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Sample Student COM 120 Mrs. Smedley 7/19/20 Media Analysis Paper In the pilot episode of Parenthood, many communication concepts are present within the constant interaction with a main focus on the Braverman family. The show revolves around this family, specifically the siblings (Adam, Sarah, Crosby, and Julia), and how chaotic life can get being a parent. Parenthood demonstrates how important family is in order to tackle all of the trials and tribulations life may throw at you. By watching this pilot episode through a communication lens, you notice the importance of self-concept, social comparison and reference groups, the effects that physiological and psychological influences have on our perception, and gender roles. All these concepts are abundant throughout the show, but the two main characters that I will be focusing on is Adam Braverman and his father Zeek. Their interactions with each other along with their other family members enables myself to capture a thorough analysis of these character’s behaviors by utilizing the communication concepts that I have learned throughout this semester. The beginning of the episode starts with a shot of Adam taking a run before he is called by his sister, Sarah, who calls him to ask for his advice on whether the decision of her moving back home to be with family is the right decision for her and her kids. She says, “I’m doing the right thing- right Adam? Moving home… It’s gonna be good, right? I mean you said it was gonna be good, and that’s essentially why I am doing…”. Soon after this conversation with his sister, he is called by his father Zeke. The reason Zeke calls him is because he needs his son to

help him unclog the pipes that he has had no success in doing. These first interactions in the show that we see brings us to our first communication concept that Adam plays an important role in: significant other. Adler says, “Social scientists use the term significant other to describe a person whose evaluations are especially influential” (Adler 72). Adam plays this role to almost everyone in his family; he is very supportive and people constantly come to him throughout the pilot episode for advice. This can especially be seen in the scene where Adam is at home on the phone finishing a call with one of his coworkers. Knocking on his door is soon heard and it is his sister Sarah asking if he has seen her son (Drew) who has been missing. Not long after this, his brother Crosby walks in asking for advice on what he should do in a relationship he is involved in. Lastly, Adam’s other sister, Julia, struts in and expresses her worries of her daughter not loving her and preferring her husband over her. This scene encompasses the important impact that Adam has on his family. When they have issues or concerns, they come to him for his advice and he willingly dedicates his time even though, as we will find out, has a lot going on his own personal life. As humans, we all have our own self-concept that we construct from the narrative we partake in. Adler defines self-concept as “the relatively stable set of perceptions you hold of yourself” (Adler 70). Our narratives play a crucial part in developing our self-concept. What even further develops this is reflected appraisal, social comparison, and reference groups. Our self-concept is impacted and shaped by the interactions we have with others. This is a very common theme throughout Parenthood by how the self-concept we thought we had composed is put into question when life throws us an expected curve ball. Reflected appraisal, which is a mirroring of others’ judgments (Adler 72), can be seen in the scene where Crosby and Adam meet up at a burger place called Oscar’s. Crosby explains to Adam the situation he is struggling

with in which Adam asks him, “Is this really how you want to live your life?”. Crosby follows up by saying, “Okay, look, I’m sorry we all can’t all be the perfect couple like you and Kristina [Adam’s wife] and eat veggie burgers and stuff”. We see that reflected appraisal takes place for both Adam and Crosby in the messages conveyed in this scene. Furthermore, social comparison and reference groups can also be seen in this with how Adam and Crosby are comparing one another. Adler says, “We form our self-image by the process of social comparison: evaluating ourselves in comparison with others… we decide whether we are superior or inferior and similar or different by comparing ourselves to what social scientists call reference groups- others against whom we evaluate our own characteristics” (Adler 72). In this scene between Adam and Crosby, all these concepts can be seen by Crosby comparing himself and his own life in comparison to the life Adam and his wife carry out. The four main siblings in the Braverman family all act as the reference group for each other as a way to compare their own life. In a sense, Crosby believes his brother Adam to uphold this idea of perfectionism. Crosby also is bogged down by the halo effect when talking about the woman in his life. Adler explains the halo effect as “the tendency to form an overall positive impression of a person on the basis of one positive characteristics” (Adler 120). The halo effect can be seen in this scene at Oscar’s when Adam and Crosby our talking about a potential love interest Crosby has in a woman called Jasmine. Crosby describes her positive characteristic of being “the flexible one” as if that is her master status. One of the main struggles midway throughout the pilot episode that we find out is the discovery that Adam’s son, Max, has a disability called Asperger’s. This is a very emotional scene and heavily impacts Adam and his wife. Earlier in the episode, Adam’s daughter got in trouble with the police for being caught up with drugs. Adam’s once so “perfect” life is thrown further off course when he finds out that his son may no longer be considered “normal”. These

two new chapters in Adam’s life puts his presenting self (public image) into question. Adler defines presenting self as “the way we want to appear to others” (Adler 78). Life consists of many unexpected bumps and this is idea is really captured and emphasized by the scene where Adam is told by his wife that Max has learning differences and may have Asperger’s. At first, Adam is very resistant to the fact that something may be wrong with his son. His wife keeps telling him that something is wrong, but he continues to rebuke what she is saying because it challenges this specific narrative of his life he thought he already had constructed. He did not want to be told that his son was now deviant. Adler offers wisdom on disabilities by saying, “Regardless of the specific physical condition, it’s important to treat a disability as one feature, not as a defining characteristic of others” (Adler 53). Adam and his wife share a relational role by being parents- and being a parent is not an easy task. Not only are your responsible for yourself, but you also are responsible for the upbringing of your children. Being told that your son will have difficulties (like Asperger’s) that you did not choose for him to have is a difficult pill to swallow because it is something that is out of your control and is new. New environments are scary because we like being used to the norms. When change comes about, it effects our mood by making us feel anxious for what is to come. One of the main relationships that offers tension is the relationship between Adam and his father Zeek. Zeek takes a very traditional aspect on what it takes to be a man. His perspective most likely is heavily influenced on how he was raised as a child and the age he now is. When Sarah first arrives at her mom and dad’s home, her father greets his grandson through the use of both verbal and nonverbal communication. The specific nonverbal act of shaking his grandson’s hand gives a useful insight on the character that Zeek is. Zeek says, “Hey Drew [Zeek’s grandson] give me a handshake. No, like a man. Shake it— geez, Drew”. This scene shows how

Zeek expected his grandson to give him a much firmer handshake to show how much he is growing up to be a man. Meanwhile right before this, Zeek gave his granddaughter a nice, warming hug and kiss on the cheek. Zeek’s perspective on gender roles has been shaped by the physiological influence of his age. He was raised in a time when a man was supposed to exert his masculinity by giving a firm handshake or playing the game of sports very serious. You never would want to perform an act that would be a disgrace to your manhood. Alder notes, “We experience the world differently throughout our lifetimes. Age alters not just our bodies but our perspectives” (Adler 111). Zeek cares deeply about impacting the upbringing of Adam’s son Max. We see how passionate Zeek is to start seeing his grandson Max playing sports. You can see Zeek’s passion in this as he cheers and yells from the stands at Max’s baseball game. Early on in the episode when Adam is helping his father fix his pipes underneath his house, a conversation takes place that shows the beginning of how Adam feels about his father’s interactions with his son. Zeek says to Adam, “How’s my grandson doing? Is he getting ready for his game? Cause I’m gonna be there with bells on.” This upsets Adam slightly and he expresses his concerns to his father about how he might be making Max feel nervous. He tells his father that “Max is a sensitive kid” in which Zeek replies back with “Well, you were sensitive too. I cured you”. Adam follows this up by explaining to his father that if he is going to come to the game he is going to have to be more calm. This is further blown out of proportions when Adam is called by his wife informing him that Max does not want to go to the baseball game he has. Zeek is upset about this and tells Adam, “It’s a baseball game. He’s gotta go”. From a glance, you can initially tell that there is some tension with how Zeke and Adam think with how one should act when around Max. Along with that, you can tell that Zeek and Adam, primarily Zeek,

believe that being involved in sports is crucial in helping a person properly develop into becoming a man. As stated before, Zeek has a very rigorous view on masculinity which impacts his perspective on gender roles. Adler says, “Gender roles often shape the ways in which men and women experience and express their emotions” (Adler 234). Gender roles impact a person’s perception! This stereotype that men should bottle up their emotions because that is what a real man would do is a lie. This “reluctance to talk about feelings, which can lead to relational challenges” is known as alexithymia (Adler 234). Being told that bottling up your emotions and hiding them is an act of being a man is a false reality that so many men are taught. Zeek wants to be involved in Max’s life and views sports as a similarity they can bond over. Early in the episode, Zeek is teaching Max about the game of basketball. He says to Max, “If someone gets up in your grill, you’re gonna shove them back. You gotta get tough, Max. Kick some ass, baby.” The way Zeek talks to Max upsets Adam and Adam shouts out to his dad to bring the level of intensity down please. Soon after this, Max is brought inside with a bloody nose because he took an elbow to the face from Zeek. When asked why he did this, Zeek answers with, “He was in my zone”. This scene adds to the level of complexity that Adam feels his father Zeke is putting on his son. With a conversation that will soon occur between Adam and his father, you realize that Adam slightly resents the upbringing and the life lessons his father taught him when he was a kid; it is this ongoing tension of what the gender role of a man should portray. It is fair to assume that the time period that Zeek grew up and lived in played a major role on his perspective of gender roles and society as a whole. After Max is rushed in with his bloody nose, a conflict dilemma occurs between Adam and Zeke. Adam confronts his father by saying, “What are you doing?”. Zeke replies back with,

“Oh Adam. You know the boy has some height deficiencies. We need to make him a ball handler”. Adam freely expresses his feelings of concerns on why Zeke had to be playing with him so roughly. Zeek replies with, “You weren’t any different. You had to get over your fears too”. This statement aggravates Adam in which he bluntly states, “We’re not raising him the way that you raised us… I don’t want him to feel like everything is a war”. Zeke disagrees with Adam that it is indeed a war. Both the characters could have handled this confrontation in a better way. First, they could have realized the impact that their choice of language had. They used the term “you” a lot which created some verbal aggressiveness towards each other from the past. By using more “I” language in their vocabulary during this confrontation, it would not have caused as much provocation to occur between the two and, at the same time, allow them to convey their feelings fully. Also, Adam allowed the psychological influence of mood to alter his ability to perceive the situation. Adam could have practiced perception checking better to obtain a better understanding on the true motives that his father had in this accident. For Zeek, he took on the blind reality that we assume others are like us. Adler says, “We commonly imagine that others possess the same attitudes and motives that we do… assuming similarities can lead to problems” (Adler 123-124). We want our perceptions to be as accurate as possible, and perception checking allows for us to take a step back from assuming everyone thinks the way we think and a step closer to the true meaning behind an action. By taking this advice, Adam and Zeke could create a conversation that leads to a better result that leads them both to a point of agreement and further growth in their relationship on the matter. The pilot episode of Parenthood shows the important role family holds in order to ride the unpredictable, chaotic waves life may throw at us to the best ability we can. Multiple communication concepts, such as self-concept, social comparison and reference groups, as well

as the impact that physiological (age) and psychological (mood) influences can have on our perception, can be analyzed. Throughout the episode, the Braverman family seem to be placed in a whirlwind of struggles and emotions. Amid all this, Adam acts as the anchor for others. He is there to offer advice and support for any difficulties his family may be going through. While Adam assists his family with their own problems, we learn that Adam is going to have to learn to deal with the fact that his son Max most likely has a condition called Asperger’s. Parenthood shows that being a parent is not a simple job where all you have to do is follow a straight line, but it quite the contrary; life is full of moments that have its ups and down. However, those good and moments mean that you are alive! No one’s life is perfect so do not expect yours to be. I believe that there is wisdom to be found from the song “Forever Young” by Bob Dylan that so coincidentally plays near the beginning and the end of the pilot episode. No matter how old you may get when it comes to age, it is important to be young at your heart. Bob Dylan puts it best by saying, “May you always be courageous / Stand upright and be strong / May you stay forever young”....