A central theme in this week’s screenings of Kyle XY and Veronica Mars was family and the family unit as a space to define one’s identity and the consequences of dysfunctional family structures for young adults.
Kyle is invited to stay with the Trager family after virtually coming out of nowhere without any recollections of his whereabouts and his past. They are a loving yet complicated family. Nicole, the family’s matriarch struggles to keep her personal life seperated from her work and to balance her demanding job with her obligation to the family. Her husband is supportive yet overwhelmed by his wife’s decision to take in Kyle. Their daughter Lori is a (stereo)typically self-absorbed, rebellious teenager who is initially annoyed and strangely indifferent to the new edition to the family’s household. Josh, the son of the family, is also anything but excited about Kyle’s arrival which interferes with his burgeoning puberty and consuming men’s magazines. This doesn’t exactly tie in with Howe’s and Strauss’ theory of inspired family-oriented Millennials. Yet there is hardly a narrative without conflict and upon early reservations on part of most members of the trager family, Kyle ends up bringing them together as most obviously witnessed at the end of both episodes. They realize Kyle needs them and vice versa. For Kyle being accepted as part of the family provides support, guidance and grounding – something desperately needed by all teenagers and young adults but especially by someone with no background or memory whatsoever.
The episode of Veronica Mars addresses similar issues but delves deeper into problematic family situations. Veronica, herself child of a failed marriage helps a fellow student to find his father and in the process comes to terms with the fact that she does miss her mother despite her resenting the fact her mom deserted the family during a time of crisis. And there is Logan who still suffers from the loss of his sister and struggles with his fathers expectations of him to move on and find a direction for his future. All these characters deal with the issue of finding their own identity, even if Veronica tries to create the impression she is grounded and self-confident all the way, and look for answers in their broken home.
As previously discussed in class and as highlighted by Howe and Strauss, the Millennial generation cares a great deal about family. All screening look into this matter, problematize unhealthy family relations but also carve out the fact that through crisis families can find ways to come together and create support systems.
The introduction by Watkins and the Stein article discuss the millennial’s affinity to new media, the social development this triggers and how they are therefore targeted by internet platforms and in the case of Kyle XY, ABC Family. None of the episodes refers to this directly but it is worth mentioning that the character of Veronica is clearly savvy and digitally literate otherwise she would not be able to help her father in his work the way she does.