Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Adoption Movie Guide: We're The Millers
David Clark is a small-time drug dealer, but he finds
himself in deeper than he meant to be when he is robbed before he can turn over
money to Brad. To let him off the hook, Brad insists that David travel to
Mexico and return carrying smuggled drugs. David decides to surround himself
with three other people, posing as a family, in the hopes that doing so will
make him less suspicious to customs dealers. While David does evade customs, he
doesn’t evade the scorn of a Mexican drug lord, who sets off in pursuit of
David and his pseudo-family.
The Adoption
Connection
The “Miller family” is a collection of four people who are brought
together by circumstance. They are not related, but they do develop some sense
of family. Both of the teenagers that travel with David are looking for some
sense of family (one has been abandoned, the other has run away) and
more-or-less find it.
Strong Points
David has some virtues – he tries to break up a fight, and
he asserts that he will not sell drugs to kids.
There are moments where David or his pretend-wife Rose make
choices to benefit the teens travelling with them
One character notes that she was starting to value the sense
of family that had been created, but when it seems to break up, she dismisses
it as “nothing.” This is a reasonable portrayal of a teen trying to protect
themselves from emotional pain caused by failed attempts at “family.” It’s also
pretty obvious that the failure was on the part of the adults. This has the
potential to be an educational moment for viewers considering foster care;
disrupting placements can do a lot of harm to a teen.
Challenges and Weak
Points
A character tries to disavow membership in the Miller family
saying, “We don’t even look alike.” Families don’t have to look alike to be
family.
There are some unflattering stereotyped characters.
In one scene, the teenage boy gets kissing lessons from the
people posing as his sister and his mother. There are other scenes as well
which have the potential to appear incestuous.
Recommendation
Definitely not for kids. For adults, though, the film does offer
the opportunity to think about what makes a family, a family.
Questions
Do the Millers become a legitimate
family at any point in the film? If so, when – if not, why not?
What makes the legitimacy of an
adoptive (or foster) family different than The Millers?
How do we deal with feelings (our
own, or others’) that we’re not a real family, even though we have become one?
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