MovieChat Forums > Short Term 12 (2013) Discussion > I work in the field.. (spoilers)

I work in the field.. (spoilers)

posted 10 years ago by jmurph311-901-579719
15 replies | jump to latest

I work in a very similar setting, doing pretty much the same thing as Grace. I was amazed at how true to life the group home was as well as the role of the "line staff" worker. The second act was also great as we see she begins to make some major errors by "boundary crossing", and her own troubled past is revealed. However a serious stumble was made in the third act by not depicting any real world consequences for Grace. In the end she is still working at the group home, which sends a bad message to the viewer. Are the filmmakers telling us that Grace's actions are justified because Jayden was able to get help? If so I find the implications of that message to be dangerous, and hope viewers inspired by this film don't follow her example. In the end it would have made a lot more sense to me if Jayden was no longer employed at the group home.

[–] calisson 10 years ago

In the end it would have made a lot more sense to me if Jayden was no longer employed at the group home.

You mean Grace of course, right? I agree--her behavior became so out of bounds that to me it made the film less feel realistic than it could have. Beyond the message it sends to the viewer, I think it adds some thematic elements that ring false.

[–] Screen_Queen 10 years ago

Damn, if they had been true to life then it wouldn't have been as entertaining. In fact if Grace had gotten fired, it would have been a straight up downer. Anyway, Jayden said she wasn't going to tell, so how would anyone even know? I'm glad Grace didn't get fired, no doubt there were more kids who could have used her help.

[–] WhiteHeron 10 years ago

Grace NEEDED to be fired after what she did. She was no longer capable of helping anyone after a stunt like that. She got Jaden to open up but there were other more rational ways of doing that. She didn't do Jaden any favors by blurring boundaries like that and she may have actually harmed her. Staff in those places aren't there to be the kids friends. Grace blew it nd needed to be fired so she could address her own mental health issues.

[–] mudboydave 10 years ago

totally agree. took away from what otherwise was a great movie. i just didnt buy that Grace would've pulled that stunt--and i do understand everything she was going through. it still rang untrue.

having said that, i thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the movie. the 2 Marcus scenes of his rap song w/ Mason and his questions regarding his haircut were phenominal. storytelling at its best.

[–] filmfancy 10 years ago

the 2 Marcus scenes of his rap song w/ Mason and his questions regarding his haircut were phenominal.

The actor who played Marcus was very good, especially in that scene with the haircut. Very effective.

And all the pieces matter (The Wire)

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] WhiteHeron 10 years ago

She needed to work out her trauma on her own time without involving the girl and possibly traumatizing the child further. I am involved in that field and I've seen people fired for less. You can't mess around when it comes to already hurt kids.

[–] melinda2001 10 years ago

You're the expert here so I can't disagree with anything you say. This is a movie of course and needs a proper story arc, so I need to give them a lot of latitude too. It doesn't even need to be interpreted as unreal. Grace is certainly flawed, but flawed people are normal. Are any of your coworkers flawed? Flawed people need to live and work, and they (we) can often bring something special, precisely because of their flaws. I think Grace showed that beautifully.

And yes, she should have been fired, but she got away with it. People get away with stuff every day. Does that imply a message from the movie maker's condoning what she did? You can read it that way if you like. I like to think that she learned that lesson without punishment and won't do it again because that's the sort of person she is.

[–] layla-yourkwitz 10 years ago

I didn't take it as anyone KNEW it was Grace. I think Jayden took the "fall" so to speak and protected Grace from the consequences.

[–] cpttripzz 10 years ago

The boundaries are put there by the bureaucracy to prevent the kids from being more than cases. The only workers who are helpful are the ones that purposefully blur those boundaries and humanize their charges. Would you have just let Jayden go back to her father because the system tells you it is not your problem?

[–] JacksCatGirl 10 years ago

I too would have preferred she stayed fired so she could finally get professional help and focus on herself instead of projecting herself on the kids, not that she did a bad job, just that she's not emotionally stable enough to keep helping those kids especially when she desperately needs to help herself and heal, that place is a toxic environment for her because of all the triggers that send her back to her own trauma and keeps her from healing and moving forward.

🐈Jacks

[–] BarryFrom 9 years ago

The boundaries are put there by the bureaucracy to prevent the kids from being more than cases. The only workers who are helpful are the ones that purposefully blur those boundaries and humanize their charges. Would you have just let Jayden go back to her father because the system tells you it is not your problem?

What a load of crazy left-wing bull. A social worker's job is not to judge act as judge, jury and executioner in these cases. The last thing kids like this need are adults acting like kids and 'blurring the boundaries'. The head guy didn't tell Grace it wasn't his problem and let Jayden go back home to be abused - he said there wasn't any evidence of Jayden being abused and therefore he couldn't just go and take her from her father, which is right. Just because occasionally there will be abuse it doesn't mean social workers should just be able to march in to people's houses and take kids away because they have a hunch there might be a problem.

The bureaucracy is there to prevent people like Grace running around with a baseball bat threatening to murder people because she believes in her unqualified opinion that there might be an abuse issue. Just because she was right this time (although we're never shown that the father was abusing her), it doesn't make it ok. She was acting way above per pay-grade.

[–] alliemack30 9 years ago

Grace very likely should have been fired, and probably would have been if Jayden had told on her. But Jayden didn't, so she wasn't. I don't have any personal experience in the field so I really can't say what happens in this job, but I know that at any job in the professional world people get away with *beep* all the time.

I agree that Grace needed time out to deal personal issues. At the end, she does seem to be getting help and at least talking to someone about what happened to her. After going through the whole pregnancy thing with Mason, it seems like she is more open with him as well. Obviously, she has a lot to go through and has a lot to deal with, but I think a big part of how she copes is by helping others. Helping the kids is helping her, in a way.

Plus, now that she is staying pregnant, job security and money is going to be more important. Even if taking time off would be the absolute best thing, she likely isn't in the best financial position to do so.

[–] theunopeneddoor-697-442391 9 years ago

I'm really amazed at the people who say that it's so true to life. Most movies take crazy liberties because of dramatic effect or poor research.

Maybe the fact the writer worked in the field as the reason why.

Joseph Chastainme
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marks-the-series/806493646056177

[–] shehateme01 9 years ago

There weren't liberties taken concerning the scenes within the facility. Real life is more sensational than the film (granted there's no crazy Red-Alert alarm going off when a kid AWOLs). Within about 3 months, I've seen some *beep* and heard even worse. I didn't know that the movie was based on the facility that I work at until after a few viewings. At first, I wondered "Why do they use the exact same terminology as they do at my job? Why is the community meeting run in the same way? Why are they restraining these kids in the same way as they do at my job?"
The parts about taking the boss's lamp and smashing it with no repercussions, and going to the kid's house to bash the parent's head in with a bat and settling for his car were a bit much. Supposedly, the writer meant for the car scene to be symbolic for the feeling that a caretaker experiences at one time or another of wanting to go after the awful parents who ruined their child's life - but of course it came across as a literal action and was a "WTF?" moment.