The film “Ordinary People” is about a normal suburban family that experiences a big tragedy when their oldest son (Buck) passes away in a boating accident, leaving the youngest son (Conrad) alive. The family was trying to live their lives as if everything were okay but in reality nothing was okay after Buck passed away. Conrad tried to commit suicide and was sent to a psychiatric hospital for several months. His mom (Beth) pretends to be happy and the perfect wife because she cared too much about what other people thought of her and slowly she pushed her family away. The dad (Calvin) tries everything in his power to be there for his surviving son while trying to comprehend and be there for his selfish wife.
The principle of communication I would like to refer to for this film is “Destructive Conflict”.
Destructive conflict is a conflict that is characterized by a lack of cooperation in dealing with differences and that dismantles relationships without restoring them. The reason I picked this principle is because it is explained perfectly and seen in this film when this loving family loses Buck in the boating accident, you can quickly notice how that tragedy affected every single person in this family (that being the destructive conflict). Conrad spirals down by trying to kill himself because he thought it was his fault he could not save his brother. Beth shields herself by pretending she’s fine and that causes her to treat her only son left with no love and no care as if she had loved Buck more than she loves Conrad, and it slowly destroys her family and