Families are complicated beings. They grow and they decompose, sometimes at the same time. My family is in a slow process of decay and for some reason it seems as if I am the cause. My son and granddaughter stopped by a few weeks ago, totally a surprise visit. We talked and we hugged, but my granddaughter is the only one I have heard from since and that was a birthday note. My daughter says I threw her brother under the bus, but I don't why. She also says I have spent far more time with my oldest grandson than any of my other grandchildren. That is true, but since his dad, my son essentially chose his other children over him, I can't help it.
Anyway, back to a previous discussion about TV and film families. I hear a lot about how many people never see themselves in the families that are depicted on TV and film. I believe this and I also think that TV and film are trying too hard to depict said families. Though I never watched Modern Family, I think that they did a very good job in the depiction of the gay couple. I say that not knowing if that community thinks that is true. Blackish is a great show and far better than the stilted Black families, that were all sitcoms by the way, depicted when I was a teenager. Sanford and Son was good, very good in depicting a "typical" Black family, again only my opinion. The Jeffersons I did enjoy, but always seemed a bit surreal to me. Not that I had issue with the premise, but as a sitcom all of the tropes were there and maybe that is why it troubled me. I had no Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, etc in my frame as I grew up. It was all very white and all of that whiteness was never discussed. My mother was racist and used that word from time to time. In fact she used that word in relation to my Hawaiian boyfriend and I slapped her.
I watch far too much TV/Streaming, as I have said before and lately I have been paying attention to the depiction of family. Disney, of course, does all the fuzzy wuzzy families and also has begun to slip in dysfunctional families. Or at least they try to. They created a new Cheaper by Dozen and then took it off their streaming service. They have taken a few other shows off: Willow the series, Turner and Hooch the series, Crater, and likely others that I am forgetting. A whole gaggle of reality shows have showed up, though I am hoping it is more response (a bad one) to the WGA strike. Disney has tried to expand their brand with Star Wars and the Marvel movies and series. Sometimes not in a good way. Relationships aren't really Disney's thing, well in the sense that everyone seems to get along and when they don't one of them is a bad guy. Good vs Evil, Disney's biggest trope.
In the Santa Clause movies and series family is important, but not the work family at least in the "real" world. I just rewatched the movies and Scott's real world work took up so much of his time that his family was left behind. Then in the last movie his elf family/work takes up too much of his time and he doesn't realize what he was losing until he loses everything. Disney teaching him and us a lesson on how to balance the two. Of course in the end, family prevails and Christmas is saved.
Families are complicated and they have to want to be melded back together. I hope that my family will begin that healing process. I am not sure how to begin and I am far away and can't afford to come for a visit. Excuses are many for me, but I don't know how heal when I don't know how it was broken.
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