Cole Mckay: An Authoritarian Parent In Black Irish Film

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In the film Black Irish, we see Cole McKay and what he goes through as an adolescence. He comes from a nuclear family, although his father seems somewhat of an authoritarian parent. According to Berger (2016), authoritarian parents word is law, not be questioned. Misconduct brings strict punishment, usually physical (pg 211). In the film (2007) Cole and his older brother Terry get into a car wreck, police take them both into custody and end up releasing them without charges. When Cole’s father came to pick him up he demanded they charge him with something, the police do not press charges and once they leave Cole’s father proceeds to hit him (Black Irish). Terry, Cole’s brother was the black sheep of the family, he was disobedient and aggressive, …show more content…

When him and his father went to withdraw him the schools priest was unhappy. Cole spoke of going to public school and getting a job to help out his family, the priest surprised asked that he’d rather serve burgers than God? (Black Irish). Cole actively practiced his catholic religion, he prayed, he attended catholic school, and went to the confessional when he was feeling sinful, what Berger (2016) would classify as one Erikson’s four arenas of identity; religious identity. Cole thankfully seemed to be in the stage of role achievement, which Berger (2016) describes as someone who as considered the goals and values of his parents, and culture, accepting some and disregarding others (pg 350). Cole from the beginning (2007) shows a strong interest in baseball, even when transferring to public school the school’s baseball coach saw potential right away and made him the teams pitcher (Black Irish). Cole even tried at one point to go play catch with his father but all he wanted to do was watch television and drink. Cole was also able to find a job and his brother attempted to rob the restaurant and it turned

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