Patrick Stoner ...
welcomes your questions about movies andthe people who make them. Send your
questions to pstoner@whyy.org.
Here's the current question and answer:
Q: Family values are popular in the United States. Do recent movies reflect this popularity?
A: Clearly.
From fish to chips (from FLIPPER to THE BRADY BUNCH, that is), families are making a Hollywood comeback. It's true that films have never been so explicit nor so violent, but it's also true that more and more films revolve around families.
This was not the case for over two decades. Part of the sexual and cultural revolution of the '60s involved a rejection of "Reader's Digest family values." It was considered very uncool, at best, and symptomatic of a repressive mind to admire the same kind of families that had formed the staple film and TV images of the previous generation.
Then, as we Baby Boomers aged, the generation that destroyed the universal admiration of families began to have families of its own. As the world around us grew uglier, the image of a core family where one could find unconditional love and loyalty became more and more attractive.
So, as we approach the 21st century, that oldest social structure is once again at the center of our culture, Hollywood included. It may be treated humorously, as in MATILDA, or touchingly, as in JACK, or even adventurously, as in INDEPENDENCE DAY, but it is currently shown a respect that was conspicuously absent 20 years ago.
Over the next few weeks, there will be an interesting array of films with families at their core: SHE'S THE ONE, A VERY BRADY SEQUEL, FLY AWAY HOME, BOGUS, EMMA, and a host of others. There are still films that feature dysfunctional families, of course, but the public clearly longs for a depiction of family life as viable and life-affirming.
It is one of the ironies of life at the end of the millennium that the role models we seek hearken back to the beginning of this century -- almost like comfort food for the mind. Perhaps it is the very incivility, danger and greed that surround us that make old-fashioned families such an appealing image.