This is the story of a beautiful perfect white picket fence family with two boys and a girl, the oldest is about to get scholarship and what can go wrong. Well, a lot, depending on your beliefs. The oldest son Brian lost his scholarship and decided to join the marines without knowing what it was (he says he thought it was more football, showing how little the people knew about the war), the middle child Michael starts going into movements and peace keeping, and the youngest, Katie, accepts everyone and she got pregnant and her dad threw a hissy fit and she couldn't handle it and left.
What are we left with? A PTSD Brian, always drinking and smoking. A Michael looking for a better future but looking at the girl from his past. Katie as a mother, ran away from home and raising little Rainbow in a "could be worse" scenario.
Here we see the main source of discrimination at what seems like the core, the family. Most of these problems can be tuned to one source, their father, Brian felt like he needed to prove himself and since the father had been in the marines, he also joined to make him proud, Michael's problem at a point was he had to leave home because of his different opinions that clashed with his conservative father, and poor Katie had to leave because how her dad made her feel at her weakest points. We see how conservatives of these times were okay with the war and against change, they couldn't even accept some of their loved ones because of these beliefs.
But something that happens at the end shows how we progressed. The fact that change is possible, and acceptance is key.
Final thoughts: I want to get more into the characters but i think it is better to watch it, if you haven't give it a try. Also: obvious love interest is obvious, but that wasn't the point of the story, it was showing this period, and it did so.
Those love stories were so obvious that the were just irrelevant. But we always need one!
ReplyDelete“The oldest son Brian lost his scholarship and decided to join the marines without knowing what it was (he says he thought it was more football, showing how little the people knew about the war)…” I missed this detail. I also hadn’t noticed how those issues centered around the father’s conservative views. Thank you for pointing me in that direction.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought about it, but you're right when you say that the father is the root of all the problems the family face. It seems pretty obvious looking back, but I hadn't noticed. The part about Brian's ignorance towards what he'd be doing as a Marine is shocking too.
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