Personality Analysis of the film Mr. Mom

The comedy film Mr. Mom stars Michael Keaton who plays Jack Butler, a recently laid-off Dad who must stay at home with his kids while his wife begins a new job. Jack must learn to deal with his new role as a “household husband”, accept his wife’s new role as the “breadwinner”, and balance the identity transformations that come along with a life change. The film’s introduction reads: Jack and Caroline Butler are …

…Freud’s theory was more useful because I could easily pinpoint specific examples of Jack’s use of defense mechanisms, and the event of his dream was appropriate to relate to Freud’s concept of dream analysis. Overall, I found it interesting to discover that a fictional character in a short film had such a diverse, complex personality. I only wonder now if the writers had Freud or Erikson in mind when writing the film.