And the Moral of the Story is...Dads Need Help! Lots of Help!

(Or it may be that Miss March needs help as she's about to plunge into a pathetic, rant filled post couched in her usual strange, obnoxious style.  Do beware.)

Okay, so you've all seen those movies that have an obvious theme or lesson woven into the story, right?  Those kinds that attempt to instruct the audience on how to overcome a specific problem commonly found in their day to day lives? (I guess I'm thinking primarily of Christian-made films, though there are definitely some non-Christian films that fit into this category as well.)   

Anyway, I'm here today to talk about these sorts of movies and I'd like to begin by saying that this type of film can be very instructive and very helpful.  (Stop it.  Why do you always think I'm being sarcastic?)  Really though, if you think about it, it makes sense.  By watching the failings of a person on screen, one can be led to look at one's own life and contemplate how and why one does what one does, and whether what one does is what one should be doing or whether one should be doing something entirely different.  (Got that?)  When one sees the fatal consequences of someone else's bad behavior, one is apt to consider whether one's own behavior might not lead toward a similar end, and whether one truly would relish such a prospect.  This is good.  This is what movies with moral lessons are all about.  They tell a story in such a way as to teach those who watch them without actually coming straight out and saying to the audience, "You're a bad person!  Shape up!"  (Okay.  So some do it better than others.  There are of course those which don't stick to the rules of subtly at all.  Like those particular movies where the story is merely a backdrop for a sermon?  Ever seen 'em?  Yeah.  That is not my idea of good storytelling. But I digress.) 

 

To get to the point.  (Yes, all of that up there was just an introduction which we really didn't need, but I'm an expert at including unnecessary stuff and what are you going to do about it, hmm?) 

What I really I wish to say is this.  It seems to me that in this particular genre of filmmaking there is a prevailing opinion that the people most in need of advice and redirection are fathers. 

Naturally, I'm no expert on fatherhood, therefore I cannot say whether this idea is rightly founded or not...but suffice it to say, there is a wealth of instruction out there for any dad who may be wondering if he is doing a good job fathering his children.  (Or perhaps I should say "child" as they rarely have more than one.)

These stories of "bad" dads could probably be combined into one single movie and you wouldn't know the difference, but as it is much more fun to play around with the basic plotline and come up with new twists and turns, there are a great many out there to choose from.  All equally "creative" and...painfully predictable.  

Holding them up together we are able to come to a pretty good overall conclusion of what a "bad" dad is, and how that "bad" dad can become a "good" dad by the end of the film.  Let's take a look.

~ First off, dads have a pervading habit of never being home enough.  They work too much.  Always.  This is a failing indeed.

 

Child: *sigh* "Dad's at the office again.  I wonder if he still remembers what I look like."

~ Secondly when they do finally come home...oh tragedy, oh horrors!...they have the nerve to be too tired to do anything with their child!  Can you believe it?  And so the poor kid begins to pine for her father's attention. 

Waaaaaaa!

And that is where we the audience begin to realize that this dad is very quickly making his way down the slope toward "bad" fatherhood. 

*dramatic music of impending disaster*

~ The dad reaches the bottom of the slope, and puts all doubt of his being a "bad" dad out of our minds, when his frustrated wife informs him that he missed his daughter's dance recital (or piano recital, or singing recital...you name it.)  This is the point of no return.

*sorrowful strains of regret and despair*

 

Wife: "To think that it should have come to this.  (Face it, dear.  You're a bad dad.  And you can't hide behind your paper forever.)"

 

Oh but wait!  Surprises in store for us!  We thought that was the point of no return, but miracle of miracles, it isn't!!  You see, it totally would have been except that suddenly!...

*drumroll*

...out of the blue the dad receives a lightning bolt, realizes in a flash (no pun intended.  Or maybe it was.  Whatever)...realizes in a flash what a rat he's been, has a sudden unexplainable change of heart, and becomes overnight the most delightful, fun, engaging father ever to grace this fallen world! 

*happy, exhilarating, triumphant music*

Isn't that amazing?!

I don't know how it happened.  But it happened.  And this is truly a story to warm a person's heart--to thrill one to the core of one's being!--for you just know such a thing could never have happened...

without a script.  (cough)

I mean really.  To go from a "neglectful" dad to a fully engaged dad all in the space of one day?  That's a bit too much, I'd say.

In fact, it's pathetic.  The entire story's pathetic.  The problem's pathetic.  The resolution's pathetic.  It's pathetic, pathetic, pathetic.  (And did I  mention "pathetic"?) 

And for that matter...

WHY IS IT ALWAYS THE DAD?

WHY IS HE ALWAYS THE ONE WITH THE PROBLEM?

And why does that problem have to be so lame?  Like that one dad for instance.  What was so awful about him?  Sure he worked a lot.  Sure he was busy.  But it wasn't like he was completely ignoring his daughter or anything.  Give him a break! 

Or that other dad?  What was his unforgiveable failure?  Just because his kid had a rotten attitude because his father wouldn't join him in his favorite sport.  I ask you!  What kind of failure is that to write home about?  I mean the kid was practically obsessed over his sport anyway.  He probably needed to hear "no" from his dad.

Like grow up, kid!  You can't have it your way all the time!

 

Okay.  Rant over.  (I think.)

 

Basically if you're not a movie person, let me just give you your dad advice in a nutshell.  Don't EVER work too much (even if your family's welfare depends upon it).  Don't EVER be sleepy in the evening when your daughter wants to do something with you, because it'll scar her for life!  Believe me.  And don't ever, EVER forget about your daughter's recital because that's just the awfullest thing you could ever do to your child.  If you stay clear of these mistakes, making sure to spend time with your child doing all the fun things they want to do, and never saying no to them, well.  You'll be a good dad and no one could say different.

Ahem and a-hem.  (And no, of course I'm not being sarcastic!  Why do I have to keep telling you that?!)

In all seriousness, someone really needs to come up with a  more creative and relatable story about fathers.  Like why doesn't someone make a movie about a dad who's doing things the right way, and see if people can't learn something from that?  At least let's deal with some real issues and not make decent dads out to be horrible just because they don't bend over backgrounds for their child's every whim.  (That's just my two hundred cents for you.)

Oh, and another thing.  Why don't we have more movies about mom's working too much and not being home enough?  Equal rights for women you know! They can do anything men can do!  Let's be fair here.  (Was that a jab at feminism?  Surely not!)

 

*****

 

Disclaimer: Naturally there are a great many movies out there which I've never seen, so there may be a host of counter-examples which would completely debunk my theory that the "bad fatherhood" theme is overused.  But be that as it may, I've personally seen enough movies dealing with this subject that I can with all sincerity say this:  "Enough is enough!  Let's use some imagination here, people!" 

 

Good-bye and good-bye.

 

What are some themes in movies that you think are overused?

Do you ever feel that dads get picked on in movies?  (Like for instance, too often being portrayed as bumbling and incompetent or something along those lines?)  I must say I do.

If you were making a film about fatherhood, what sort of angle would you like to take?

 

 

P.S. Tell me, is this a very strange post?  I'm not sure why but I have a feeling it is.  Kind of like, "where  in the world did that come from?"   You know?   (Honestly, friends, sometimes I don't know why I write what I write.  But there it is.  And the moral of the story is, Miss March needs to shut up.  :P)  (Oh dear, did I say that?  ;))

 

Hi! I'm back from my blogging break. (Kinda, sorta, maybe.)

I mean I'm sitting here at my computer typing a blog post.  That must mean I'm back, right?

 

But how much of me is back?

 

All of me?  Half of me?  A quarter of me? 

 

(Ugh.  That's disgusting.  Let's keep things together here, shall we?  All this quartering and half-ing is giving me the creeps.) 

 

I don't care.  I'm too tired to care.  Maybe after all there's really only an eighth of me here.

 

Maybe after all you're a complete nut! 

 

*shrug*  Possibly.  But who cares?  What's the point of having a strong intellect if you're too tired to use it?

 

You, ma'am, need to get more sleep!

 

*yawn*  What good will that do?  I'll only get tired again.  Besides all the fun things happen at night.  I can't possibly go to bed early when fun things are happening.

 

You're pathetic.  Did you have something to say or did you just come here to whine about how tired you are?

I most certainly did have something to say!  What do you take me for?  I came here to say hi to my friends because I miss them.  *sniff* *sob*

Oh stop.  I can't stand emotional people.

I can't help it.  It's the truth.  I miss my friends.  I miss our conversations.  I want to be back in the swing of things, blogging regularly, keeping up with everyone, but... 

I don't know if I can do it.

I've just been so tired lately.

So tired.

Well, I have a suggestion for you.

What?

Put off your blogging and your whining till another day.

And GO TO BED!

I have to admit, bed does sound rather nice right now.  *silly, exhausted grin*

*rolls eyes*   I should think so. 

But wait!  *tries desperately to keep eyes open*  I need to give some sort of update on what I've been doing...or something...or...I don't know.  This is such a pointless post otherwise.

You're telling me.

Give me a minute.  I'll think of something.  Oh yes.  I started my new job.  I'm two days in and...yeah.  That's part of the reason why I'm so tired.  (But mostly it's because she never goes to bed on time.)  A-hem.  I mean it's not like it's hard physical labor or anything but still it's a lot of new stuff to learn and learning new stuff can be exhausting.  (Not to mention the fact that I had to get up at 6:00 am this morning.)  I'm going in to work again tomorrow and Saturday and Sunday and...what's that?  A pillow?  I WANT A PILLOW!  Ohhh, for a soft, fluffy, comfortable pillow.  Somebody please give me a pillow on which to rest my weary head!

(Oh good grief.  She's really losing it, folks.) 

 

That's it.  You're going to bed even if I have to drag you there!

 

No, no, wait!  I didn't tell them about how I went car shopping this afternoon...

Big whoop.  You didn't even find anything.  Wait until you find a car and then tell them about it.  (Though I don't know why anyone would care to hear about such boring details.)

But there was more to it than that.  I was going to explain how all that driving around this afternoon made me even more tired.

 

You did come here just to whine about how tired you are.  This is beyond belief. 

 

I don't whine.  I gripe.

Oooh.  I see.  And that makes all the difference.  Yes.  Griping is much better than whining.  Everybody knows that.

 

Go to bed.  Please.

Fine.  I will.  Good-night.

 

Good-night.  (If it is a good night.  Which I doubt.)  (Really, I'm beginning to think I won't get a wink of sleep tonight.  Who could with a loony in the house?)

 

I heard that.

 

That's okay.  I don't mind.

 

*****

 

P.S.  (From the sensible Miss March who's still alive here somewhere)  Hello dear friends!  I've missed you!  I hope all's well with you (and that you're taking better care of your mental health than I am, heehee.)  What's been happening in your lives lately?  Do tell!  :D

 

(Also, Natalie should never have shown me that website full of Emma screen caps.  I'm afraid I'm going to be using them far too often.)

 

What fun we've been having...!

Ahem. Miss March...what should I say?

Are you asking me to make a decision???  You know I don’t like to do that!

Oh dear, that is very true. Not five minutes ago you wouldn’t pick between our two movie options. :P

Exactly.  Let’s leave the decision making up to you.  I like that.   So, what should we say, Natalie?  :)

Well hurrah for me. *sigh* Hello everyone! Here we are, Miss March and Natalie, Natalie and Miss March. We’re together. RIGHT NOW. IN MY HOUSE. Having fun! (Which means mostly watching movies, but hey, everyone has their definition of fun.)

(You probably don’t want to know how many movies we’ve watched.  ‘Hem.)  Rest assured we’ve also been doing a lot of talking!  In fact, we haven’t had enough time to talk in person that we’ve even been talking on google chat!  (Okay, only for a little bit.  :P)

Oh, I think they WOULD like to know how many movies we’ve watched. Shall we bare our souls and tell the appalling secret of what that number is?

I don’t know...well, alright.  So far we have seen Mom’s Night Out, several episodes of Robin Hood (I’m making you proud, Olivia. She likes it!!!) (Yes.  Rather.  ;)), Northanger Abbey, Ever After (that one was good!), Random Harvest, The Happiest Millionaire, Emma 2009, North and South, Newsies (Natalie thinks she’s made me a fan.  She just might be right.  ;)), The Moonspinners, Only Angels Have Wings, The Magic of Ordinary Days, Jane Eyre, Father Goose,The Fighting Prince of Donegal (that one was new to me, and quite fun. MARK—-I mean, HUGH. <3)  and of course a darling little home movie—NO! We shall not go into any details concerning that embarrassing film. We shall not even tell them what it was. Right?

But Natalie.  I like details. Details are good things.  

And it wasn’t embarrassing.  At least, I wasn’t embarrassed.  (Were you embarrassed?)  Just don’t listen.  *whispers*  Guys, it was a Nancy Drew movie.  It was very entertaining.  And the interviews afterward were so much fun!! :D

Entertaining. Ha. For you, perhaps. What do you live for, after all, except to make sport for your neighbors and laugh at them in your turn? But in this case it was just you laughing in your turn. :P

Yes.  Well I did laugh.  (It was funny.  I couldn’t help it.  Nobody could have resisted.)  

Fine. I shall forgive you this once. ;)  Just don’t tell anyone how embarrassingly lame and cheesy it was. Otherwise I shall have to leave as soon as I can book a ticket. (Points for anyone who can pick out all the quotes scattered throughout this post.)

Oh, don’t leave!!!  I don’t want you to leave.  But honestly, I like cheese.  And I’m sure our friends do, too.  So you don’t have to worry about the cheesy parts.  Really you don’t.  :P

You’re quite right I won’t have to worry about them, because we’re talking about something else now.

Let’s tell everyone about meeting each other at the airport.

You’re right of course.  And as you’re the one making the decisions, I agree. I’ll start. Let’s talk about my flight, because that was so interesting and everything. Basically, I got on this plane and flew for an hour and then I got off. And even though I couldn’t figure out how that huge big metal object was staying up in the air, it didn’t fall. I didn’t die.

You are very brave.

I KNOOOW! Putting my life on the line that way. I surprise myself sometimes.

We both surprise ourselves sometimes. Like when we had to cross that bridge. What courage we found inside ourselves!

Oh my, yes. Such courageous girls are not often to be found in this world, I think. We were very brave, indeed. (Private joke. You can ask, but we probably won’t tell you. Don’t like to boast, you know.)

Miss March is right. We are as silent as the grave on that point. :P

Aye. Mums the word. ;)

Anyway, to get back to what I was saying about my flight. So I got off the plane and was struck with this terrible fear that I wouldn’t be able to find the baggage area. Like I would get lost forever in the enormous airport and never be heard from again (which of course would be absolutely tragic!)...(and no I'm not exaggerating or being over-dramatic. Not at all. coughcough) But then I looked up and what do you know? There was this huge sign saying BAGGAGE...with this huge big arrow pointing me in the right direction!

Duh. That was easy.

So I followed the signs (because I’m smart) and I came around a corner and there up ahead I saw them! Natalie and her family standing by the wall, waiting for me. They didn’t see me immediately, so I crept up on them, 'hem, I mean, made my way toward them...and then Natalie turned and looked and.... (your turn, Natalie)

Oh, is it truly my turn? My, I nearly fell asleep waiting. *yawn* (kiiidddiiiinnngg)

Well, I tried to interject something earlier during Miss March’s narrative but she would not relinquish the paper so I must say my piece now.

(Have at it. :P)

Where was I? *gets lost in thought* Oh yes. About Miss March getting lost in the airport. I worried over that a little too, although  with less dramatics. I knew we’d find Miss March eventually. She certainly wouldn’t be lost forever. A couple of years, maybe, but not forever. :P

But I digress. Let me tell my half of this exciting story (exciting to us, at least!) My family and I arrived at the airport, thinking we had about 30 minutes before her plane arrived. We parked our car and began making our way into the airport to where we’d meet Miss March. I was so excited. I felt very much like I did the first time I ever met blogging pals but with less nervousness. After all, I had done this before. And I was an old professional at this point!

‘Hem.

But upon examining that handy-dandy-screen-that-tells-you-when-the-flights-are-coming

-and-going (whatever it’s called) we discovered that Miss March’s plane was due to arrive in SIX minutes. Eeek! (haha, see what I did there, Miss March?)

(Yes. *glares* How can you be so unfeeling? I thought you was my friend, Natalie!!  *sob*)

We hurried to the point where we’d be picking her up and waited. And waited.

And waited.

Six minutes is a long time when you’ve been waiting six months to meet your blogging friend. ;D

Anyhow, I kept waiting, scanning the faces of the people, wondering when I’d see her. I was starting to get a little nervous at this point. I mean, she’d be here any second. And what if I don’t recognize her or what if we don’t get along or she’s lost or we got the wrong flight time or her plane was lost somewhere over the Atlantic or—

And then I turned around and THERE SHE WAS!!!!!!! And we hugged we each other and it was so surreal. She was real! This was happening! I’VE MET MISS MARCH!!!!!!

Now I’ll hand this over to her because I’ve spent way too much time talking.

You said it, girl. :P

Forgive me, friend.

What’s that?  Goodness me, I must have fallen asleep!  (And you thought I was being long-winded.  Ha!)  Anyway, yes!  It was such a wonderful moment when we actually met, and were finally able to give each other a real hug!  And, guess what? Those momentary fears that we might not get along were totally unfounded. We’ve gotten along swimmingly.  (I mean we stayed up talking that first night until about 1:30.  That definitely ought to count for something.)  

Yes, indeed. And we’re so comfortable with each other that we’ve even begun to insult each other!

Is that an “S”? That’s not an “S”!

*sigh*. There she goes making fun of my handwriting again. :P Everyone, you know how nice Miss March is in the blogging world? IT’S A LIE. She’s a horrid, horrid person! ;P

Yes.  And it makes me feel good all over!!  ;)

All right, all right, enough with the silliness. In all honesty you’re amazing. I’m so glad you visited me. <3 *hugs*

Don’t.  You’re making me blush.  And I’m already red enough.  (Sunburn you know.)

She refuses to wear sunscreen. (Horrid icky stuff.)  Jane, you sad, girl. *shakes head*

Well, Miss March wants me to wrap this post up. We feel as if we could go on and on and on….but you wouldn’t thank us for that. If we went on and on and on. :P

Yes. That is, we’ve been having SO much fun and we have so much we could say (and many movies we could quote….or certain celebrities….whom we’ve been making fun of….shhh.)

And basically, to sum it all up, our visit has pretty much looked like this.  Walking in the park.  Talking.  Sitting the pool.  Talking.  Lying on our beds.  Talking.  Eating food...uh not talking.  When we eat food we watch movies.  That’s how it goes.  

*Nods* That is a pretty accurate picture. But we have fun. Too much fun, probably. I don’t want Miss March to leave. :’(

Aww.  Natalie.  You’re too sweet.  Personally I can’t wait to get out of here, but…(kiiidddding!)  It’s been an awesome visit!  Truly!  We must do it again sometime.  :)  I’m just so thankful for your friendship!!  (I’m so thankful you’re thankful.)  (Isn’t it wonderful the way we agree on things?  We’re just so agreeable.  ;))  

*Both together!*  BYE!

P.S.  One more thing.  I’ve discovered during this trip that there are FAR too many pitiable heroes in fiction. (Thornton, Ray, Mark, Henry, the other Henry, all the Henrys!  ...There’s lots of Henrys.  Did you ever notice that?)  

You’re rambling, my dear.

YOU JUST READ MY MIND!!! That’s exactly what I was thinking.  Wow.

P.P.S.  Also I’m almost finished reading The Blue Castle.  AND IT’S SO GOOD!!!

PS. Well, if you’re DONE now (heh), I want to say something too….except I don’t know what to say. But it’s unfair if you have a PS. and I don’t. *pouts* *runs off to my tower* *if I had a tower*

Which you don’t.

But Henry does.

Yes, but Henry won’t share his tower.  Get your own tower!

So Long. Farewell.

 

Fare-thee-well my dear friends!  I've decided I need to take a break from blogging for at least the month of June.  That is to say, I'll probably still be posting periodically but I shall be taking a break from commenting and keeping up with everyone else's blogs because, sink me!  I  just realized!  I'm a very lazy person.  (Okay so I knew that already.  In fact, I've known it for years.  But that's beside the point.)  

 

The point in fact is this.  There's been so much going on lately--and still so much more about to happen--that I'm feeling quite zonked.  My brain is going that slowly that I can barely get myself to read all you dear people's posts, let alone comment on them.  And I feel bad about that because I want to read and comment on my friends' posts.  I do!  But my energy level is just low, low, low. 

 

So anyway, I figured I may as well take a break during June since it's looking to be a very full month.  As most of you know, I'm leaving on Monday to visit Natalie for ten days (which is going to be awesome!! :D) and then when I get back I have only a few days before I begin training at my new job.  (Yes.  I got a new job.  Fancy that.)  So yeah, I don't know what kind of condition I'm going to be in by the end of this month (running around like a chicken with it's head cut off no doubt!) but best case scenario I'll have gained some sort of equilibrium by the first of July, and then I'll be back.  (We can at least hope.)

 

Until then, good-bye!  I'll miss you!  Fare-thee-well!

 

 

...This is Miss March, signing off...