Thoughts on TV Dads
Sorry for being so AWOL lately. What with Facebook and Twitter being so much more fast paced, I seem to have lost the attention span for full on blogging, so if you're on either of those social networks look me up. Tonight was different though. Something just made me want to blog.
Just finished rewatching "Alias," hence the post earlier with one of the best Jack Bristow quotes ever, and although it's late it got me thinking. I watch a good amount of TV shows, but only the good ones, and I've noticed that some of my favorite characters in my favorite shows* are dads. Some characters that I don't even love through out the whole show, I like the best when they're in their dad roles. Admiral Adama on "BSG," when he's giving Lee some tough advice, possibly while boxing. Homer Simpson on "The Simpsons," when we see how much he really does try for Lisa and Maggie's affection (something I feel that's been lost in more recent seasons). Just the memories of characters like Harry Morgan on "Dexter" or Nathaniel Sr. on "Six Feet Under" have a big impact on their sons' lives. Even a smaller character like Rose's Dad from "Doctor Who," shows that in his life he was devoted to trying to make is wife and daughter happy, despite a string of failure and bad luck. Like I said, I may not like them all the time and they aren't all the greatest dads who ever lived but when they really put their hearts to it they can be wonderful fathers.
Two that always stick out in my mind and are hands down my favorite TV dads are the previously mentioned Jack Bristow as well as Keith Mars from "Veronica Mars." These are both dads of only children, who both happen to be daughters. They're so similar, but also incredibly different. Whereas Keith has always been very close with his daughter and mostly supportive of her, Jack has just as much love for his daughter but has so much difficulty showing it early on. The biggest similarity is their uncompromising devotion to their daughters and how they will do absolutely anything, make any sacrifice, to keep their girls safe. Both men were also betrayed by their wives when the daughters were very young, forcing Sydney and Veronica to grow up primarily without mothers only reuniting with them later in life...which never really turns out well.** Something about these characters and how much they truly love their daughters really gets to me, despite not having or being a daughter or even having an especially wonderful father. It's weird. I do see pieces of myself in these two characters, though. I know I grow to be very loyal and have a tendency to be a little overprotective of my friends. Hopefully we'll never be in an "Alias" kind of situation with guns pointed around, but I can see myself in that Jack Bristow kind of role not hesitating to shoot somebody threatening the life of my friends.
For whatever reason I've felt paternal towards many of my friends at times, so I'm sure that ties in with it somehow but I'm not sure which caused which. I'm also not exactly sure what motivated me to write this all down and publish it online but I did anyways. Regardless, I know that I want to be like that one day. Right now I'm still young and enjoying that fact along with my lack of responsibilities, so I'm all kinds of not ready to be a dad yet but years and years down the line I hope I'll be that kind of man. Except for the whole part with the mother betraying the father, that I could happily do without.
*Unfortunately there will be no Joss mentions in here, since his shows lack any strong father figures. There's sort of one who I won't mention for spoilers' sake but he doesn't REALLY count. While Giles very much acts as Buffy's father figure, and a brilliant one at that, I'm not sure I can include him especially since some of their drama and his character growth centers around him never settling down to have a family.
**This thought brings to mind a small air of sexism, but I don't think it's completely founded. Part of me is wondering if there is a trend that in order to have a strong female character we need to giver her a strong father figure, almost implying that these children are more boys with breasts than they are girls. But even Adama has an intriguing relationship with his son and Nathaniel's spirit with his boys. Plus there will always be Buffy. Possibly the strongest female character on television in the past decade, raised by a single mother. Something about this one character standing as a champion helps make up for damn near anything.
Just finished rewatching "Alias," hence the post earlier with one of the best Jack Bristow quotes ever, and although it's late it got me thinking. I watch a good amount of TV shows, but only the good ones, and I've noticed that some of my favorite characters in my favorite shows* are dads. Some characters that I don't even love through out the whole show, I like the best when they're in their dad roles. Admiral Adama on "BSG," when he's giving Lee some tough advice, possibly while boxing. Homer Simpson on "The Simpsons," when we see how much he really does try for Lisa and Maggie's affection (something I feel that's been lost in more recent seasons). Just the memories of characters like Harry Morgan on "Dexter" or Nathaniel Sr. on "Six Feet Under" have a big impact on their sons' lives. Even a smaller character like Rose's Dad from "Doctor Who," shows that in his life he was devoted to trying to make is wife and daughter happy, despite a string of failure and bad luck. Like I said, I may not like them all the time and they aren't all the greatest dads who ever lived but when they really put their hearts to it they can be wonderful fathers.
Two that always stick out in my mind and are hands down my favorite TV dads are the previously mentioned Jack Bristow as well as Keith Mars from "Veronica Mars." These are both dads of only children, who both happen to be daughters. They're so similar, but also incredibly different. Whereas Keith has always been very close with his daughter and mostly supportive of her, Jack has just as much love for his daughter but has so much difficulty showing it early on. The biggest similarity is their uncompromising devotion to their daughters and how they will do absolutely anything, make any sacrifice, to keep their girls safe. Both men were also betrayed by their wives when the daughters were very young, forcing Sydney and Veronica to grow up primarily without mothers only reuniting with them later in life...which never really turns out well.** Something about these characters and how much they truly love their daughters really gets to me, despite not having or being a daughter or even having an especially wonderful father. It's weird. I do see pieces of myself in these two characters, though. I know I grow to be very loyal and have a tendency to be a little overprotective of my friends. Hopefully we'll never be in an "Alias" kind of situation with guns pointed around, but I can see myself in that Jack Bristow kind of role not hesitating to shoot somebody threatening the life of my friends.
For whatever reason I've felt paternal towards many of my friends at times, so I'm sure that ties in with it somehow but I'm not sure which caused which. I'm also not exactly sure what motivated me to write this all down and publish it online but I did anyways. Regardless, I know that I want to be like that one day. Right now I'm still young and enjoying that fact along with my lack of responsibilities, so I'm all kinds of not ready to be a dad yet but years and years down the line I hope I'll be that kind of man. Except for the whole part with the mother betraying the father, that I could happily do without.
*Unfortunately there will be no Joss mentions in here, since his shows lack any strong father figures. There's sort of one who I won't mention for spoilers' sake but he doesn't REALLY count. While Giles very much acts as Buffy's father figure, and a brilliant one at that, I'm not sure I can include him especially since some of their drama and his character growth centers around him never settling down to have a family.
**This thought brings to mind a small air of sexism, but I don't think it's completely founded. Part of me is wondering if there is a trend that in order to have a strong female character we need to giver her a strong father figure, almost implying that these children are more boys with breasts than they are girls. But even Adama has an intriguing relationship with his son and Nathaniel's spirit with his boys. Plus there will always be Buffy. Possibly the strongest female character on television in the past decade, raised by a single mother. Something about this one character standing as a champion helps make up for damn near anything.