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Volume CXXXII, Number 10 |
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Quality screen time with the family
DAVIN MICHAELS
COLUMNIST
It is very hard to find a movie in today's world or in movie history that does not, to some degree, focus on the concerns of life within a household setting. There seems to be an overwhelming attraction for a director or writer to use a house as a very simple, conventional and extremely relatable location, regardless of whether the story deals with family issues directly or indirectly.
The same can be said for sitcoms. Shows like Home Improvement, Step by Step, Family Matters, and The Simpsons all have this trait in common. They deal directly with family problems inside the home, rather than those that exist in the real world.
The pitfall of sitcoms is that they always try to teach us something, and the situation that seems to create the most problems and merit the most lessons on life can be found behind the white picket fence, in a symmetrical, tidy living room.
The show can seek to idealize the typical American family of overachievers, like The Brady Bunch, or they choose a more interesting path and venture into the realm of abnormal, dysfunctional family setups. The shows that present family concerns within a network of a larger concerns outside of the family, focus on other aspects of life like relationships or the work environment. Television shows that do this skillfully are Boy Meets World, Fresh Prince, and Seventh Heaven.
My original goal in writing this article was to find movies that deal with family concerns with a holiday setting, preferably Thanksgiving. My search was, for the most part, unproductive. I urge you all to take five minutes and think of movies that you've seen that take place during Thanksgiving.
With the exception of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, you will find that it takes a lot longer than five minutes. I realized that it is easier to find this family setting in movies that do not directly try to outline them by having them take place in seasons that 'bring together the whole family' like Christmas or Thanksgiving.
Movies like Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music seek to give the moviegoer something that they can go to see with their whole family and enjoy because it brings up themes that are relevant to their lives.
It is also interesting to see how the household can transcend a stereotypical family movie. The film does not have to be about family relationships or hardships to be placed into a family setting.
For example, movies like Poltergeist and The Gate are horror movies that are primarily stories about alien occurrences, but they are stories that are set inside the household, and therefore simultaneously bring family themes into the story. For example, in The Gate, a young boy's action of battling the monsters in his house is paralleled to earning trust and respect from the rest of his family.
There are also action movies, like Ransom that are superimposed into a family situation, but if you asked someone what the movie was about, they would say it was primarily an action-packed movie about a kidnapping.
This trend in family-oriented movies is not one that existed primarily in past decades, but something that I see stressed more and more by popular culture in today's world. It seemed that for a certain period of time, American cinema was dominated by movies that did nothing but present a profile of a dysfunctional family, notably movies like American Beauty and Life as a House.
It makes one wonder whether the public is becoming more and more attracted to movies that are directly applicable to their own lives, or whether it is really only Hollywood's chance to get one more family member to buy a ticket. I also wonder whether these television shows and films actually penetrate the lives of American families and have a sincere impact on the way that we learn about the world in which we live.
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