Supernatural

This post doesn't really speak to the future of the family like the assignment asked, but rather family dynamics. Recently I've been catching up on the TV series Supernatural. It's a show based on the adventures of two brothers who hunt down evil beings like demons, vampires, spirits, etc. The pilot episode showed their mother being killed by a demon, and the basis of the show is that they are searching for the demon that did it, with some help from their dad. The brothers didn't have a normal childhood because their dad became obsessed with avenging his wife, so they were raised in the life of a hunter. Sam, the younger brother, got fed up with the life and tried to live normally by going to college for pre-law far away from his family. His past came back to haunt him though, and he had to embrace hunting again. The show is about killing evil things, but a large focus is on the relationships between the brothers and between them and their dad. The three of them are very close because they just have each other and live a life very few people in the show know about. Sometimes their bond directs their decision making, for example, taking into account the other brother's view when justifying a hunt.

This is relevant to the sociology of the family because some families have as much as a struggle as these characters do. Some people resent their parents for making them do certain things or raising them a certain way and feel they need a break from it all. They might use college as an opportunity to create distance, or they might use other avenues like the military or running away. It might be nice for a while, but family is important and it's very hard to stay away for too long. Supernatural is just a TV show, but the characters show very well that a person without close ties to their family may not have much direction and could be very alone. Though they get on each other's nerves a lot, they promote to the viewers that family is a valuable thing.