Coalition is essentially an alignment and in the family unit it is family members aligning together against another family member. Coalition is portrayed in the opening scenes of the movie with the Berkman family game of tennis. Bernie and Walt are paired together against Joan and Frank. Bernie’s level of competitiveness in heightened. Bernie takes Walt aside and persuades his son to target his mother’s weakness in her tennis game. In the Berkman family, Joan is the scapegoat for the family. Joan is beginning to achieve success as a writer. In doing so, Joan is become autonomous of Bernie who struggles with losing his power of Joan. Through is coalition with Walt, Bernie is able to demonstrate that he still holds some power within the family.
