The End of the Useless Dad?

Okay, before we go on, I need you to watch this video real fast...



Done? Okay.

Media has a mixed history with fatherhood, you ever noticed that?

It tends to be the case in most media, especially the mainstream sitcoms of the 80's and 90's. Dads are usually overweight, out of touch with their children, just wanting to go home and sit in their favorite recliner and have a beer. Usually when referring to their children they're hesitant at best and completely useless at worst, needing the mother to swoop in and explain to the child that "Father means well" and to father "at least you tried".

It's even worse when we hit Disney. Going through Disney's filmography we notice a disturbing trend. Usually the father is perfect but dead (Mufasa, Cinderella's father, Snow White's father), wise but completely out of touch with their children (Chief Powatan, Fa Zhou, King Triton), or what I think is worst, tiny useless man-children (the Sultan, Maurice, and Professor Porter). It's hard to find a father who starts and ends the story in a good place with regards to their children in Disney.

Fictional films I feel are the worst culprit of all, replacing the man-children in the Disney formula with turned evil, the best example of course being Ol' Shiny Head, Darth Vader. Most of the time in film the fathers aren't even mentioned unless they've turned evil or the child is avenging their deaths for one reason or another.

So why do fathers get so much grief?

Really sad to say but that's just what people can relate to most. I want you to try something: Picture all the divorced people you've ever met and tell me how many fathers were granted full-time custody of their kids. I bet that number is pretty low. Now I want you to go through all the married couples you know where the mother goes out to work and the father stays home and takes care of the children. I bet that number is even lower yet.

What we have here is that children get to see their fathers as tired from a long day at work and not wanting to interact, or father barely if present in their lives at all due to the complications of divorce. Writers, who grew up in the same environments we all did, take these life experiences and translate them into their writing, so thus we get a majority of fathers who are absent from their children's lives, or who must be rebelled against or defeated entirely.

This is why I like the video.

I am going to say that not ALL fictional dads are hopeless. In recent years positive father role models have been popping up in fiction. They're small and kept mostly in the background but they exist.

Sitcoms have given us Kurt's father from Glee (Look I don't watch this show that much). His son is gay, and instead of having to do an episode where the homophobic dad learns a lesson, the dad already knows and just wants his son to be happy. He even goes as far as to defend his son against a boy who in some TV shows would've probably been the man's son, an athletic tall straight young man. This is a father who loves his son, not in spite of or because of any socio-cultural factors, but because Kurt's his son.

I can't talk about fathers without bringing up Legend of Korra's Tenzin, the son of Aang. Tenzin has four beautiful children, three of them airbenders, and he not only loves but trusts them implicitly. He trusts them to teach the new airbenders that cropped up this last season. He spends time with his children, including training them in the Air Nomad ways and teaching his son how to train flying lemurs. Tenzin is the son of a man we all knew would make a great father, and has passed that love down to his children.

Disney's even got a good father, in the form of Pacha from Emperor's New Groove. Pacha is fighting tooth and nail to defend his home, not because it's his or because of some property law, but because his family lives there. We sadly don't see much of him with his kids, but what we do see are kids excited to see him and he's just as happy to hear about their days. Plus any family who can defeat an evil sorceress without powers and a bun in the oven has to have a good dad in the mix somewhere.

Last but not least is film. It took me some time to find a father who didn't have to go through a story arc to be a good dad but I found one, though sadly it cracks my rule because the guy ends up dead: Thomas Wayne from Batman Begins. Thomas doesn't judge his son for falling, but teaches him to get back up. He also doesn't judge or shame his son for his fears, but instead shows him compassion. In all the stories written about Batman we almost never get as clear of a glimpse at the Waynes before they die as we do in Batman Begins, and what we do get finally gives us what we need to understand Bruce. He didn't just lose his father, Bruce Wayne lost his dad.

So I am very excited for this Cheerio's commercial, if for nothing else than because it gives us a celebration of fatherhood, and dads everywhere.

-JOE

Five TV shows that need to end

I’m probably going to catch a lot of flak for this, but that’s okay I’m used to it. There are just some shows I’m sick of seeing, hearing about, or being told that I “have to see”. Here is what’s sitting at the top of my list. And for the record, I really did try to get into these shows, but honestly I either can’t do it anymore or I never could like them.

The Office

All this show does is take the one joke from the film Office Space and stretch it out into 8 seasons. Yes, I know that offices can be quirky, but come on 8 seasons? How long is this documentary supposed to be? It’s as bad as that endless bedtime story How I Met Your Mother keeps telling. The camera angle thing and the breaking the fourth wall are cute, but at one point it just gets old. This show even did the whole Ross and Rachel/JD and Elliot/Bones and Booth thing nearly every other TV show ever has done. They even had a baby and this show is still going! What is the appeal?

The Simpsons

I wouldn’t be a good internet nerd with a blog if I didn’t at one point complain that the Simpson’s is still on the air. What’s interesting is that when this show first came out they’re were tons of parents and morality groups screaming for it to go off the air for being too racy. It was one of the first cartoons to be aimed at teens and adults, talking about adult situations and even swearing at times, and it pushed the envelope as far as TV and animation were concerned, and I admit I love the first few seasons. So then what happened? Well essentially they stopped pushing the envelope. Shows like South Park and Family Guy came along and went WAY farther than Simpsons ever dreamed of going.  Because Simpsons wasn’t willing to compete, they just sort of stagnated in the market, relying mainly on in-jokes and putting their characters in wacky situations with each other. It didn’t say anything, it didn’t make any statements, and it’s just there, taking up time. Matt Groening, either grow the kids up or focus on Futurama. Speaking of Family Guy…

                                                                                   
Anything Seth McFarlane has out right now

Seth, I love you. Stewie is one of my favorite characters. I loved him both as the world dictator and as the effeminate baby, but do we really need three cartoons about middle-class working families? In fact, do we really need three ultra-liberal anti-religious cartoons about middle-class families? Say what you want about South Park, at least their statements are varied and happily attack anyone they can find equally. Family Guy especially, since I fear if it’s not happening now it’ll end up being like the Simpsons in the very near future, just stagnant and not having much going for it. And no more clones of Family Guy. When it first came out everyone called it a Simpson’s clone, but now you’re kind of proving them right. At least when Groening was green lighted for another project; he set it 1000 years in the future and made half the cast aliens and robots.

Big Bang Theory

This is probably what I’m going to catch the most flak for. Everyone tells me I should love this show, but frankly I despise it. Its 2012 now, walk into any Elders quorum in the US and ask who Doomsday is and you’ll find someone who can tell you about the death of Superman, and for that matter, nearly any occupation in America. This isn’t Revenge of the Nerds people, not all geeks are scientists and socially awkward around women. I’m not even sure who the audience for this thing is supposed to be, since it makes fun of geeks for being geeks but then makes jokes and references only geeks would get. Who are you trying to alienate exactly?

Glee

Is this show really still on the air? I feel like whenever I watch Glee that I’m just tuning through different channels seeing what’s on. One minute they’re having kooky conversations, the next it’s a big musical number, and then some serious moment, and then an overdramatic romance scene, and then another musical number. Pick a tone, people! I admit I like a lot of the songs; I’m always a sucker for a good remix or cover. It’s the context I don’t like. And the fact that the entire series is this massive convoluted drama on top of that, featuring a dozen characters doesn’t help. You practically need a flow chart and a score card just to sit through this thing.

Okay start sending the complaints.

-JOE