Family Communication Collage

Paul ConnollyCMS 33211/17/11

Breaking Bad•I decided to do my collage on one of my favorite television shows, Breaking Bad.

•The show revolves around the White family. On the outside the Whites might look like any normal family but there are some dark secrets at play.

•Walter White, a chemistry teacher finds out he has lung cancer and only has a limited time to live. Walt decides to cook crystal methamphetamine in order to make a bunch of money to leave behind for his family when he is gone.

•I thought they would be a fun family to analyze because of how close they are. No matter how bad things get the family is always the priority.

Characters

Walter White is trying to balance making a living in the world of crime while being a normal member of the family.

Walter Jr. is a teenage son with cerebal palsy who cares a lot for his family.

Skyler White is a bookkeeper who struggles to keep Walt’s secret but does so for the good of the family.

Jessie Pinkman is one of Walt’s former delinquent students. He becomes Walt’s partner in crime and Walt becomes a father figure for him.

Characters

Marie is Skyler’s sister. She works in the medical field and she is always there to talk to Skyler.

Hank is Marie’s husband. He is a drug enforcement officer. He is the funny one in the family and is always there to lend a hand.

Family Type

•The Whites are a two-parent biological family.

•Walt and Skyler have been married for many years and have a teenage son named Walt Jr. and an infant daughter named Holly.

“Today, a family may be viewed more broadly as a group of people with a past history, a present reality, and a future expectation of interconnected mutually influencing relationships.”(Galvin pg.6)

•Walt’s involvement in the drug world creates a type of double life and Jesse becomes like a son to him. In this sense Walt himself has a non-traditional family.

Family Themes“Themes capture the beliefs that guide family members’ actions; thereby you may predict a family’s themes by watching how members live their lives.(Galvin pg.41)

•One theme the Whites have is banding together when a member could be in trouble. They support each other. No matter what is going on the family will always be there for you. Walt has surgery for his cancer, Skyler has Holly, and Hank is wounded on the job. In all these cases the family drops what they are doing and goes to check on the welfare of the member.

•Another theme the White’s have is that there is always someone to talk to. You do not have to suffer in silence. Members want to hear you out and help but you do have to speak up.

Secrets“Toxic secrets poison family relationships; key family issues and stories remain untold and unexplained.”(Galvin pg.89)

•Walt can’t stop cooking because he believes he needs more and more money. Initially he chooses not tell anyone in his family that he is making drugs and he has to lie about the origin of the money that is coming in. His involvement with the drug world essentially becomes a double life for him. He keeps a second cell phone to organize deals and talk to his partner. He goes on a fake vacation in order to have more cooking time. He develops a persona called Heisenberg in order to conduct business. It is an exciting and dangerous lifestyle and he tries to balance it with being a regular family dad. The family is pumped with lies about why Walt comes home so late and where he goes.

Family Rituals“Even daily conversations may

become ritualized due to their

importance.”(Galvin pg.116)

•One family ritual the Whites have is discussion around

the table when having a meal. It is not just a time to eat it

is a good time to communicate. Everyone sits down and

discusses their lives and how they feel about certain

things. It provides everyone with an opportunity to get

something off their chest or run by an idea.

Family Stories“Stories construct and reaffirm the members’ identities representing part of a self-definition.”(Galvin pg.97)

•Hank loves to tell his family exciting stories and he always puts an emphasis on himself. Hank is a cop and Walt is a teacher so there is going to be a big difference in the kind of stories they tell. Walt Jr. is a typical teenager and he is much more interested in the type of life Hank lives. Of course Walt secretly lives an exciting life but he can’t talk about it. Walt Jr.’s admiration for Hank is very visible and it clearly hurts Walt. Walt feels like he can’t express his true self and that his son would be more interested in his stories if he could tell him.

Economic Issues

Getting the money for cancer treatment is how Walt

ends up “Breaking Bad.” His insurance won’t cover it

and even if they find a way the odds of a successful

recovery are stacked against him at this stage. Walt

doesn’t want to take a risk that the treatment will fail

and leave his family in tremendous amount of debt.

His circumstance leads him to use what he knows,

chemistry, in order to make the money. Cooking and

selling drugs become an obsession and he puts his

family life on the back burner. Walt gets the money

but he loses his family emotionally in the process.

When he is cured from the cancer he realizes the

methods he chose to use to get to that point were

not worth it.

“Economic pressures add significant stress to the lives of poor family members, and this stress affects the ways family members relate to each other. “(Galvin pg.16)

“I have more money than I can spend, what I don't have is my family” -Walter White

Communication and Power“In a one-up position, one family member attempts to exercise more power control over one or more other member.”(Galvin pg.189)

•Walt has a one-up position with Jesse. He wants to run the drug business his way or not at all. While he does care for Jesse there is no question that he views him as inferior and secondary to himself.

•Jesse cannot cook like Walt can and so he is dependent on him. Walt initially wants to be a silent partner who just does the cooking. He wants Jesse to run the business aspect of the crime and so Jesse ends up taking most of the risks in the beginning. Walt is very critical about the way Jesse does things and this leads to a deeper involvement for Walt.

•Walt almost has a need to have power over Jesse. This leads him to ending up using Jesse. He knows Jesse looks up to him and he takes advantage of that.

Decision Making

•Walt makes the decision to take chemotherapy. He doesn’t

agree with the family’s decision of how to pay for it and decides

to make the money behind their back. The way he makes his

money takes him on a course of very bad decisions

•He rationalizes his bad decisions by saying and believing that

everything he does he does for his family. When he becomes

cured his thinking backfires when he doesn’t want to stop

cooking. It is no longer something for his family or to keep him

alive his cooking has become an addiction.

“Decision making about issues surrounding

health and illness can create major struggles for

families.”(Galvin pg 204)

Conflict“Family members who confront their differences

are more likely to improve their relationships and

experience more joint benefits that increase with

love and caring.”(Galvin pg.210)

•There is conflict between Walt and Skyler when she

finds out about his secret life as a drug producer. She

eventually decides not to turn Walt in and instead

works with him to create a believable story for how

Walt came across all the money.

•Walt and Jesse couldn’t be more different. Their

conflict and relationship struggles are my favorite

parts of the show. Despite their ups and downs they

work together and become a really good team.

My Definition of Family•To me a family is a support group of connected individuals. People in the group are linked to each other and communicate with one another. A key component to the system is interaction between members. A family allows the opportunity for a person to be comfortable with who they are and how they express themselves. There is a different type of judgment in a family than there is in public. They know the real you and you know the real them. They can be honest with you at times when others who are not a part of your family may not.•I can’t compare my situation with that of Breaking Bad’s but I respect the characters ‘ importance on family. No matter what decisions are made or what things happen the family has each other’s back. There is a lot of trust in a family and I can see how that can be good and bad.

Works Cited

Galvin, Kathleen M, Carma L Bylund, and Bernard J Brommel. Family Communication.

Illinois: Pearson Education, 2008. Print.