Tag Archives: dysfunction

Ethical Issues and Dilemmas

We’re the Millers

Title: We’re the Millers

Date: 2013

Media type: Film

Format: Complete

Category: Ethical Issues and Dilemmas

Keywords: decision-making, family functioning, response to crisis, types of parents, dysfunction

Rating: R-Restricted

Audience(s): College Age, Adults, Parents, Couples

Language: English

Film/Episode Summary: David is a small pot dealer that just got robbed of a week’s worth of profit. David’s dealer forces him to go to Mexico to pick up a large supply of marijuana to make up for the loss. David things ahead and tries to create a plan to make him look less suspicious at the border. He asks his neighbor Rose, who is a broke stripper, and two teenagers, Casey and Kenny, that live in the area. In exchange for their assistance, he plans on paying them some of the profits. The four embark on a journey as a pretend family to collect marijuana for David’s dealer.

Comments or Recommendations for Teaching: Even though David and Rose aren’t real parents, in what way are they parents, or influences, to Casey and Kenny?

Places to view: Itunes, Youtube, Amazon Video, Vudu, Google Play

Contributor: Krista Hamann

Human Growth and Development

A Cinderella Story

Title: A Cinderella Story 

Date: 2004

Media type: Film

Format: Complete

Category: Human Growth and Development

Rating: PG

Audience(s): Children Under 12, High School Age, College Age, Families

Language: English

Film/Episode Summary: Sam is a modern day Cinderella. Sam’s father remarried when she was young and then passed away in an earth quake, leaving her to be taken care of by Fiona, her step-mother. The film follows Sam as she tries to break free from her step-mother and create a life of her own. Along the way she meets a boy online in a chat room, who later turns out to be Austin Ames the popular quarterback at her high school. They both fall in love, and chose to pursue their dreams at Princeton together.

Comments or Recommendations for Teaching: What do you think motivated Fiona to treat Sam different from her biological children. In what ways are Fiona and Austin’s father similar?

Contributor: Krista Hamann

Ethical Issues and Dilemmas, Families in Society, Internal Dynamics of Families, Interpersonal Relationships, Parenting

Jane the Virgin

Title: Jane the Virgin

Date: 2014 – Present

Media type: Television

Format: Episode

Rating: TV – 14

Audience(s): High School Age, College Age, Adults, Parents, Couples

Language: English

Film/Episode Summary: Jane the Virgin is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on The CW on October 13, 2014. The series follows Jane Villanueva, a hard-working, religious young Latina woman whose family tradition and a vow to save her virginity until marriage is shattered when a doctor mistakenly artificially inseminates her during a checkup. To make matters worse, the biological donor is a married man, a former playboy and cancer survivor who is not only the new owner of the hotel where Jane works, but was also her former teenage crush. Jane the Virgin also explores issues of immigration, raising children, and parent-child relationships between adults of all ages, and young children.

Places to view: Youtube, Amazon Video, Vudu, Google Play, Jane the Virgin, Hulu

Contributor: Mikayla Perrault