Madea’s Family Reunion is about a family that is headed by a woman who may be considered a controversial figure. However, Madea is helpful and determined when it comes to changing the lives of people around her. This paper will explore all the aspects of Madea’s family, the problems facing various family members, and the measures Madea, who is considered the head of the entire household, takes to resolve the challenges that the family meets. The paper provides some detailed information on the setting of the movie regarding the members of Madea’s family. This movie also depicts the details of the issues related to relationships, love, materialism, humility, discipline, and hard work. Madea’s Family Reunion also exposes the ills of the society and how various day-to-day problems can be solved through proper parenting and mentorship. Madea’s whole family has to deal with different issues, but due to the strict and humble leadership as well as a strong character of Madea, it becomes easy for all members of the family to reunite with both the eldest and the youngest members. In the movie, the most important matters in life are revealed to be respect, love, affection, and forgiveness.
Movie Setting and Story
Madea’s Family Reunion begins with Madea’s being in a jailhouse due to violating the terms of house arrest that she has been placed under. The judge orders Madea to become a foster parent to Nikki, a young girl who seems troubled, as the precondition of her avoiding jail. Madea agrees to the terms and accepts her responsibility for Nikki as her foster mother.
On the whole, Madea’s large family appears to have many problems. Victoria, who is one of Madea’s relatives, has two daughters, Lisa and Vanessa, who are actually Madea’s nieces. Victoria is a very materialistic woman who wants to lead an expensive lifestyle. Therefore, she uses one of her daughters to procure money for such way of life. In order to achieve her goal, Vitoria forces her daughter Lisa to have an abusive relationship with an investment banker named Carlos. Thus, Carlos verbally and physically abuses Lisa, and her mother keeps forcing the girl to continue the relationship despite the problems.
Vanessa, Victoria’s another daughter, lives in Madea’s house. Vanessa has two children whom she loves and cares for immensely. She has had a difficult and dark past, for which, in fact, her mother is responsible. Vanessa confronts her mother revealing to her sister that Victoria allowed her then husband to abuse Vanessa sexually. Victoria sees nothing wrong with everything she forces her daughters to endure and thinks that it all has been for their own good. Despite everything, Vanessa starts to feel a strong attraction to a bus driver named Frankie, who works hard to win her wounded heart. However, it takes some time before Vanessa begins to fully trust Frankie with her children as the childhood trauma she has had to undergo makes her think that other people may harm her children. After several days of abuse, Lisa escapes to Madea’s house with the hope of canceling the wedding with Carlos. However, Victoria cannot allow her daughter to do that and follows her to Madea’s house forcing Lisa to return to Carlos. In the end, Vanessa’s effort to stop this is futile due to Victoria’s power and influence.
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During the family’s reunion organized at Madea’s house, everybody gathers for the meeting: all the elders of the family and the youngsters meet at this gathering. A verbal confrontation arises between Vanessa and her mother Victoria and subsequently results in a fight between the two. The argument happens due to the maltreatment of Vanessa’s boyfriend Frankie by Victoria. The elder members of the family felt that the new generation had lost direction and needed to be guided to live in accordance with the standards of morality showing respect for the elders. The reunion provides an opportunity to renew the unity of the family. Thus, all the household members take a step towards the betterment of their relationship with each other.
As the movie nears its end, initially troubled Nikki shows some changes in her character and becomes one of the best students in her class. Madea helps her with her homework and studies protecting the girl from the other students who have been abusing her at school. On the wedding day, Lisa escapes from abusive Carlos to Madea’s house. Carlos follows her there attempting to force her to continue with the wedding plan. Medea is aware of Carlos’s abusive tendencies. She asks Carlos whether he needs something to eat and tells Lisa that there are some hot grits on the stove she can serve Carlos. As soon as Madea leaves, Carlos slaps Lisa. She then takes the frying pan with hot grits and pours it on Carlos’s face subsequently beating him with the pan. Madea hears the sounds of Carlos crying in pain. Laughing, she heads to the wedding venue. At the wedding, everyone is waiting only for the bride and the groom. Lisa arrives at the wedding and states she is not getting married. She confesses that Carlos has been beating her and that it was her mother who insisted on the marriage.
The wedding planner then expresses concern about her work being wasted, but Frankie proposes to Vanessa who gladly accepts the proposal. Thus, the wedding finally happens, though Frankie and Vanessa are the ones who get married. Victoria then apologizes to Vanessa, and they are reconciled. In the end, Madea is the one who helps Lisa to defend herself from the abusive fianc?.
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Assessment of Movie Family
Madea’s Family Reunion portrays a family that has respect for family values. Madea helps a troubled girl Nikki as well as her niece Vanessa despite all the problems. Madea also assists Lisa in becoming able to defend her honor and not allow anyone to use her as an object or the means for providing her mother with material support. Moreover, Madea also helps her niece to break off an abusive relationship. Madea’s family pays great respect for family values and dignity of women in terms of gender abuse.
The story of Nikki, who appears to be troubled and not willing to go to school, depicts young children not having proper moral guidance in the society. Madea’s Family Reunion also portrays poor parenting and lack of respect for the youth and elders regarding the ways of being dressed and conducting themselves. The movie demonstrates moral decadence in the society at all levels as well. The story of Victoria serves as a perfect example of poor parenting and lack of proper guidance of the members of the community. The family, however, manages to unite, and the elders provide the young members of the family with guidance as well as imparting some wisdom on the youngsters. Thus, every member of the society is expected to gradually accept the beliefs and traditions of their families.
Comparison to the Beavers System Model
Similar to the Beavers System Model of Family Functioning, Madea’s Family Reunion portrays some of the features of the family that can be considered important. The structure of the family is seen to depend on Madea, who serves as the overall household head. In her role, Madea provides proper leadership in her home and makes everyone comfortable in her house. In general, she is a strict disciplinarian with a great sense of humor. Thus, for Madea, it considerably facilitates the process of providing the members of her family with advice and direction (Gusfield, 2006).
Madea’s family assumes the role of a family when the issues of the traditional functions of a family arise. It gives insights into the kind of respect that children should pay their parents. The family movie also demonstrates the viewers a number of different ways to solve various problems in any given society. It indicates the power of a dialogue and negotiation as well as their ability to help to reunite broken families. Madea’s Family Reunion continues positively the statement “A problem shared is halfway solved.” This gives the people in the community a chance to work together towards solving their problems (Gusfield, 2006).
How It Works
Summary and Conclusion
The film Madea’s Family Reunion is a great family movie that depicts the usual challenges that affect various groups of people and thus makes it an important film in terms of learning and family problem solving. The movie provides some significantly critical stories about the ways a family’s unity can be threatened by selfishness and ignorance of some family members. However, sobriety and proper guidance from the elders eventually resolve all issues. Thus, a family can join together and overcome the challenges they are facing. The movie also gives more insights about the importance of cooperation and dialogue among family members. In addition, as far as the issue of health is concerned, Madea’s Family Reunion portrays a mother worrying about her children, which provides the youngsters with a sense of security.