Father-Daughter Bonds

Last night I went to a really charming little theater close to my house, Prytania Theatre, to see an independent film, Beasts of the Southern Wild. That movie made me think. It's told from the point-of-view of a very tough, fearless, observant, lean-with-words, black 6-year-old girl, who lives with only her father, who is a drunkard with a heart problem. They live in backwoods Louisiana in shacks. Their bond is both fiercely strong and extremely dysfunctional. The little girl is exposed to life's hardships too early and too raw-ly. But, she loves her father with her full heart and emotion. The two go through a storm together -- the suggestion is that it is Katrina -- and her father stands firm, resists evacuation, escapes the disaster relief place. This is how he teaches her to cope and respond to chaos and tragedy: not with cooperation, but with self-assertion. There were moments in the movie that made me think of my dad and me, just that abnormally strong father-daughter bond.

My office mate commented that gender plays an interesting role in this movie-- how the little girl is called "Man" by her dad, and the only females in the movie are androgynous. The fictitious town of Bathtub is mostly all male, and the one scene with womenly women is towards the end, and my officemate A. says it represents "maternal reconciliation," where all these forsaken Bathtub girls find their mother-figures, who strengthen them with maternal embraces and by exemplifying strong motherhood. Interesting also to consider the moment when this scene occurs: after most of the main girl character's trials and her dad's falling health. (I'd like to discuss this movie with my professor of gender, I.!!)

So much about this one movie that I haven't yet processed. I'd like to see it again. It's visually outstanding as well. And to top it off, I got to enjoy the movie alongside my roommates who I increasingly adore, L. and S. S. especially is very insightful into these things. Last night she pointed out to me how lots of New York Times articles (they get the print Sunday edition delivered) are sociologically focused, such as the article on class and marriage that was on the front page this past Sunday.

Summer in NOLA has been far more than I ever could have hoped for or asked for.