Product of parenting

Just saw this for the first time last night, and have read many of the threads here. Such a fascinating and complex film, but one thing I haven't come across (in all the discussion about Mark's character and influence: e.g., is he a failure/loser or a determined source of inspiration, etc) is anything about Mark's psychological determinants -- the forces that make him who he is. He himself references his parents' constant fighting throughout his childhood (behavior he seeks to avoid in vain, with a blistering critique from his own mother who says at one point: "Nothing lasts, but this will last: the trouble between Mark and Alyssa and Mark and Joan"). One of his brothers hypothesizes that Mark early on retreated into fantasy world and filmmaking as an escape from the sad world of his parents' battles.

I see Mark as someone whose enormous ambition exceeds his talent and imagination, and more to the point, his self-perception. That precise combo is usually the recipe for humor (it's actually a near definition of certain archetypes of the clown), while paradoxically, it's also a potential source of inspiration. Hence I think it's possible BOTH to laugh gently at him AND be inspired by him -- whether as a negative example of how not to execute certain plans, or as a model of marathon determination.

But I also see him as someone striving to give his children something to be proud in, and as someone intoxicated with the idea of breaking free of humble roots. He is deeply aware of his position, hovering precariously over the threat of yet another failure, and strikes me as cannily desperate to do anything it takes to elevate himself to a higher plane. Given the lens of his apparently fraught childhood, I find this aspect of his struggle all the more poignant and touching.