| Cartoons and Philosophy |
[07 Jul 2008|10:13am] |
I think I read too much into cartoons sometimes. I remember last week talking to a friend about how Futurama, specifically Fry and Leela, represents Beckett's existential man and the absurdity of life. But, television and movies at their best are high art. As I continually point out to my friends, The Simpsons is an amazingly literate show for something that sometimes is very low brow. On the other hand, I find deliberately and forced "arty" shows like Lost to be insulting to my intelligence. Anyway...
Last night I was watching King of the Hill, which is a favourite of mind despite not packing in the humour that The Simpsons does. What King of the Hill does is give us believable and a bit wacky people in real life situation, with a bit of humour. It's more anecdotal than comedy lately. Not to say there aren't funny parts, they're just a bit more thoughtful than most animated shows. Last night's episode struck a bit close to home with some issues I've been dealing with.
The latest story arc has been with Luanne, the Hill's ditzy neice and her comically ignorant fiance Lucky, who is straight backwoods hillbilly slacker. Never had a job, doesn't have a SIN, that sort of thing, but he has a good heart. Hank takes it on himself to ensure that Lucky has all of the skills Lucky needs to be a good father to his imminent baby Luann is carrying, so Hank starts teaching him about responsiblity, getting him a SIN, passport, getting on the voter registration list. All a bit comical at first. But, in this episode, Luann's long lost father returns to see her. The problem is that Peggy Hill has been telling Luann that her father has been working on an oil rig all this time, that's why he hasn't seen her in years, but the truth is that he's been in prison. He just got out on his second strike and a third conviction would send him back to prison. Peggy shields Luann from the truth because Peggy feels that Luann needs a father in her life, even one as lousy as Hoyt. Of course, Hoyt ingratiates himself on the family, asking for money, skipping out on the family with the money to hang out at a strip club and drink, committing crimes. It gets to the point where Hoyt manipulates Lucky into coming out to have a drink with him, then Hoyt swiping all the money from an open register and going on the run with Lucky. Hoyt convinces Lucky to take the rap for the crime, saying that if he's caught with the money then he'll be going back to jail for the rest of his life, and that will leave Luann without a father. Since Lucky has a clean record, he'll just get a slap on the wrist. Lucky agrees, since he's a good person, and goes to jail in Hoyt's place. This, of course, ticks off Hank, who confronts Peggy about keeping secrets from Luann about her father and he tells Peggy that Hoyt will just keep doing this, committing crimes, slacking off and making other people take the fall for him, because it's all he knows and he has no desire to change. It's also important to note that Luann has been surviving without her father for years and doesn't need him in her life to begin with. They go to Hoyt and convince him to confess for the crime and this sends Hoyt back to prison and gets Lucky out. The family gets together for a meal at the end of the episode and they appear to start to tell Luann the truth, but they waffle on it and tell her that Hoyt had to go back to the oil rig instead of telling her that her father is a criminal.
This is close to home for me, not because my father is a criminal, but that it illustrates the importance of honesty and appraising the personalities of others, deciding what roles they have in your lives. On the one hand, Hoyt is family to the Hills and Luann, so it's not like they can simply discard him. But, Hoyt is a career loser, he's got himself into trouble without thinking about the consequences of his actions on his family. He seems to have good intentions by coming back into Luann's life, but his true colours show through soon enough, not because he wants them to, but because he's the person he has to be. He's a criminal and a manipulator, and will do anything to save his own hide and get off scot free. What's more loving for Luann? Having a father in her life that will inevitably betray her or not having a father in her life and living a life free of his corrupting influence? Is it okay to lie to Luann to keep her in her fantasy world? It's a double edged sword for sure, good and bad points on either side. The lie to Luann at the end of the episode is done for comedic effect, but the message is pretty clear that she needs positive influences in her life, not negative ones, even if it means not having a father.
The episode should have ended with them telling her that her father is a loser, and I'm sure that was the intent of it, though they play it for comedy, forcing Hank to say that oil is more important than propane. Peggy is forced to admit that her brother will do nothing but continue to hurt the family and Luann and has to come out of her fantasy world where she can believe that things will turn out rosy if they just give Hoyt some love and compassion, ignoring the horrible things he's already doing, and that they have to give him a chance for Luann's sake. Someone can't change unless they want to. You can give them all the love and compassion in the world, but as long as there are no consequences, they will continue to do what they want. Every time you turn your head from someone like this and ignore it, it's just like saying "I approve of this behaviour because I don't call you on it." And this despite past behaviour showing he has no desire to change, ignoring the behaviour and hoping for the best won't do anything but say "You can keep doing this, I'll ignore it and pretend it didn't happen. Maybe next time will be better." How many times must this happen before you open your eyes and say "I won't cover for you anymore because this is not acceptable behaviour."
Suffice to say, I'm struggling with this issue right now. I'm at that end part, having to step away from a situation for that very reason. It was a moving episode for me. Sometimes caring for someone means letting them fail, letting them barrel away to the inevitable conclusion that you can see miles in the distance. You're there yelling in their faces about the crash coming, but they're too focused on the now to see it. You have to let them crash, then hope there's enough left to pick up the pieces and put things back together.
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