REAL TALK: America's working class and the rise of 80/90s "Daddy Issues" cinema

[The Fake Shemp]

I figured I'd bring a private conversation with another user to the forum, because it was actually quite interesting.

I had the random occurence of finding The Island (1980) on cable today, which turned out to be hilariously bad. I mean, it involves an island of inbred, distinguished mentally-challenged pirates attacking a schooner full of yuppies and systematically murdering and overtaking an entire Coast Guard vessel. How awesome is that?

The downside is that it parallels the plot of Spielberg's Hook, where the pirate leader begins to indoctrinate and win over the heart of Michael Caine's son, so that he can become the next leader of this island of misfit pirates. The boy obviously has daddy issues, but is ultimately absolved at the end (as is the case in all these flicks), despite the fact that he knowingly and voluntarily murders an innocent man.

... but there are a ton of these films that popped up in the 80s and 90s, where kids are portrayed as the poor victims of their father's inattention as he works endless hours for the almighty dollar (or is obsessed with his work, usually scientific or academic). I remember that my professor in sociology class actually remarked that these films were more or less the direct result of women entering the work force, yet it was the father that got the bulk of the blame for not being around.

Why?

These types of films have largely disappeared, as our fathers gave us cool shit bought with the money he earned working 40+ hours a week at some shitty cubical job. But I can't help but look back and think how whiny these kids are. Maybe you prefer your father stay home and toss the pigskin until the mortgage forecloses and you're begging for spare change on a street corner.

[jiji]

These types of films have largely disappeared

L O S T

[Akala]

emotional entitlement has given way to material entitlement in the last decade or so.

[Disposable White Guy]

You know, I never even considered that this type of thing was a literal portrayal of the working class man.  I always thought it was just a really shitty take on the rise of the "broken family" and their divorced, un-Christian ways that was so popular in the 80s/90s.

[The Fake Shemp]

You would think so, but off of anecdotal evidence, most of these films seem to have a nuclear family. I have seen a bunch of "woe is me, my parents are divorced"-themed movies, though. Which always makes me roll my eyes (as both of my folks have been remarried at least twice).

[MyNameIsMethodis]

Isn't American Beauty the death of these movies?

[Akala]

Isn't American Beauty the worst movie ever?

yes.

[Don Flamenco]

"First Born" (1984) is a great example of the "divorce disaster" movies.  Dad is gone, mom is a partier who gets with a drug addicted boyfriend, oldest son looks after the younger son, and I think he eventually kills the boyfriend...or just gets him arrested. I forget which.

[The Fake Shemp]

Is there really a market for "divorce disaster" and "daddy issues" movies?

Nobody say Spider-Man!

[Don Flamenco]

I don't know, you don't really need "divorce awareness" anymore...everybody's divorced.  I wonder if it even registers in modern viewers as a plot device.   


oh, the best part about First Born is that it takes place in a rich white suburb. 

[The Fake Shemp]

I think there was a feeling in the '90s that being a child of divorce made you the subject of mockery and ridicule at school. Now, maybe that's the case if your parents are still together.

oh, the best part about First Born is that it takes place in a rich white suburb.

All these films involve upper middle-class white people. Could you imagine minorities complaining about the lack of attention they receive because their parents work too much, so that they can use their hard-earned cash to pay for their college tuition and material items?

[Human Snorenado]

I forget where, but some critic wrote a review of "People Under the Stairs" and compared the fucked up family that kept the freaks to Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

[Disposable White Guy]

I'm not sure about there being a market for this crap anymore.  I came from a divorced family.  I was even a latchkey kid in grade school, but I don't really remember anyone mocking me for the situation I was in.  I guess there was a genuine audience for kids that felt betrayed or alone or what-fucking-ever that would relate to "daddy issues" and divorced families, but nowadays they put on Avril Lavigne garb and threaten to cut themselves, right?  Unless we're still talking about Hook.  Fuck the Dad Doesn't Love Me complex; his family hated him because he was Robin fucking Williams. 

All these films involve upper middle-classic white people. Could you imagine minorities complaining about the lack of attention they receive because their parents work too much, so that they can use their hard-earned cash to pay for their college tuition and material items?

choke a beezy OG son

[OptimoPeach]

I came from a divorced family.  I was even a latchkey kid in grade school, but I don't really remember anyone mocking me for the situation I was in.

Ditto on this. In fact, I think that in my class the divorced families were the majority

[Mandark]

... but there are a ton of these films that popped up in the 80s and 90s, where kids are portrayed as the poor victims of their father's inattention as he works endless hours for the almighty dollar (or is obsessed with his work, usually scientific or academic). I remember that my professor in sociology class actually remarked that these films were more or less the direct result of women entering the work force, yet it was the father that got the bulk of the blame for not being around.

Why?

1.  It wasn't just women entering the workplace, but the spreading idea that fathers had the same (or almost the same) obligation to be parents as mothers.  You didn't see that kind of thing in the 50's.  It was understood that the dad made money and the mom took care of the kids.

2.  The audience would be more likely to forgive an absentee father than an absentee mother.  People tend to see being a workaholic or emotionally stunted doofus as a sympathetic character flaw in dads, whereas they'd be more likely to think a woman was just being a bad mom and get turned off.  Hence Homer Simpson and the proliferation of dumb sitcom dads.*

3.  Movies just tend to be built around male stars more.  So even if a dilemma is more common for women, it'll be used as a star vehicle for a man.  Like all those movies where a guy (or guys) has to care for a kid without a partner.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

*The converse of this is the sitcom mom who frequently gets pissed off at the dad.  You don't do it the other way because then it feels threatening rather than humorous.

[close]

[chronovore]

It was kind of in play in 2012 as well, if you are willing to open up to divorced families. The whole idea that John Cusack had lost his family because he was too busy focusing on his work, and the work itself wasn't successful. In the end it wasn't because he was a failed writer, but because he ignored his family until it was too late.

Personally I've got a real dislike of movies which show divorced couples getting back together and presenting it as a return to normalcy or correcting a past wrong.

[The Fake Shemp]

1.  It wasn't just women entering the workplace, but the spreading idea that fathers had the same (or almost the same) obligation to be parents as mothers.  You didn't see that kind of thing in the 50's.  It was understood that the dad made money and the mom took care of the kids.

Is there a catalyst for this? Did suburban America wake up and demand more attentive fathers or something?

2.  The audience would be more likely to forgive an absentee father than an absentee mother.  People tend to see being a workaholic or emotionally stunted doofus as a sympathetic character flaw in dads, whereas they'd be more likely to think a woman was just being a bad mom and get turned off.  Hence Homer Simpson and the proliferation of dumb sitcom dads.*

I guess I understand that, but what really irks me is the sense of entitlement that these kids have.

"Why doesn't Daddy love me enough?" :'(

[Mandark]

1.  Just social upheaval and feminism generally.  "Why the hell am I responsible for all the childcare by default?" is the corollary of "Why are you the only one allowed to have a career?"


2.  Since these were written by adults, I bet it's more guilt-stricken parents projecting their fears onto fictional children than an accurate depiction of how kids were feeling.

There is a cottage industry of parenting books, courses, TV experts, etc. dedicated to telling people they're screwing up their kids, and I bet that it first boomed around that time.  It's not in anybody's financial interests to publish a book saying "People are resilient.  Just don't be an asshole, use some common sense, and your kids will deal with it."

One thing I liked about early Roseanne.  Way more believable obstacles and conflicts than "You couldn't make it to your daughter's recital again!  What's more important to you?"

[TEEEPO]

here's an interesting chart. there are theories that link the rise in divorce as a direct result of the shifting roles of men and women's in our society during the early 60's, which happened to be the start of the feminist movement. thus potentially explaining why such markets were created.


the current trend from what little ive seen in family movies (thanks mom & lifetime) is to have exceptional parents who have amazing jobs, immaculate houses, and nearly perfect children who not only tell us how we should ideally live our lives, but continue to implant within our society new materialistic needs, such as the remodeling of our homes. god i miss roseanne.

i can't even recall the last time i've seen a good spanking in a family movie 

[The Fake Shemp]

I want a family movie with a deadbeat mom for once.

[TEEEPO]