While some parents are excitedly anticipating the May 7 release of “Babies: The Movie,” the anthropological look at infants around the world, others of us are a bit more, shall we say, self-involved. We don’t care about babies—we wanna see dads onscreen!
Which is why, I suppose, there’s “The Evolution of Dad,” a DVD documentary going on sale very soon. The movie is—and I’m just guessing wildly here—and how fatherhood is, like, changing. You know, once upon a time all dads were “work all the time, bring home the bacon, never see the kids,” but today they try to balance work and family? Maybe you’ve heard of such a thing?
Sorry to be so snarky, but based on the trailer (watch it below), Dana H. Glazer’s movie looks like a maudlin recycling of the usual clichés of modern fatherhood. Retelling the tale of his entry into fatherhood, Glazer says in the trailer, in the kind of slow, careful voice you use with a not-too-bright child, “And then I became a stay-at-home dad, and I felt alone. And, sometimes, like less of a man. Did other dads feel this way?”
From there we go on to every stereotype you’ve probably heard if you’ve ever read a parenting blog: men can be equal to women as parents, huge cultural shifts, emasculation versus liberation, soulful talks with elderly fathers, blah blah blah.
Sorry to be so snarky about this. I’m sure the movie itself is a bit more nuanced, but this kind of generically uplifting dreck makes me hate being a parent—or rather, identifying as being a member of a group called “parents.” It’s also why we here on Dadwagon try (and occasionally fail) to skip right over dreary sentimentality and get to the good shit: dead imaginary friends, spontaneous subterranean transsexuality, and ultra-obese German girls. Oh, and drinking. Yeah, we talk about crying (almost) and occasional happy moments, but we trust that if we get too almost-weepy, you, our beloved readers, will tell us to man the fuck up. For that, we thank you. Sort of.
If that guy felt like less of a man then he is less of a man. I think part of being a man is acting like one. It’s a matter of doing what needs to be done, hopefully enjoy it, and quit bitching about it 🙂 I hate these sorts of stories too. They’re intended to be sappy and heart warming, but all they do is perpetuate the myth (or perhaps it isn’t a myth) of the hapless man. I’ve never met a stay at home dad who talks like that.
This noob to the scene does feel a bit disoriented by all the “What is a dad?”, “What is a man?” stuff that goes on in the Dad Blog community. I kinda don’t get what the big deal is – particularly as it relates to SAHDism.
(But I do wish Mr. Glazer had worked on his delivery.)
This screams for an “Evolution of Dad” Drinking Game. Every time a SAHD gets all weepy about his kids, do a shot. I guarantee you’ll be on the floor 20 minutes into the flick.
@Jason: Um, I think you’d be in rehab by the end of the trailer, actually.
Shit Matt, you are little snarky with this over a 3 minute clip.
How bout we watch the whole film before ragging on it?
In the meantime, I’m taking my daughter down to the pub. G’night 🙂
Hey Matt . . . have to agree with Chris on this. It’s a shame that this is the first impression your readers are going to get about this movie. Given the list of experts (Jeremy Adam Smith, Michael Kimmel, Kyle Pruitt, and others), I think this movie has a real opportunity to present the issues that many fathers are facing– FMLA for fathers (or better yet, paid leave when children are born), the desire for work-life balance, equal rights for divorced fathers, re-engaging absentee fathers, etc. There may be some teary stories, but they are part of the bigger picture as well. I’ve read your blog enough to know that the “good shit” includes more than the list you provided.
In Matt’s defense, I count two times in which he apologized for being so snarky. Just saying. –Theodore.
Sorry, but at the risk of being told to “man the fuck up,” I just want to point out that I’m hoping the movie will be more than “a bit more nuanced” than “dreary sentimentality.” I just don’t want the movie to be marginalized in the same way many of these issues have been marginalized thus far.
@Matt: I’m hoping the same thing, too, but I know how seductive dreary sentimentality can be. If you catch the movie, let us know how it is.