FUN as in dysFUNctional

Favorite “smudged family portraits” of all time

1. Little Miss Sunshine
Issues: denial, lack of empathy, extremes in conflict, emotional intolerance, homosexuality, suicide, substance abuse, role reversal, stifled speech...haha you name it!
It's marvellous how the creators of this film are still able to find something to laugh about, in the midst of all those issues. And i also love how the yellow VW van can serves as the "shrink couch" for each and every member for the Hoovers (and it also serves as grandpa's coffin, yikes!). The trip to LA itself is so loaded with all kinds of stressors (Richard's being frantic over his business, grandpa's inappropriate rants and advices, car horn malfunction, Olive's toilet break) that in the end it's cathartic, nay...therapeutic! .
The character that i love the most is of course Dwayne, with his v.v.impressive speech ending the vow of silence. I also loveee what Frank said to Dwayne ( soon to be known as the "life is a beauty contest" speech, etc), though do not solely agree and let alone apply it (y'know, effing everything else) me-self, i still think it's very insightful of Frank to say such things.

2. The Royal Tenenbaums
Tagline: Family Isn't A Word... It's A Sentence. (hear hear!)
Issues: disrespect, incest, sibling rivalry, inconsistency, "ailment", divorce, abandonment, mental breakdown, adoption, substance abuse, disillusionment
Simply a Wes Anderson classic: offbeat and funny-but-actually-poignant-when-you-think-about-it, quirky cinematography (cinematowhattt??), it has his signature all over, esp. visually. It's v.v.v.typical and stylistic but in a v.v.v.good way though. Of course Bill Murray made an appearance as he is the quintessential epitome of Wes Anderson's spirit (or the exact opposite of 'spirit'..?). All the characters are anti-heroes on which I find so hard to develop any empathy whatsoever, which is exactly why The Royal Tenenbaums made the list.
Accordingly, I don't have any favorite character. But i kinda like Richie Tenenbaum with his kick-ass Bjorn Borg 'do and style.

3. Six Feet Under
Issues: death, neurosis, emotional intolerance, prodigal children, infidelity, homosexuality, abandonment, rebellion, lack of boundaries, juvenile delinquent, abandonment
This TV series has an unblinking focus on death and every episode is opened with a v.v.v.morbid and disturbing death scene. Unquestionably, living in a house where wakes are held in your living room (such irony!) and having a cadaver embalmment metal slab table instead of a ping-pong table in your basement do funny things to your mind. In Fisher's resident, sanity is relative. Every family member is popping right out of family members typology in "dysfunctional family and therapy" textbook. The mother is a seemingly traditional woman who subconsciously torments herself by conforming to social standards and is practically seconds away from having a mental meltdown/crack out. Nate is the standard oldest child who ran away from the family to "have his own life" and forced by the death of his father to take responsibility and the overwhelming-and-very-unfamiliar-to-him role as the head of family. The deceased father himself appears every now and then in Nate's imaginary conversation. Michael is, like most middle child, continuously striving to be perceived as better and distinguished from "the rest". Claire is the artist of the family, unpredictable but actually often misunderstood.
My favorite character is of course Claire. Psychology theories on projection and internalization definitely apply here. Enough said :)

4. What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Tagline: "Life is a terrible thing to sleep through"
Issues: suicide, mental retardation, social dysfunction or isolation, obesity, caretaker child, role reversal, little-town burnout, coping with change
Starring:
Johnny Depp, before his i'm-so-not-mainstream (-unlike-that-stupid-sell-out-brad-pitt-guy-)can’t-you-see-my-funny-fedora-hats-and-tacky-shades-and-annoying-facial-hair-but-check-this-out-i-make-great-dough-by-doing-out-keith-richards-in-a-blockbuster-disney's-summer-flick-sequel (attention Mr.Depp: summer, disney, sequel..spell: SELL OUT) days
Leonardo DiCaprio before he's deluded by Scorsese (evil bushy-brows man..hehe kidding) to believe that he's the 2nd DeNiro.
It's v.v.v.refreshing to see two mere cutesy pin-up boys busting their butts to prove that they are otherwise *and they succeeded, at least to me :)* The whole plot itself is a bit cliche and i find the little hillbilly town background to be more dreamy rather than depressing. Nevertheless, i love the resolution at the end and it's a feel-good movie, a rare quality seldom found in dysfunctional family films.
My fave character is of course Arnie ("where not going anywhere Gilbert!!" :)

5. The Sound and The Fury
Issues: closed family system, ailment, mental retardation, racialism, incest, out-of-marriage pregnancy, suicide, sibling rivalry, pride, suicide, isolation
The most interesting 'feature' of this Faulkner's most well known piece is the various point-of-views. The 1st part is written from Benji's point of view. It contains childhood memory, cut-edited and definitely not told in logical nor chronological order. The next part is from Quentin’s, equally scattered but definitely more complex. A collection of horrid memories strung together in a suicidal mind, v.v.v.depressing. Just when you think nothing can upset you more, the 3rd part is coming from Jason. I hate him personally, with all his sexist remarks and domestic violent and all. All in all, the Compsons are dysfunctional in a way that cannot be compared to other families in this list. They truly depress me.
My fave character? Hmm probably Quentin (Caddie’s daughter). A good idea for daughter name (hahaha that is sooo remote)

ooh.ooh..I’ve just remembered about another one..a v.v.v. good one, so good that it's able to sneak its way into a five-item list:

6. Franny and Zooey
Issues: prodigal children, religion, finding God, sibling rivalry, suicide, role reversal
“Franny and Zooey” speaks about the same things as its successor to whose shadow it finally subsided to, Catcher in the Rye: angst and intellectual insecurity. While Holden’s angst is one from adolescence’s toll (“blindfolded”, taking aim at everyone in this whole universe, except Phoebe that is), Franny’s more of an intellectual one. She asked the big questions in life while Holden has already figured out a satisfying “answer”, which is not bothering to ask the question in the first place. As always, Salinger’s piece is quote-worthy. My favorite is the one about how family members communicate to each other: “ a semantic geometry in which the closest distance of two points is a nearly-full circle” (or something like that, excuse me for not having verbatim memory). It really resonates within me, that line. I also think that it’s interesting, how Salinger chose to depict the “wise children” as frail, intellectually ‘challenged’ beings rather than that stereotypical rocket science kind of whiz kid.
My favorite character: definitely, most definitely: Zooey a.k.a. Zachary Glass. Who can resist a smart (no, genius!) AND good looking actor, who is not full of himself AND cares about his family?