Lilo And Stich: The Impact Of Death In A Family

Abstract
Bereavement over the years have taken on a new form with research. The impact of death in a family is no doubt, great indeed. While most agree that each person copes in their own way, the family dynamics are changed instantly and roles in the family are compromised. This paper will focus on the challenge a child has when both of the parents die at the same time. The exploration of early parental death and the effects it has on a child is demonstrated in the Disney movie, Lilo and Stich. To reduce the emotional damage that increases over time, a clinical evaluation will be provided in assisting the family as they adjust to their new family situation.

Lilo and Stitch
Lilo and Stitch is a movie that came out in 2002 with the primary

actors of Lilo Pelekai, Stitch, Nani Pelekai, Cobra Bubbles, Jumba Jookiba, David Kawena, Captain Gantu, Grand Council woman and Pleakley. The movie starts out when a mad scientist named Dr. Jumba Jookiba from a galaxy far away who created an illegal genetic experimentation called Experiment 626. The Galactic Federation had Dr. Jumba on trial and found him guilty in creating Experiment 626 and sentenced him to imprisonment and his experiment exiled.

In the process of transporting Experiment 626, he escapes in a spaceship and lands on earth, the Hawaiian Island of Kauai. On the Island of Kauai, there is a young girl named Lilo who is seven years old who lives with her sister Nani in a house on top of a hill. Nani just graduated from High School and now has the responsibility of taking care of her little sister and find a job. Lilo is an orphan who lost both her parents at the same time in a car accident caused by the rain. Lilo is a spirited little girl with an abnormal personality resulting from the recent death of her parent’s. Nani and Lilo are issued a social worker named Cobra Bubbles. The social worker is trying to determine if Nani is able to provide adequate care for Lilo. With the pressures of trying to find a job, keep Lilo out of trouble and meet the social worker’s expectations, Lilo makes the situation harder. The friends Lilo had don’t know what to say to her because of her loss and treat her like she is crazy. This causes her to lash out in emotions and biting one of them. Lilo also feeds a fish peanut butter and jelly

sandwiches because she believes the fish controls the weather. Throughout the movie you see Lilo battle with her emotions with her sister, her friends, Stitch her adopted alien dog and her wanting her parents back. Through the movie, Lilo continues to express the need for family togetherness no matter how small the family is and that no one gets left behind. Lilo adopts a dog the day after she sees a shooting star, where she makes a wish saying “I need someone to be my friend, maybe you can send me an angle, the nices one you have.” With her adopted dog she finds a companion in which she teaches the family way of life and coping skills to get through the next few days by focusing on him as a friend. In the process, her sister loses her job, gets turned away from several other job interviews and the house burns down because of the two aliens sent to capture Experiement 626. Even though all these things happen, Lilo was able to teach Stitch the meaning of family and togetherness and at the end, Stitch became part of their family and no longer was a dangerous experiment. Stitch was no longer lost and Lilo found family happiness again.
Emotional Trauma Assessment
Lilo’s emotional trauma began the day her parents died in a car crash. This accident instantly made her sister, her parent now, which at times saddened Lilo because she missed the fun times she had with her. In the movie, Lilo said to her sister “I like you better as a sister than a mom, and you like me better as a sister than a rabbit right?” After she said that, Lilo hugged her sister and started to cry. In the movie as Lilo was looking at her family picture, she said, “We are a broken family, people treat me differently” her sister told her “they just don’t know what to say.” When a child experience the death of a parent, the emotional trauma can be devastating. Lilo is demonstrating emotional trauma resulting from an unexpected experience in which she was unprepared to handle and there was nothing she could of did to stop it.
Movie interjection
In the movie, the social worker came to visit the first time after Lilo’s friends at dance made fun of her and didn’t want her to play dolls with them.

Even though the teacher told Lilo to stay and wait for her sister to pick her up, Lilo went home and locked herself in the house listening to Elvis “Heart break hotel.” Mr. Bubbles the social worker and I the therapist show up to the house as Nani is trying to get into the house. Hello Nani, says Mr. Bubbles I am the social worker and this is Ms. Kim. We are here for your visit, is there a problem? “No, give me a minute” says Nani as she is getting up from the porch floor with a hammer. Nani runs around back as Mr. Bubbles follows her. Ms. Kim kneels down and peeks through the doggie door to say hello to Lilo. “Hello Lilo my name is Ms. Kim, you like Elvis?” Lilo turns her head as she is laying on the floor in the living room and takes a deep breath and says “yes, he is my model citizen and friend.” “Elvis is a great singer, I enjoy his music as well” says Ms. Kim. “Lilo can we come in with your sister so we can listen with you?” “I guess you can” says Lilo. Nani, who is in the back of the house gets in through a window and invites us in. Mr. Bubbles continues to talk to Nani, while Ms. Kim goes to the living room to sit with Lilo to listen to music. When the music stops, Lilo looks at me and says “I have no friends, they all think I’m weird.” Why do you say that Lilo? “Because they don’t understand me, they

don’t let me play with them. My sister says it because they don’t’ know what to say to me.” Say to you about what, Lilo? Said Ms. Kim. “They don’t know what to say because my parents died in a car crash during a rainy night and I feed the fish peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because he controls the weather. I do that so no one else has to die because of bad weather.” As Lilo is sitting there with four spoons on the floor dressed as hula girls, she scoops them up opens a pickle jar and puts them in upside down, closes the jar and looks at me saying “my friends need to be punished.” As I look at the book by the jar of pickles it says Voodoo practice. I take a moment and look at Lilo and ask her, “what do you like to do?” Lilo says “I like to dance and take pictures of people, let me show you.” As she walks me to her room, on her wall are several pictures of people large in size. “Lilo, how do the pictures make you feel?” Lilo smiles and says, “each picture shows that even though something is different about them, they are still people, that is how I want people to see me.” Lilo, I would like to visit you again and maybe next time we can take pictures together on the beach with your sister.” Lilo agrees and smiles and Mr. Bubbles finishes talking with Nani informing her that she need to get a job and hands Lilo his business card saying the next time you are home alone, give me a call to let me know.
Diagnosis
Lilo is demonstrating Traumatic stress and emotional trauma from the loss of her parents.
Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (a depressive disorder in children who exhibit chronic and severe irritability and have frequent temper outbursts) this was apparent during dance practice and she lashed out on the little girl by pushing her and biting her. While talking to her sister Nani in the bedroom she burst out in tears hoping for her sister to reassure here that she wouldn’t trade her in for a rabbit. Lilo is an Axis 4, psychosocial and environmental problems such as poverty, dysfunctional families, and other factors in the patient’s environment that might have some impact on the person’s ability to function.
Treatment
Vivo observations are needed on Lilo and her sister, which is a process involving the recording of behaviors in its natural context, such as the classroom or the home. (Whitbourne, 2014)
1. Individual therapy 2X a week
2. Vivo observations 1X a week
3. Group therapy 1X a week
4. Meeting with school staff and teacher

Movie affect
Watching the movie Lilo and Stitch made me realize that as a teacher, knowing a child’s family life is very important. Having open communication allows us to be a part and assist in the emotional and social development. Many times we may feel that a child is bad and we give up on them resolving in our heads that they are doing it on purpose. When in reality, it may be how they deal with a situation that is happening at home. Defense mechanism can range from regression bed wetting, thumb sucking, acting out, selective mutism or behavior issues. From this movie, I felt emotional as Lilo went through her grieving the best way she knew how and that was being tough and defending herself. When the movie focused on family and how important it is, my heart cried as her sister Nani sang the song to her before the social worker was supposed to take her away. She didn’t know how to tell Lilo that she was going but singing her the lovely Hawaiian farewell to thee song “Aloha Oe” drove the point home of how much she loved her sister.
With the recent studies and knowledge of how death of a parent causes emotional trauma to the child, the impact on their life is real. Parenting the child who experienced the loss demands the quality of parenting afterward to be accompanied with therapy. Therapy will help them work through their emotions, learn how to cope with what they are feeling and how to continue to function in a society that may not know how or what to say to a young child in their loss.
References