Tag Archives: financial management

Families in Society, Family Resource Management, Internal Dynamics of Families, Parenting

A Raisin in the Sun

Title: A Raisin in the Sun

Date: 1961

Media type: Film

Category: Families in Society, Internal Dynamics of Families, Family Resource Management, Parenting

Keywords: work and family, stress and coping, family functioning, financial management, various family structures

Rating: PG

Audience(s): College Age, Adults

Language: English

Film/Episode Summary: Walter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like an imprisoned man. Until, that is, the family gets an unexpected financial windfall…

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

Contributor: Anonymous

Families in Society, Family Resource Management, Internal Dynamics of Families, Parenting

Pursuit of Happyness

Title: Pursuit of Happyness

Date: 2006

Media type: Film

Format: Clip

Category: Families in Society, Internal Dynamics of Families, Family Resource Management, Parenting

Keywords: work and family, family demographics, response to crises, decision-making, financial management, parent-child relationships

Rating: PG-13

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

Language: English

Film/Episode Summary: Chris Gardner is a down on his luck guy who ends up losing his livelihood, home, money, and wife and lives on the streets with his son. The movie follows his attempt to get steady work and sell a bone-density scanner he has helped create. The story focuses on Chris Gardner’s work ethic and drive to make a better life for him and his son.

Clip Description: In this scene Chris Gardner has been brought into jail on unpaid parking tickets. He has barely enough to pay his tickets, but as he only has a check he ends up having to wait the night in jail so they can clear the check before they release him. As he is unable to leave he has to call someone to watch his son against his instincts. In addition to having to find care for his son he also has a job interview in the morning for a good job but is in work clothes that are covered in paint.

Comments or Recommendations for Teaching: What role does keeping Gardner in jail do to his life? How, if at all, does imprisoning someone for minor charges help the individual, the city, or the police department? Do you think this scene speak to the cycle of incarceration and poverty?

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

Contributor: Ian Brunzell-Looney

Families in Society, Family Resource Management, Internal Dynamics of Families

The Queen of Versailles

Title: The Queen of Versailles

Date: 2012

Media type: Documentary

Category: Families in Society, Internal Dynamics of Families, Family Resource Management

Keywords: work and family, family demographics, response to crises, financial management

Rating: PG

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

Language: English

Film/Episode Summary: This documentary follows a once extravigantly wealthy family that has lost the lifestyle they could once afford. It focuses on the dynamic changes as the family has to live with less and less. The father and husband works constantly to try and salvage as much as he can from his once booming time-share business at the expense of time with his wife and children, not that he was very involved before they lost money though. The family struggles to understand the world that they have to start living in, a simpler and less entitled one.

Comments or Recommendations for Teaching: What roles does wealth play in the family system in this documentary? What do you think these individuals are struggling with the most? How can you relate to them and their situation? What role does the father’s job and business play in the individual family members’ lives? What about in the family system?

Places to view: Amazon Video, Vudu, Itunes, Hulu, Netflix

Contributor: Ian Brunzell-Looney