chicagodads

Airing out some of the thoughts from yesterday, I wanted to think about/discuss about these iconic masculine men and their roles as fathers. John Eldredge seems to go for the gun-toting, rock-climbing, shield-and-sandals images of Russell Crowe in Gladiator, Mel Gibson in Braveheart, John Wayne in… well, John Wayne.

But let’s not limit ourselves to this list, let’s open the door to other symbols of male bravado and recklessness: John Rambo, Rocky Balboa, Martin Riggs , John McClane (not to be confused with John McCain of course. Although it would be cool for him to say, “Yip-pee Ki-yo” and maybe walk on glass in his bare feet), Neo, Cptn. John Miller ,etc. (We’ll leave superheroes for another day.) Note the pattern that emerges when we consider these men. I’ll refer to this pattern as the Spielberg Syndrome. In other words, a serious dearth of fathers.

The relationship between children and fathers in these movies are altogether neglected, pushed aside, disposed of or used as merely a McGuffin (think Samuel L. Jackson’s son in the elementary school where the bomb was supposed to go off in Die Hard III, Danny Glover’s family in that one Lethal Weapon where a bomb’s attached to his toilet, or, of course, the death of Crowe’s family early on in Gladiator) so that the action/adventurer can have his adventures without being weighed down by insignificant distractions (much the reason Bond gets a new woman or two every movie). [The exceptions would seem to be when the father/son particulars can hold their own weight together in a movie - eg., Luke and Darth or the last two Indiana Jones movies.]

If that’s what it means to be a hero of hero to the masculine group but not to my daughter, I don’t want any part of it.

Looks like Prodigal Jon from Stuff Christians Like has got similar ideas today. I swear I thought of this blog Sunday night, though. It was only after reading yesterday’s post that he got the idea for his post today.

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