Movie Family Assessment: Wonderful Life directed by Frank Capra

Family Assessment
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Introduction
It’s a Wonderful Life is a movie directed by Frank Capra and written by Albert Hacket and Frances Goodrich. It is one of the most famous feel-good movies. It became synonymous with the Christmas festivities in the 70s due to its appreciation for family. The movie offers a great preview into the dynamics of family and helps in the subsequent analysis of family dynamics, such as developmental characteristics and health patterns as well as practices. To understand this even better, the Beavers Model will be used, so as to establish the relevance of the family values as can be observed through socio-cultural, communication, roles, environment and decision-making processes.
Movie Setting and Story
Set in the imaginary small town of Bedford Falls in New York, the story is about a particular good, humble man, George Bailey and his struggles to get more meaning out of life. He is fighting his personal battles against paranoia, while on the other hand has to deal with a greedy banker. He only comes to realize later on that his life is a beautiful thing, after too many struggles, pain, and sacrifice. He even sacrifices his childhood dream so as to go and pursue wealth and fame. His losses and the threat of bankruptcy almost drive him to suicide. Al these happen before his life turns for the better when he meets a person known as Clarence.
The ever-paranoid and melancholic then turns the plot on its head, when he is shown how the small but beautiful world of Bedford Falls would be, without him. With it being the Christmas period, he perceives it as really like a nightmare. He suddenly feels like his life is vital to the town and the town too, is important to him. He starts looking at the beautiful side of life. This perception saves him from his spiraling chain of self-destruction. He, therefore, decides to head back to the small beautiful world of Bedford Falls with renewed optimism that all was going to work out for him.
Assessment of Movie Family
Family assessment is a key element in the continuous tracking and diagnosing of individuals within a given family (Wright & Leahey, 2013).The movie has some instances that illustrate the importance of family. Right from the beginning, there is a young George Bailey, playing with his brother. He even ends up suffering a deaf ear as a result of the cold he experienced while saving his brother. It's a very selfless act, done out of love for family. Fast forward, later on, he still values his father's say, and that's why he heads there to ask what he could do with the poiso...