Analyzing 'The Way, Way Back': A Sociological Perspective

1507 Words4 Pages

The film, “The Way, Way Back”, is a coming of age film that exhibits a summer where adult responsibilities are diminished and children are left to take care of themselves. The film is very relatable to many families today who have had to deal with divorce, parents dating, step-parents and siblings. The film focuses on a boy named Duncan and his difficultly as he overcomes his parents’ divorce and his mothers her boyfriend, Trent. Duncan is an introverted adolescent who discontentedly joins his mother to temporarily live with her long-time boyfriend and daughter for the summer; ultimately to determine if blending their families long term would be a wise choice. In this essay, I will analyze the film through a sociological lens by specifically …show more content…

For instance, in 2008 there were 147,848 marriages and a staggering 70,266 divorces (Statistics Canada, 2013). Thus, this illustrates that almost half of all marriages end in divorce. There are many reasons that a couple may choose to divorce including but not limited to economic issues, unrealistic expectations, and the weakening societal view of marriage. The implantation of the no-fault divorce grounds in 1968 have resulted in an easily attainable divorce (Riedman et al, 2003). In the film, many characters have been affected by divorce. First, we observe Duncan’s mother, Pam and Trent who have both been divorced in the past. Next, friends of Trent, a couple that also vacations during the summer are evidently heading for divorce as their marriage is filled with infidelity and …show more content…

First and foremost, studies show that there is a bio-evolutionary cause that automatically favours genetic offspring. This point is exemplified in the film on numerous occasions. In the opening scene of the film, Trent asks Duncan to rate himself on a scale of 1-10. Hesitantly, Duncan rates himself a 6, when Trent interrupts and tells him he is a 3 and explain why. Next, when going on an outing, Trent embarrasses Duncan by ensuring he wears a life jacket on a large boat where he will be the only one. Another example, is a point where he makes a point to embarrass Duncan asking about a dent in the car in front of everyone. At any point in the film, we did not see Trent mistreat his biological daughter like the way he treated Duncan. Additionally, studies have found that children in step-families do less well in school, experience more family conflict, endure behaviour problems and are over-all less well adjusted than children in first parent marriages. As a 14-year-old, it is normal than Duncan is having a hard time adjusting to his new step-families as generally younger children do better than adolescents in adjusting to their parent’s remarriage (Riedman et

Open Document