During the holiday season, most people overindulged in everything from special desserts to shopping. My indulgence of choice was watching movies. I just wanted to be entertained without having to think about anything real. Just the opposite happened, though. In fact, I decided to end my attempt to abandon original thought after renting The Kids Are All Right.
In the movie, a lesbian couple conceived a boy (“Laser”) and girl (“Joni”) by artificial insemination. The children had never met or known their anonymous birth father (Mark Ruffalo), known as the “sperm donor,” until one day they decide to contact him. When the children invite him into their family life, everyone’s life changes. He has an affair with one mother (“Jules” played by Julianne Moore) while the other mother (“Nic” played by Annette Bening) is threatened by his very presence. Once the affair is discovered and things return to “normal,” everyone is forgiven except the “sperm donor.” He is deemed the villain because he threatened to break up their perfect family. Forget about the boost of confidence he gives the children and Jules, who felt desperately insecure about her career and undervalued in her relationship.
This movie was propaganda, to say the least, because the theme is that children really don’t need a father except as a sperm donor or for women’s occasional pleasure. Speaking of pleasure, the sex scenes were very explicit and were actually a distraction. They went from woman to woman, man to man, and man and women, all graphically depicted. Furthermore, the writer-director was trying so hard to come up with a happy ending that the true potential and likely effects of infidelity, a controlling parent, and the absence of paternal involvement are never developed.
Maybe it was my movie selection of dramas and comedies, but two-thirds of the movies I rented (You Don’t Know Jack, Easy A, The Jonses) this season were preachy. I think the only social issue I missed seeing portrayed was immigration. Whether the message comes from a parent, priest or politician, we like our preachers to at least pretend that they are unbiased. Therefore, if Hollywood writers and directors want to use their films as a pulpit to tell us what we should think, they need to at least attempt to make the plot seem likely. Can I get an Amen! –annette johnson
Annette Johnson is the owner of Allwrite Advertising and Publishing (www.e-allwrite.com), and the author of “What’s Your Motivation?: Identifying and Understanding What Drives You.” She is the host of Allwrite Radio at www.blogtalkradio.com/allwrite.
