Describe the challenge that the family is encountering
The movie Jenny’s Wedding by Katherine Heigl is without a doubt one of the fiercest. Jenny Farrell, the main character, is living a lesbian life in the open but this openness does not extend to her family. The main challenge to her openness is her traditional Midwestern parents that threaten her desire to come out and marry the love of her life. Jenny is worried that coming out to express herself and her love life would affect her relationships with her strict parents who are opposed to lesbian marriages and relationship between two individuals of the same gender.
The family faces various challenges from the life and decisions of Jenny. First, Jenny has been living a lesbian life in secret and does this openly with the exception of her parents’ knowledge. However, when she decides to go ahead to marry her roommate, Kitty, she has a challenge of breaking the news to her parents. She has a challenge of explaining that she wants to marry another girl to her conservative parents who she knows will be opposed to her decision. Without any doubt, Jenny’s marriage to a fellow woman casts her desire to have children in future into darkness. Anne, Jenny’s sister, also has a problem understanding her sister. After too much gossip and getting tired of the inquiries by other people including their parents, she decides to engage her sister and ask Jenny who she is seeing. Anne speculates that Jenny is seeing a married man and that might be the reason why she is avoiding taking him home to their parents. Jenny and Anne, however, are not the only ones that appear to have a challenge.
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After too much speculation about the relationship status of their daughter Jenny, Eddie and Rose her parents are later relieved to find out that their daughter has found the right person to marry. However, they have a problem knowing the time that she will get married. Jenny’s father concludes that she is seeing a married man who is not willing to commit and that is the reason she cannot introduce himto her parents. In reality, she is finding it difficult to tell them that she has been in a relationship with Kitty her female roommate for five years.
Describe the initial reaction of the family members, especially the parents
While Jenny is attending a family gathering, Eddie her father, Rose her mother Anne her sister and Michael her brother pester Jenny about her love life. This forces Jenny to tell the truth which undoubtedly leaves her parents hurt. Their cluelessness on the changes that have occurred over the past few years regarding LGBT significantly leaves the entire Farrel’s family dumbfounded as they learn about the sexuality of their daughter. Jenny’s mother says “What did we do wrong?” a sign that Jenny their daughter they had raised with the expectation of living a straight live just like other children had disappointed them.
Farrel’s are staunch conservatives who live by the dictates of the tradition and never expected any of their children to go against it. Her father on the other hand is less persuasive as shown in the conversation with Jenny. He tells her “We’re ordinary people, not rebels!” He however protests when Jenny tells him about her desire to have a big wedding that the Farrel’s will be invited (Frosch, 2015) . This is typical of conservative parents who take care of their image more than they do to their children. From Eddie’s conversation with Jenny, it is clear that they do not approve of same sex marriage and are not willing to be part of it. This is further evident from the sorrow of Rose as she learns that her daughter is a lesbian. On the contrary, Jenny’s siblings are too progressive and are not bothered by the news as in the case of her parents who are deeply concerned with tradition and shame.
Describe the conclusion and would you have handled it in a similar or different manner if this was your daughter
Bringing up a child into the person that he or she is expected to be is a difficult undertaking altogether. Every parent wishes that their children will follow the rules they are taught and abides by them even when they have grown. However, this is not always the case since children may develop their own preferences and behaviors as they grow. This can be as a result of the interaction with others or the changes that take place in the world. Under such circumstances parents may face a lot of challenges while trying to cope with the changes that their children have adopted and accepting them as they are. This is exactly the situation Eddie and Rose are facing with their daughter Jenny.
Under the same circumstance, anyone will be disappointed just like the way Rose and Eddie. In my case however, I will be disappointed at first but would have taken time to think of better ways to solving the problem. I would have talked Jenny into seeing sense in finding a male partner or first seeking professional guidance to allow her to discover if getting married to a fellow female is a good idea or not. If she feels that this is her wish, I would then allow her to get on with her plans since it is the role of every parent to allow any child to pursue his or her dreams as long as they are happy.
References
D’amico, E. J. (2015). Gay, lesbian, and bisexual youths coming out to their parents: Parental reactions and youths’ outcomes. Journal of GLBT Family Studies , 411-437.
Frosch, J. (2015, 10 7). jennys-wedding-outfest-review-807240 . Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/jennys-wedding-outfest-review-807240
Gates, G. J. (2015). Marriage and family: LGBT individuals and same-sex couples. The Future of Children , 67-87.
LaSala, M. C. (2000). Lesbians, gay men, and their parents: Family therapy for the coming ‐ out crisis. Family process , 67-81.
