Personality Analysis of the film Mr. Mom
The comedy film Mr. Mom stars Michael Keaton who plays Jack Butler, a recently laid-off Dad who must stay at home with his kids while his wife begins a new job. Jack must learn to deal with his new role as a "household husband", accept his wife's new role as the "breadwinner", and balance the identity transformations that come along with a life change. The film's introduction reads: Jack and Caroline Butler are perfectly happy with their roles in life...until a layoff makes him a househusband and her a working wife! And while she wrangles with charts, graphs, and an all-to-eager-to-be wrangled boss, he has to contend with their hyper kids, a ravenous vacuum cleaner, an angry washing machine, and an oversexed neighbor! From late nights in the boardroom to lonely nights in the bedroom, the biggest challenge for both Jack and Caroline is learning to trust one another with their reversed roles...(MGM, 1983)Jack is a typical forty-something male struggling to maintain his identity, and to do so, he uses a variety of defense mechanisms to relieve his internal anxiety. Jack has many concrete beliefs on gender roles, and it is difficult for him to "overstep" his masculine boundaries. The theories of Freud and Erikson ca
He had just learned of his job loss when he first uses a mechanism. He doesn't shave, change clothes, or clean the house. Jack believed that if he portrayed himself as more successful than Ron, he would somehow unconsciously intimidate him to replace his feelings of low self worth. In the next scene, Caroline's new boss was picking her up at home in a limo. He displaced his feelings of anxiety with sublimation by engrossing himself in the soap operas, and finding friendship with the other wives. Erikson may have said Jack was attempting to avoid the situation because he was confused as to what role or identity to portray at the picnic. Her boss answers the phone and remarks that Caroline is in the tub, and then hangs up when he finds out it is Caroline's husband. Jack then proceeds to involve his children by asking them to hold on to the money, and his wife makes a remark that he isn't healthy. They confronted each other about the two "misunderstandings" concerning the boss and Joan. The boss enters the home, and Jack walks in with an intimidating look on his face with a chainsaw running. Jack was dealing with his emotions analytically to avoid feeling anxious or concerned. Caroline had quit her job, but her boss, Ron also arrived to ask for her to come back to work. Joan arrives and quickly "comes on" to Jack. Jack calls his wife in California while she is on a business trip.
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