I applied the family theories that I gained knowledge on in Issues in Family Systems course by analyzing the family dynamics in the film Gifted.

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Family Systems Analysis Paper
Meredith Haltiwanger
Dr. George - HDFS 3920
October 4, 2020

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Introduction
Family Systems Theory is how parents, children, spouses, and extended family members
mutually influence and communicate with one another. This theory focuses on the
relationships shared within the family, instead of just looking at the family system as a
whole (Allen & Henderson, 2016). There were very clear and defined rules that govern
the family in the movie Gifted. This film showed love, and a strong emphasis on
relationships over unimportant life experiences and others’ opinions. Mary, the main
character, is a second grader that is gifted. She is a genius and can solve math problems
that the majority of the world would never understand or solve. Her mother passed away
when she was a baby from committing suicide, and her uncle Frank is her guardian and
caretaker. Mary’s mother was also a genius and spent her entire life solving math
equations and never truly lived. Frank did not want the same life for Mary; he wanted her
to be a normal kid who attends public school and plays with kids her own age. He did
exactly that by loving her and letting her be a kid. One scene of the movie exemplifies the
love Frank has for his niece when Mary states “He's a good person. He wanted me before
I was smart” (Allen, et al., 2017).
Part A
Introduction
The family is structurally complex because it is composed of many subsystems. In
Gifted, Frank and Mary work together as a team by both having a sense of identity and
individualism, establishing boundaries and maintenance tasks. After Mary’s mother
passed away, Frank took Mary in and began raising her the way he thinks his sister would
have wanted. Diane was a mathematician and dedicated her life to solving the Navier-

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Stokes problem. Diane took her own life when Mary was only six months old, so Frank
had to raise her from the beginning (Allen, et al., 2017).
Emotional Climate
In the film Gifted, the overall emotional climate was supportive and very positive. Mary had a lot
of people that cared about her and loved her very much including, Frank, Ms. Bonnie,
and Roberta (Allen, et al., 2017). This list of people didn’t care about Mary’s gift, but
also saw the beautiful little girl she was. They see a child that has a huge heart and
deserves the chance to be a kid. Emotional climate indicates the relationships interwoven
among members of a family or community and describes the quality of the environment
within a certain context (Allen & Henderson, 2016). Some strategies that are used in this
film to manage the emotional climate is how Roberta takes Mary every Friday night and
into the next morning to give Frank his own time and a healthy break (Allen, et al.,
2017).
Another approach they use to maintain the emotional climate is by letting Mary go to a regular
school with children her age. This helps Mary because she is surrounded by people that
might not be in the same brain development stage as her, but physically look similar and
share the same interest as an elementary school student (Allen, et al., 2017). Most people
would claim that sharing the details of the court case for full custody is not age
appropriate, but Frank knew that Mary needed to know the details to keep that trust with
her. He shared details about her biological father and grandmother that most children
never know or understand at that young of an age, but Mary was glad that Frank was
honest with her. Even though the news upset her about her father living so close to her
but never coming to visit truly upset her, Frank wanted her to know because he was not

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deserving of Mary. Instead he reminds her that he has enough love for her, and that she
was loved so much from the day she was born (Allen, et al., 2017).
Overall, the emotional climate within this film is strong between Mary and Frank. There are
some characters such as Evelyn, Frank’s mother, because she is absent from the family
and only cares about showing off her smart granddaughter. This is exactly what she did to
her daughter, which spiraled her into depression and ended in her committing suicide.
This emphasizes why Frank wants to provide Mary with warmth and support rather than
skip her childhood to work on math problems. Mary is different than most, but Frank
caters his love and attitude to how she needs it to feel normal (Allen, et al., 2017).
Boundaries
The boundaries in Gifted were healthy because Frank and Mary have a strong relationship. Their
bond is very special, and they have built a lot of trust between each other because other
than people outside of their family, it is just the two of them (Allen, et al., 2017).
Boundaries separate people and help distinguish unique identities in different members in
the family; a healthy boundary allows members to be their own individual self, while
having a supportive system that promotes individualism (Allen & Henderson, 2016).
Frank and Mary are open with each other and share how they truly feel when things are
either great or really hard. Their process and relationship would be considered both
morphogenesis and morphostasis. Although they are adaptable and willing to work with
new situations, they are also resisting changes in some topics such as working with the
court, foster care, and Evelyn. Instead of resisting change, Frank is doing what is best for
Mary and her development and social skills and interactions (Allen, et al., 2017).
Maintenance

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Families have specific strategies that allow members to execute different tasks and
establish priorities (Allen & Henderson, 2016). In this film the family accomplishes their
daily task by working together as a team with the help and support of others. Frank
knows he cannot teach and homeschool Mary; he knows that she has to go to school to
learn more and be surrounded by people of her own age. Mary’s teacher, Ms. Bonnie
Stevenson, might not be equipped to teach a genius being that she is a first grader.
However, she does know how to teach Mary manners and respect for others. Most
importantly, Ms. Stevenson gives Mary the love and the support that she needs. Frank
was unexpectedly thrown into raising a child and said that he wanted to give up
numerous times. Frank never gave up because everything Mary did amazed him. This
shows their relationship perfectly because it was not planned but Frank loves Mary more
than the world and would do anything for her. As stated earlier, Roberta always provides
Frank with support by taking care of Mary, giving her the attention she deserves, while
also allowing Frank to have a break (Allen, et al., 2017).
Identity
Identity within a family helps members find who they are and promotes healthy self-identity.
Identity is crucial to have a strong family system; this sets up many great outcomes such
as the opportunity for children to thrive, and the family engaging in quality shared time,
traditions, and values (Allen & Henderson, 2016). The identity of this family is very
strong because they spend family time together. Additionally, this time together is spent
performing tasks that they enjoy such as going to the beach and fixing the boat. This
happened right after Mary got in trouble at school for yelling at her principal because
Frank wanted to teach Mary a lesson. Frank wanted to enforce the right thing, but he

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knew he had to handle it differently than just yelling at her. Frank states one time that
Mary knows she is different and so he knows that this adjustment is also hard for her, so
he wants to understand why she got upset and yelled and hear her side of the story. The
biggest thing that has influenced and shaped this family’s identity is the passing of
Mary’s mother because this setup Frank’s decisions on how to raise Mary and what path
he did not want to lead her down (Allen, et al., 2017).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the four first-order tasks in the Family Systems perspective were very
evident and clearly shown in Gifted. After watching this movie, it is easy to see how
important these tasks are and that they are implemented within every family system. The
best part about these tasks is every family can cater the tasks to what works best for their
own family, and that no one has to follow the exact same pattern or plan.
Part B
Introduction
This is an overview of the family life cycle, ethnic influences, celebrations and rituals, rules,
values, stories, and philosophy of life and how these important topics were applied and
shown all throughout Gifted. The film truly expressed true and genuine emotions and life
events that many family members have witnessed or gone through together.
Family Life Cycle
The family life cycle is a series of stages through which a family may pass over time
(Allen & Henderson, 2016). From a family life cycle perspective, human developmental
progression is understood to include two parts: individual growth and development tasks,
and family-network acceptance and encouragement tasks. The development in the

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members of a family can either be enhanced or disrupted depending on the family’s
readiness to accept and reinforce individual developmental progression (Lantz & Ahern,
1994).
In the film, Frank and Mary experienced many stages together and individually. Frank became
the guardian to a baby, while he was a college professor and not expecting to have to start
raising a baby. He had to readjust his life and moved to a small town and even got a new
job as a repairman. Frank was faced with new challenges but never gave up and learned
so much as Mary grew older (Allen, et al., 2017). What kept him strong was his love for
Mary and his promise to his sister to give Mary the life she deserves. Evelyn, Mary’s
grandmother, believed that Mary was not receiving the education and life that she thought
she should have so she fought for full custody and had powerful attorneys fighting for
Mary. Frank unfortunately did not have the funds or power to have a competitive team of
lawyers that would help him keep full custody of Mary (Allen, et al., 2017).
Soon after, Mary ended up moving into a foster home and attended the Oaks School for Gifted
Education, which is where Evelyn wanted Mary to attend. Frank wanted the exact
opposite for her because He knew what she needed for her development and he did not
want her solving math problems all day with people much older than her (Allen, et al.,
2017). The Family Life Cycle plays into this story because Evelyn was corrupting Mary’s
life even when she thought she was helping Mary to flourish and use her skills and
knowledge where it matters. Frank saw what his mother did to his sister and how that
ended, and he promised himself he would never send Mary to a school for gifted
students. He wanted her to be a girl scout, or play a sport, or be a part of anything with
children her age instead of being in a room all day solving problems (Allen, et al., 2017).

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Social Influences
Social influences from peers and family have a profound impact on positive youth
adjustment (Harris, & McDade, 2018). Especially in today's society, what others are
expressing or portraying influences youth and their life experience and path greatly. In
the film Gifted, Frank wanted Mary to be surrounded by people around her age because if
she was only surrounded by people that are older than her, she would never get the
developmental and social skills necessary for life (Allen, et al., 2017). Social influences
provide opportunities for promoting social adjustment, which can redirect negative
trajectories and help adolescents thrive (Telzar, et al. 2016).
Celebrations and Rituals
In the film, Frank takes Mary to the hospital to watch a family hear the news that a baby is born
and figure out the gender of the newest addition to their family. Frank does this to show
how excited families are when a baby is born, and that is how they were when she was
born. Frank has shown Mary that the celebration of life does not stop there by making the
most of every day that has been given and loving Mary more and more each day. In
“Maintaining Family Memories through Symbolic Action” it was proven that most
people tie back traditions and memories to positive thoughts and feelings (Smit, 2011).
This was shown through this clip in Gifted because when they witnessed the family celebrating
the news of their new baby boy, both Frank and Mary felt and related to the love and
symbolic meaning of great news (Allen, et al., 2017). Celebrations and rituals are
important to the family functioning and the way they manage their first-order tasks
because no matter how hard life gets, there are the little moments that remind families of
why we live and sacrifice so much for the ones we love.

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Philosophy of Life
Frank and Mary both had the most positive outlook on life, even when times turned hard. When
Mary got placed in the foster home they were both very upset and knew that there was no
better option that they were going to be forced to do. Although Frank knew he had very
little chance standing against the child services, he never gave up. That was Frank's
philosophy on life;he never gave up when he struggled raising Mary, or when he fought
for her back.
To never give up in life, there has to be something worth fighting for; to Frank, that something to
fight for was Mary (Allen, et al., 2017). It states in “The Burdens of Love” that to love is
to be engaged in an active concern for the objective well-being and thriving of who and
what we love (Rorty, 2016). This was shown in the film because Frank had to make
sacrifices in his own life, but nothing else mattered because he loved Mary that much.
Loving someone requires compromise, sacrifice, and dedication of time and energy to
that person. To live out Frank’s philosophy in life, he gave his time and energy to love
Mary and provide her with the best life. That alone made him feel happy and thankful to
see her flourish (Allen, et al., 2017).
Conclusion
After reflecting on this film, it’s evident how these course concepts apply to families. No matter
the culture, every family can benefit from learning about different ways to add unique
dynamics, influences, and philosophies to every member's life. These plans, theories, and
strategies are built and taught to enhance life helping families work and cope together.
Frank and Mary’s story was truly inspirational and beautiful, watching them love each
other and never give up on their family.

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Conclusion
Overall, the Adler’s family’ level of functionality and differentiation within the family
system lines up with the Family Systems Theory. The family not only has clear enmeshed
boundaries, but also maintenance tasks, and strong individualism. Due to the emotional
climate being a main priority in Frank and Mary’s life, they are able to grow closer
within their relationship and also their own individual lives (Allen, et al., 2017). This
movie and storyline were very inspiring and eye opening. It was inspiring to see first-
hand the struggles that families go through after a crisis and how they handle it making
the most of the life they lead.

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References
Allen, K. R., & Henderson, A. C. (2016). Family theories: Foundations and
applications. Wiley.
Allen, M., Basner, G., Browning, B., Cohen, A., Knowles, T.K., Lunder, K., & Ryant, C. (2017).
Gifted [Motion picture]. United States of America: Searchlight Pictures.
Kathleen Mullan Harris, & Thomas W. McDade. (2018). The Biosocial Approach to Human
Development, Behavior, and Health Across the Life Course. RSF: The Russell Sage
Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 4(4), 2-26. doi:10.7758/rsf.2018.4.4.01
Lantz, J., & Ahern, R. (1994). Meaning and the Family Life Cycle. Journal of Religion and
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Rorty, A. (2016). The Burdens of Love. The Journal of Ethics, 20(4), 341-354. Retrieved
October 4, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/44077337
Smit, R. (2011). Maintaining Family Memories through Symbolic Action: Young Adults'
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http://www.jstor.org/stable/41604451
Telzer, E., Hoorn, J., Rogers, C., & Do, K. (2017, December 06). Social Influence on Positive
Youth Development: A Developmental Neuroscience Perspective. Retrieved October 04,
2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065240717300332