Over Christmas break Rose and I started watching the NBC show Parenthood. We’ve been slowly catching up to the latest episode of season 2.
After watching a few episodes I began to see a lot of what I viewed as similar to myself in a certain character, known on the show as Adam Braverman. Here’s the character bio posted on the NBC website:
Adam is the firstborn Braverman child and, in many ways, the glue that holds this large and colorful family together. He’d walk through fire for any one of them, and they know it, which is why they constantly seek out his advice and help. On the surface Adam is affable, humane and dependable. But scratch that surface and you’ll discover a high-strung and neurotic lunatic driven beyond reason to have a normal, happy family. Working in a corporate environment, Adam contends with cold-blooded colleagues and ambitious underlings.
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Essentially Adam is loyal, dependable, and wise. But he is also easily stressed out, controlling, and intense. I can confess this does describe me, both good and bad, pretty well.
The whole experience has actually been quite positive and therapeutic because I can see more easily the things I dislike about his character, while I can easily avoid thinking of myself in such a negative way. It’s a bit of an out of body experience.
It’s also a humbling experience. TV does a great job of showing the flaws in people and we do a great job of avoiding our flaws at all costs. I’d rather not think of myself as the negative ways tv portrays Adam Braverman, but I’ve had the slow realization it does shed some light on the truth.
Has there ever been a tv show in which a character reflected you in a big way?
(I guess it’s time to work on being less stressed out and controlling…I’m out of excuses.)
