Dysfunctional Family Behaviors in Doing Time on Maple Drive
This paper examines six interconnected dysfunctional family behaviors depicted in the 1992 film Doing Time on Maple Drive. Through analysis of the family's interactions, the paper identifies lack of empathy, denial, idealization of certain family members, differential treatment based on gender, boundary violations, and inability to resolve conflict as core patterns that damage family relationships. The paper traces how these behaviors stem from the authoritarian father's refusal to acknowledge his own faults and how they manifest differently in each child's coping strategies, from substance abuse to closeting and emotional avoidance.
- Lack of Empathy: Father's emotional coldness toward children
- Denial: Refusing to accept truth about sexuality and addiction
- Idealization of Family Members: Labeling children as 'good' or 'bad' based on conformity
- Differential Treatment and Gender Expectations: Gender-based expectations and family roles
- Lack of Respect for Boundaries: Parental control over adult children
- Inability to Resolve Conflict: Avoidance and aggression in family disputes
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- Uses a single film text as a coherent case study to illustrate multiple family pathologies, rather than abstractly defining them.
- Traces interconnections between behaviors—showing how the father's lack of empathy enables denial and idealization, which in turn prevent healthy conflict resolution.
- Grounds each dysfunctional pattern in specific character examples (Phil's bullying, Matt's closeting, Tim's alcoholism, Karen's financial anxiety), making the analysis concrete and memorable.
- Acknowledges contextual factors (adolescence, gender socialization) while holding characters accountable for their choices.
Key academic technique demonstrated
This paper employs systematic taxonomy combined with textual evidence. Rather than offering a single unified theory, it identifies six discrete but related dysfunctional behaviors and illustrates each one with scene-specific examples from the film. This approach—sometimes called "thematic analysis"—is common in family studies, film criticism, and psychology when examining how multiple pathologies interact within a single system.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an introduction using the first dysfunctional behavior (lack of empathy) as the frame, then proceeds through five additional behaviors in separate sections. Each section identifies the behavior, explains its manifestation in the family, and shows how it damages relationships. The structure moves from individual emotional capacity (empathy) through cognitive distortion (denial, idealization) to structural patterns (boundary violations, conflict avoidance), creating a logical progression from internal to external family dysfunction.
Lack of Empathy
Doing Time on Maple Drive is the story of a supposedly perfect New England family that is not so perfect after all. The most notable dysfunctional behavior exhibited in the film is the lack of empathy of the father, Phil, a former military man, for either his children or his wife. Phil refuses to admit to his own faults and shows no compassion for his children as they struggle with adulthood. He blames them for their own problems but refuses to take responsibility for his own issues. When Phil wishes to assert his authority over his family, he does so in a bullying manner, including trying to physically humiliate them at sports.
Other members of the family also show very little empathy with one another. Tim, the oldest son, is an alcoholic and does not fully appreciate the extent to which his addiction and dropping out of college has affected the family. Matt also seems very emotionally disconnected from the family. Part of this stems from the fact that he is very young and struggling with his sexuality—adolescence is a time when children are often so absorbed by their personal inner struggles that they have difficulty appreciating the needs of others. But he is also engaged to a woman even though he clearly does not love her.
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.