Coming to Turner Classic Movies June 05, 2011

It had that whole early 80's, lite FM, trying to find yourself, what about me vibe that was very popular at that time. A lot of movies about domestic crisis came out at that time. Man, Woman, Child; Author, Author; Kramer vs. Kramer; Ordinary People, etc. etc. The general outline of these movies is that everyone is confused and immensely self absorbed, the kids are always incredibly precocious and basically left to fend for themselves while their parents navel gaze. Now we realize that the kids were never precocious and most definitely cannot fend for themselves. They need support. You can't make those kinds of movies now without everyone thinking the parents are awful, horrible people. Noah Baumbach did his own version of this story with his film The Squid and The Whale, a semiautobiographic tale of his parents' divorce in the early 80's. It absolutely followed the pattern, but the difference was that the audience is supposed to be mortified at the way these people essentially abandoned their children when their children needed them the most. You see the precociousness is all an act by frightened children who are desperate to get their parents attention any way they can. It's a scathing indictment. He wants us to judge them, and we do (I imagine Thanksgiving that year was awkward). This is how we feel now, so those late 70's/early 80's domestic dramas look very dated.