2. Characters
The Stone Family
(click for arrows)
Sybil: She is the stubborn, loving, bohemian mother. She is the rock of the
family and is more dominant than her husband, Kelly. Together, they head a
two-parent biological family. She accepts her children for who they are, but is
more critical of outsiders. Little do her kids know, she is dying of breast cancer
after being in remission.
Kelly: He is a college professor who is the other head of household. While he
does compliment his wife, Sibyl’s personality well, she still holds the dominance
over his laid-back personality. He shares his wife’s loving and supportive values
when it comes to their kids.
Everett: He is Sybil and Kelly’s oldest son. He has brought his girlfriend,
Meredith home to his parent’s house for Christmas, and is thinking of proposing
to her on Christmas day. He has become somewhat of a stranger to his family
after moving to New York City to work as a successful businessman.
3. Characters
(continued)
Ben: Ben is the second youngest child in the family. He is a stoner
documentarian living in Berkley, CA. He isn’t as straight laced as his brother,
Emmett. He seems to be the only member of the family who is accepting of
outsiders (i.e. Meredith).
Susannah: She is the oldest daughter in the family. She has come to her parent’s
house for Christmas with her young daughter, Elizabeth, and is pregnant with
her second child. She is loving towards her family and friendly to outsiders, but
isn’t really a standout character.
Thad: Thad is the 3rd youngest son in the family. He is gay and deaf and has
come to his parent’s home for Christmas with his partner, Patrick. The couple is
considering adopting a child in the near future.
4. Characters Characters
(continued)
Amy: She is the youngest child in the family. She is a school teacher and is
similar to her mother, Sibyl, in that she is very critical and unaccepting of
outsiders (i.e. Patrick and Meredith). She is difficult and insolent. (this is her
previous ex boyfriend/future boyfriend, Brad who comes into the movie at the
very end.
Meredith: Meredith is Everett’s uptight, straight-laced, executive girlfriend from
Bedford, NY. She has come with Everett to his parents house for Christmas. She
is well behaved/mannered, and doesn’t exactly seem to fit in with Everett’s
family. As a result of her failure to bond with the Stone family, she feels alienated
by them, including Everett.
Julie: Julie is Meredith’s younger sister who comes to stay with Meredith after
she leaves the Stone residence to stay at a nearby hotel. She seems to fit in with
the family much more than Meredith because of her down-to-earth personality.
5. Parent-Child Relationships/Relational
Maintainance
For the Stone family, maintaining parent-child
relationships are vital to keeping the family
strong. Since all of Sybil and Kelly’s kids live out
of state or outside of town, it is extremely
important for them to remain close.
“Parent-child disclosure has received some attention, revealing
that self-disclosure does not involve all family members
equally” (Galvin, Bylund, & Brommel, 2012, p. 133).
In the picture to the left, Ben and Kelly
visit the local football field to smoke
weed and talk. This seems to serve as
their bonding time. Since Ben expresses
that he knows about his mother’s
recurring cancer, Kelly discloses to him
the truth of how bad it really is .
6. Parent-Parent Relationships
“Marital self-disclosure involves not only the disclosure by
One partner but the listener’s responses that can be perceived as supportive,
understanding, accepting, or caring”
(Galvin, Bylund, & Brommel, 2012, p. 132).
Couple time: “Togetherness refers to times when couples
simply spend time being together, such as walks after
Dinner” (Galvin, Bylund, & Brommel, 2012, p. 114).
At the end of each day in the movie, Sybil and Kelly spend
time reading, snuggling and discussing the events of that
day. With their house full again with their children and their
f families, finding time to be alone can be difficult.
7. Sibling-Sibling Relationships
“Adult siblings frequently confront the challenge of keeping connected across
many miles while raising their own children”
(Galvin, Bylund, & Brommel, 2012, p. 111).
The Stone siblings all live away from each other so it is difficult
to maintain those sibling bonds. The siblings (especially Amy
strongly dislikes the person Meredith has turned her brother,
Emmett into. She blames Meredith for their now strained
relationship.
8. Cohesion
Galvin, Bylund, and Brommel (2012), describe cohesion as,
“the emotional bonding that family members experience with
each other” (p. 30).
I would describe the Stone family’s
relationships as very cohesive and
slightly enmeshed at times. They
are very close with one another but
still have secrets from each other.
They appreciate each other as
individuals, as well as members
of a tightly-knit group.
9. Openness/Sexuality and
communication
The Stone’s have a very open relationship. They
aren’t afraid to discuss their sexual selves with their
parents (especially with Sybil).
Thad and Patrick’s relationship is proof of what an
open relationship this family has with one another. Homosexuality isn’t always
an easy subject to discuss/accept in some families, but Sybil actually jokes
about how she wishes all of her sons had been gay!
10. Family Secrets
There are a few different secrets that present themselves in the family over the
life of the film. The first secret to emerge is that Sybil’s cancer has returned and
is worse than ever. She wants to keep this a secret from her children because
she doesn’t want to ruin Christmas for them. Everyone either ends up figuring
it out on their own or realizes it by the end of the film. This type of secret is
known as a conventional secret. According to Galvin et al. (2012), this includes,
“ information that is private but not ‘wrong,’ such as death, religion, and
personality conflicts .
Another secret that arises is that Emmett
begins to fall in love with Meredith’s
sister, Julie . By the end of the movie
Things turn completely awkward when
Emmett places the engagement ring
he bought for Meredith on Julie’s ring
finger. Everyone but Meredith seems to
discover this secret.
11. Power
Another major theme in the relationships of the Stone family, is a struggle for
power. Meredith has had power over Emmett over the course of their
relationship, but now that they are home at his parent’s house for Christmas,
his family doesn’t like the person their son is becoming.
Another power struggle occurs between
Amy, her brother, Emmett and his new
girlfriend. She likes to keep Meredith feeling
unsure of herself, and is constantly treating
her with disrespect. As a result, Emmett
fights back against Amy for the power and
wins.
12. Rituals
“Rituals are not just pleasurable routine events; rather, rituals
serve central ongoing maintenance and relational functions”
(Galvin et al., 2012, p. 113).
The Stone’s family rituals around the holidays are what keep them sustained as
a family. Continuing family traditions reminds people of who they are and where
they came from. When the movie comes to a close, we see the family a year later
having returned to their parent’s home for the holidays. In her absence, it is
clear that Sybil has lost her battle with breast cancer and has passed on. WE
see the family continuing their usual rituals. By doing this even after their
mother has died, they are keeping their memories of her alive and healing
together as a family.
13. References
Galvin, K. M., Bylund, C. L., & Brommel, B. J. (2012.). Family Communication (8th ed.). United States: Pearson Education.
All pictures are from fanpop.com and stills from the actual movie.
