Family collage angelina simmons

THE COSBY SHOWAN ANALYSIS OF THE HUXTABLE FAMILY

BY ANGELINA SIMMONS

Monday, April 11, 2011

MEET THE HUXTABLES

Heathcliff “Cliff” Huxtable- Father and successful obstetrician, Cliff has an office in the basement on the family’s Brownstone in NYC.

Claire Huxtable- Mother and successful attorney, partner at her law firm.

Sondra Huxtable- Oldest daughter, college student at Princeton University, she is serious and responsible, a typical eldest child.

Denise Huxtable- Next oldest, she is a popular and creative high school student who goes out on many dates.

Theodore “Theo” Huxtable- Also in high-school , he only son in the family, he often finds himself in trouble for some mischief or poor grades. He is athletic like his father.

Vanessa Huxtable- An excellent student but nosy second youngest daughter.

Rudith “Rudy” Huxtable- The baby of the family, she is 15 years younger than Sondra, and 6 years younger than Vanessa.


MEET THE HUXTABLESCONTINUED

The Huxtables are a connected and flexible family. They are close, and loyal but celebrate individuality and they share decision making, negotiate, and share roles. (p 31)

This family would also be considered an open family, each member is “encouraged to seek outside experiences” and share their ideas with the family.


ROLES

Cliff and Claire share an egalitarian marriage where “both partners wish to jointly share home responsibilities as well as take advantage of career opportunities. Power is to be shared and each partner strives to maintain a life balence between career while supporting the other in this effort.” (p. 175)

Each partner takes turns cooking, cleaning, and nurturing the children while supporting each others careers. Although both have high paying professional careers It is usually Cliff that the children come to for money, and Claire usually has the last word in regards to discipline.

The Huxtable children are learning these role expectations from their parents modeling. Theo helps make beds, and Denise mops floors to help out when mom is working late nights on a case.


THEMES“Take out a little, give back a lot.”

Hard work It is expected that the children do their best in their studies, extra curricular activities as well as helping out with chores and younger siblings.

Achievement With mom a lawyer and dad a doctor the expectation of achievement is implied, however the children are praised for their achievements no matter how small and larger achievements are celebrated by all.

ServiceThe Huxtables volunteer at the local community center.


INTIMACYMARRITAL MAINTENANCE

Cliff and Claire engage in many strategies including; posativity, complimenting each other to show their continued attraction and commitment, task sharing, they are open, often discussing their relationship in bed at night, and the support each other in front of their children.


RELATIONAL CURRENCIESPOSITIVE VERBAL STATEMENTS, SELF DISCLOSURE, LISTENING, FACIAL

EXPRESSION, TOUCH, FAVORS


FORGIVENESSRUDY BREAKS THE JUICER

Rudy breaks Cliff ’s new juicer after he has specifically told her not to touch it, creating a huge mess in the process

Cliff expresses that he is angry that she did not listen to him and tells her that her consequence is to clean up the mess that was made in the kitchen.

When he is done handing out her sentence, he says “case closed” indicating that the matter is over in his mind, and offers hugs and kisses to show that all is forgiven.


CONFLICT

CONSTRUCTIVE CONFLICTWhen Claire finds a joint in Theo’s Geography book she

immediately thinks the worse. However when Claire and Cliff confront Theo, they are calm and firm but respectfull about

their expectations about drug use. They listen to Theo when he tells them that he honestly has no idea how the joint found its

way into his book.

DISCONFIRMING MESSAGESRudy is calling Vanessa’s name while she is trying to study, Vanessa chooses to

ignore Rudy causing her to continue yelling her name. Denise makes a comment that the best way to deal with Rudy is to ignore her indicating that this is often a communication strategy she uses with her. Later, Cliff forgets to call Rudy down for dinner and Rudy hides in her play house upset. She tells her mother that she

hates being the youngest and that nobody likes her.

FAIR FIGHTING?Theo puts Vanessa in a headlock because she has put shaving

cream in his shoe but will not admit it. Cliff calmly determines that Vanessa has done this unprevoked and tells her to go

clean out the shoe.


POWER, INFLUENCE, AND DECISION MAKING

Economic Resources- As mentioned before Cliff controls the children’s monetary resources however Claire keeps the family’s financial records in order.

Wife Dominant- although Claire and Cliff share roles and responsibilities, in the end Claire usually gets her way. Claire’s beauty, intelligence, and reasoning skills give her power over Cliff. She often uses this power to encourage him to lay off junk food and exercise.

The children use direct and bilateral influence strategies like bargaining, reasoning, and asking with their parents. Their parents use direct bilateral, and unilateral (telling) strategies with them.

The Huxtables use a consensus decision-making process they call “Family Forum” as illustrated in the next slide.


SONDRA WANTS TO GO TO PARIS FOR THE SUMMER

Sondra, home for Thanksgiving, wants to ask her parents permission to go to Paris with friends for the summer.

She first goes to Denise for advice on how to approach their parents.

Denise advises that she go to mom first, and get her on her side before approaching dad.

Mom, advises that her dad will find many objections but if she sticks to her guns, she could wear him down.

When dad will not relent, Sondre and Claire call a Family Forum where family disputes are settled. The rules are, everyone gets a vote, and everyone must be honest.

When it is clear that he is outvoted, Cliff calls a “Family Caucus” where he and Sondra continue to communicate each others concerns privately and he finally gives his approval.


WORKS CITED

Galvin, Kathleen M., and Bernard J. Brommel. Family Communication: Cohesion and Change. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, 1982. Print.

Seasons 1 & 2, The Cosby Show. By Bill Cosby, Michael Leeson, and Ed.Weinberger. Dir. Jay Sandrich. Prod. Bill Cosby. NBC. 20 Sept. 1984. Vimeo.


Family collage angelina simmons

Documents

Transcript of Family collage angelina simmons