Empire series is an American musical drama television show aired on Fox. The first episode of the first season introduces a gay fictional character Jamal Lyon, played by Jussie Smollett, who is the son of Lucious Lyon, and Cookie Lyon. He is also brother to Andre and Hakeem, who work at Empire Entertainment. As the episode rolls, Jamal is heard singing “good enough” which provides the viewer with insights into his childhood upbringing. The events in childhood greatly influence the adult’s life, shaping the personality (Guntrip, 2018). Thus, childhood has impacted his behavior and shaped his character traits. One of the pieces of evidence became his fear of coming out in public.
Jamal is afraid of his mother’s reaction if she sees Michael, his boyfriend, so he tells him to hide. When his mother tells him that she always wanted him to sell out stadiums, he says that he only wants to play, showing his self-esteem issues. The humanistic theory views the need for fulfillment and self-growth as a key motivator of all behavior. (Schneider et al., n.d.). Jamal is also depicted as a character who is continually looking for new ways to grow; however, he is heard lamenting not being good enough due to the disapproval of his father as he says that he would just want his father to look beyond his sexual orientation and see that he can be good enough. Humanistic psychology also emphasizes looking at the whole person and individual uniqueness (Schneider et al., n.d.). Cookie Lyon shows Jamal love and support and even goes ahead to blackmail Lucious to give her the right to represent and nurture Jamal’s music.
References
Guntrip. H. Y. (2018). Personality structure and human interaction: The developing synthesis of psychodynamic theory.
Schneider, K. J., Pierson, J. F., & Bugental, J. F. (Eds.). ).The handbook of humanistic psychology: Theory, research, and practice. Sage Publications.