A Date With Your Family - Overview

Overview

The film starts with the father coming home from work in the afternoon and is met with his wife. The older brother is completing his homework while junior comes home dirty from baseball and is helped to clean up by the older brother. Then the older brother meets father to have a pleasant chat. The narrator points out that it is not the time for the son to bring up any bad news such as poor grades. Mother and sister wear their best dresses to the table to please the men of the family and sister helps mother to set up the table, she puts a centerpiece on the table but moves it because it is too big. When the food is served, no one is to begin eating until father and mother do so. Table talk is to remain pleasant and inoffensive and everyone should be themselves, no one is to be emotional. It is shown that the conversation should be light and not egocentric. The sister begins to criticize her clothes to other women which causes negativity. The older brother begins to talk and motion graphically about a fight in turn disgusting the father and then the brother argues with the sister. When the meal is over, the narrator then points out the dishes being put away by the brother and sister while the father and mother talk. The short then ends with the narrator saying a pleasant time can be shared with the family every time if all of these steps are taken and also the actions that should be avoided.