How a Desire to be Perfect Can Lead to Family Dysfunction

Is there such a thing called a “perfect family”? What do you think a perfect family is? If a perfect family existed, what do you imagine them to be? In reality, there is no such thing. Looks can be deceiving. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Sins do exist in a family; serious or not. The movie, Family Sins, is based on a true story of the family of Brenda Geck who lived a lie in her community. She lived with her husband and children. She showed the community that she had the perfect family. In reality, behind closed doors, she controlled her children and those under her by using threats. She forced the children to break the law and to commit crimes such as arson, robbery, rape, fraud and kidnapping. In the film, perfection is a cover up for society’s pressure to be "perfect" can lead to household dysfunction.

Who would have thought that a perfect family would need so much perfection not just in the eyes of the media, but in the eyes of a community? Many people like to think a perfect family is something that can be done if the family is trained that way. But what people don’t realize is there’s no such thing as a perfect family. There are bound to be flaws and family conflicts to come upon in their daily life and sins are also a part of everyday life as a human being. For example, on a hot sunny Saturday morning, my family and I decided to go out to enjoy the nice weather. Breakfast in a nice restaurant sounded perfect. Not too fancy nor too ghetto in the eastside part of Long Beach, California. Hak Heang Restaurant sounded like a great place to enjoy breakfast with my family and listen to a live band playing music. We walked into the restaurant and while we were seated, I observed my surroundings. There was a family, a mother and father with three kids sitting at a table next to a fish tank. I glanced over to the family table to observe their table manners. They were eating very proper and not a word came of out their mouths besides their mother telling them to eat this, and eat that. The kids just nodded their heads and continued to eat what she told them to eat. Then, I turned to look at my family. We were talking loud, and as the food came we were eating off of each other’s plates, and sharing our food. Already, we had a messy table within the first 10 minutes of eating. Obviously, our table manners weren’t there, but we communicated during the meal and enjoyed every minute of it. We didn’t care how other people judged us. As for the other family, there was no communication, just silence. The only person who spoke was the mother, and even the father didn’t speak. It was as if they had something to hide, or were embarrassed about something.

The theme in the movie Family Sins is about illustrating the problems that come from trying to be like the family at the Hak Heang restaurant, the family in the film is dysfunctional due to trying to put up a good appearance in society. The woman, who controls her kids’ every move in the restaurant, is like Brenda Geck and what she did to her family in her home. This reinforces the theme because it shows how mothers can be too controlling with their kids and not allows them to be themselves. They would rather have them say nothing at all. Rather than spending quality time to communicate and bond with her family, she wanted them to look like good innocent kids. Instead, they looked miserable.

Based on a true story, this movie focuses on a New Hampshire family headed by a passionate suburban mom named “Brenda Geck” Much beloved in her community for her many charitable activities, not the least of which was the adoption of several abandoned children, Brenda obviously seemed to be the perfect woman for the perfect family. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth: Brenda cruelly and violently manipulated those under her roof to do exactly what she wanted, including shoplifting and arson. Only when her adopted daughter Marie, who had been impregnated by Brenda's biological son, and whose birth mother Nadine had been held prisoner in the Geck’s basement for decades, managed to escape Brenda's controls did the outside world know the sickening facts. Surprisingly, no one was willing to believe Marie's story, except the prosecutor Philip Rothman and even he was confused by the long-suffering Nadine's refusal to say anything negative about the Gecks because she was mentally traumatized.

In the poster for Family Sins, there is a picture of the Geck family and Marie. There weren’t any of the other foster kids in the poster. The image shows Marie Devereaux at the far left, a foot away was Brenda Geck’s biological son (Joey Geck), her husband (Kenneth Geck), Brenda Geck herself, her youngest son (Richie Geck), and her daughter (Carol Geck). At first glance at the poster the family looks happy, but Marie’s face expression and position in the poster looks sad and out of place, which give off the vibe that tells the viewers that there’s something wrong in the family. It make the viewer’s ask, “why is she not close in the family picture and why is she not smiling like everyone else in the picture?”

The film Orphan is similar to the movie Family Sins. The movie Orphan, is about a family adopting a 9-year-old girl named Esther from an orphanage for girls. Little did they know, she was actually a 33-year-old woman named Lenna. She had a disease that prevented her from growing normally and kept her body like a little girl. She was a dangerous psychotic which led her to kill dozens of people who got in her way. She manipulated everyone to believe that she was the victim and innocent due to her looking like a little girl. The reason why this film is comparable to Family sins is the fact that Brenda Geck also manipulated her community to believe she was such a caring and innocent mother for her perfect family. Therefore, both character appearances are deceived due to the image and direct doings.

In the article, “High-School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies” David Denby asked “Do genre films reflect reality? (426). Sad, but it is true that genre films do reflect reality. It is a shame that such a person as Brenda Geck did exist and did so much mental and physical harm to so many people's lives. Family Sins is a great film to alert the general public as to what can actually happen in their neighborhoods or even to your next door neighbors when they try to be perfect. It’s an eye-opening fact that there are people like that in the world. Another good example is the priest who is supposed to be perfect, who appears perfect, but then molests members of his congregation. Perfection can be deceptive and can lead people to commit terrible dysfunctional acts.

In the article, “Whose Space” written by You-Topian Dreams. “The spaces of every life, both public and private, are, in short, packed with complex codes that we violate or ignore at our peril.” This quote points out the danger in people just in general. For example, the Geck’s presented themselves as good innocent Family to the public and to the community. Without a doubt, the community would have never figured out their criminal acts, if it wasn’t for Marie’s letter. Even the neighbors next door didn’t catch them or thought of them being a criminal.

Although films play a big role in reality, it is also a part of life as a human being to learn from the mistakes other people experience. In the film, Family Sins is a good example of always having your guard up and being prepared for what can happen to you or others around you. Don’t judge a book by its cover, it can be nicely coated on the outside but inside there is a lot of unthinkable things that no one will ever know exist.