by the family, the fact that health care is so expensive that the family must take out a loan in order to improve the quality of Helena’s mother’s life is a way in which society impacts the family. Another way in which society affects the family is that the circus the family runs doesn’t seem as profitable. Most people would see such a business as being impractical or unusual or pointless, or that the parents don’t seem very responsible or mature, even though people of all ages seem to enjoy going to the circus. The parents seem responsible and mature as far as this viewer is concerned.
The impact of the portrayal of this family in film could show that even in less-than-traditional settings (that is, in a traveling circus), traditional families can exist. This can demonstrate that setting does not predict or dictate how functional the family could be. This, in turn, suggests that a traditional setting may not also guarantee a functional family. However, this also suggests that the idea of the traditional family is so strong that the setting doesn’t matter; as one author writes, “it is logical to suggest that these biases play some role in the reinforcement of common stereotypes about race, class, and sex roles in our society” (Eschholz, Bufkin, and Long 301).
- Eschholz, Sarah, Jana Bufkin, and Jenny Long. “Symbolic Reality Bites: Women and Racial/Ethnic Minorities in Modern Film.” Sociological Spectrum 22.3 (2002): 299-334. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
- Kelly, Janice. “Fathers and The Media: Introduction to the Special Issue.” Fathering: A Journal Of Theory, Research, & Practice About Men As Fathers 7.2 (2009): 107-113. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
- Smith, Stacy, Katherine Pieper, Amy Granados, and Marc Choueiti. “Assessing Gender-Related Portrayals in Top-Grossing G-Rated Films.” Sex Roles 62.11/12 (2010): 774-786. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
