Conrad Jarrett Film Analysis
Conrad Jarrett is the protagonist of this film. He is a teenage boy who has just came back home after staying in a psychiatric hospital for a few months. He was placed in said psychiatric hospital because he had wanted to commit suicide. Now that he is back home, Conrad feels distant from his friends and family members. We find out later in the film that Conrad is actually dealing with post-traumatic stress which was brought on by a sailing accident that took his own brother’s life.
Beth Jarrett is the unaffectionate mother and wife in the film. She has a hard time getting along with Conrad and the two of them are often seen arguing throughout the movie. Beth, being the cold and aloof woman that she is, has a hard time speaking about her …show more content…
This is called self-clarification. The risk of self-disclosure, however, is that Conrad would have to open himself up with the possibility of being rejected, a feeling that he feels all too often from his mother. For Beth, the benefit of self-disclosure would allow her to grieve for the loss of her son; something she has apparently not yet done. However, the main benefit she would receive from this would be relationship maintenance and enhancement. The risk of self-disclosure for Beth, though, is negative impression. Lastly, for Calvin, I believe that he would also benefit from self-disclosure with relationship maintenance and enhancement. The risk is hurting another person, though, and this is something he already holds himself accountable for
Initially, Conrad refused to talk to Dr. Berger about anything other than his dreams. Because of this, Dr. Berger confronted Conrad’s passive aggressiveness resistance. Dr. Berger explained to Conrad that Conrad is repressing anger and sadness. By doing this, Conrad slowly began exposing more of himself to Dr. Berger.
The title of this film, “Ordinary People”, is quite significant because frankly, many of us don’t even know what we would consider to be ordinary. From the outside, I’m sure the Jarrett’s would look quite normal to others.
Beth Jarrett is the unaffectionate mother and wife in the film. She has a hard time getting along with Conrad and the two of them are often seen arguing throughout the movie. Beth, being the cold and aloof woman that she is, has a hard time speaking about her …show more content…
This is called self-clarification. The risk of self-disclosure, however, is that Conrad would have to open himself up with the possibility of being rejected, a feeling that he feels all too often from his mother. For Beth, the benefit of self-disclosure would allow her to grieve for the loss of her son; something she has apparently not yet done. However, the main benefit she would receive from this would be relationship maintenance and enhancement. The risk of self-disclosure for Beth, though, is negative impression. Lastly, for Calvin, I believe that he would also benefit from self-disclosure with relationship maintenance and enhancement. The risk is hurting another person, though, and this is something he already holds himself accountable for
Initially, Conrad refused to talk to Dr. Berger about anything other than his dreams. Because of this, Dr. Berger confronted Conrad’s passive aggressiveness resistance. Dr. Berger explained to Conrad that Conrad is repressing anger and sadness. By doing this, Conrad slowly began exposing more of himself to Dr. Berger.
The title of this film, “Ordinary People”, is quite significant because frankly, many of us don’t even know what we would consider to be ordinary. From the outside, I’m sure the Jarrett’s would look quite normal to others.