Sunday, June 15, 2014

Lazy Sunday # 329: Happy Father’s Day

Since “Oedipus Rex” and maybe even earlier, dramatists have dealt or tried to deal with daddy issues. For some, fathers are mysterious and unknowable, villains for others, heroes, role models and inspiration for another group.

As a result, there are countless works of fiction featuring countless examples of what it means to be a dad. Meaning that whatever presence or status our real father had in our lives, we had a ton of father figures to measure him against.

Whatever they really were most of the poor bastards never had a chance.

In some ways, I think it’s just an ongoing writers conspiracy to create an audience open to the next generation of writers’ explorations of their own daddy issues.

Or maybe it’s an excuse, whenever Father’s Day rolls around, for somebody who’d like to think of himself as a writer to wonder aloud or in print -- which TV or movie father was “the best dad” and the most memorable role model of our formative years.

It’s a pointless exercise, of course, since the examples run the gamut from Sheriff Andy Taylor to Walter White. And depending on where you came of age in that lineage you’ve got a whole different take on what made a fictional father meaningful.

So put all that aside and either sit down with or fondly remember your old man while watching the following.

Happy Father’s Day and…

Enjoy Your Sunday.

1 comment:

Birgit said...

Now that was funny and it brings back memories to when I saw all these films in the theatre and wondered what Darth Vader looked like. I waited in anticipation as Luke slowly took off the helmet to reveal....Uncle Fester!