Children's Media Response: #4

God Bless The Child (2015) is a hybrid documentary/fiction film following a family of five children living through a summer day without the supervision of a parent.  This film, made and directed by the  quintet of children's own father, is a really interesting documentation of the children and the way they interact with one another and survive one another.  Throughout, there is a clear and prevalent love experienced and shown by each one of the kids, and despite their lack of parental attention and care they still seem to endure together.

I really liked our discussions of documentation in class last week.  I feel, that this is where we veer away from talking about media FOR children and start talking about media ABOUT children.  I would say this film is for adults, as it plays on the nostalgias of childhood and showcases the joy and sorrow of childhood, presenting its audience with a clear and abundant love for kids and what they are.  Each child in the film is, essentially, perfect in their own unique way.  The things they rejoice in are good, the ways they love are good.  They exist and thrive in goodness and in indulgence.  The eldest, Harper, is shown as a mature mother.  She takes the role of mom when their own mom is not there, and she represents the adult viewer in the film.  She has grown up and matured too early, and the way she interacts with her younger siblings holds the weight and sadness of an adult, but is still holding the young hope of a child too.  She is shown by the filmmakers with as much love as she shows her siblings.

I have found that the preservation of childhood is something that we are interested in discussing in this class and that almost every piece of children's media holds to be important.  It's almost as if we are all trying, in some way, to figure out this weird limbo in our minds where our memories of childhood exist.  It feels as if everyone is trying to get back or try to understand or relive some piece of their past.  This film is clearly getting at some statement of what children are and how precious childhood is.  It points a finger at those who are young and have untainted personalities and minds and says, "isn't this what we want? Isn't this what we need to get back to?"  I felt the filmmaker's own love for his children in this film and a melancholic desire to protect and preserve them in the way they are and were.

Documentation does that.  It gives us the ability to freeze time and keep people the way they are forever on a strip of film or digital file.  It allows us to hold on to something that eventually becomes shrouded and obscured.  And because of this, we can have films like God Bless The Child, which not only serves the purpose of being a showcase of childhood and goodness but also the documentation of a family, and how they once were.

Film Analysis #1

MARY POPPINS (1964)

This is not a story about children.  Filled with fantastic colorful sequences of animated creatures dancing and chalk full of delightful musical numbers -- it could be very easily categorized as a film that children would enjoy and could easily be a piece of children's media.  However, despite the beautiful imagery and light-hearted comedy, a very solemn and stern message sits at the heart of the film.  While it can be a piece of media enjoyed by children and adults alike, the film adheres firmly to its pro-family messages, and acts as a cautionary tale against neglectful parenting.

I remember, as a kid, loving this film.  There were so many fun parts of the film that I enjoyed acting out with my sisters and singing along to.  It was a jovial jaunt of ride for me, and I was able to use this film as a way to live out my own wild fantasies.  However, watching this film now, with many years in between viewings, I've found it to be one of the saddest films I've ever seen.  The way the film so clearly establishes the rift between adults and children is harrowing for a good part of the film.  It's clear very early on that the main problem in the family is the Father's lack of interest and attention in his family affairs -- pinning the root of the problem on his priorities being in the wrong place.  Mr. Banks' idea of being a man and being a good parent all relies on precision and order.  Very explicitly stated by his song, "The Life I Lead."

[Mr. Banks]: It's 6:03 and the heirs to my dominion
Are scrubbed and tubbed and adequately fed
And so I'll pat them on the head
And send them off to bed
Ah! Lordly is the life I lead!

The children are introduced as "problem" children, and they have been through many different nannies (all who have been run out by the naughty children).  They are shown as not wanting to do their chores or go to bed or follow the rules.  They long for sweets and kindness, and when they try to tell their father about it, he is too prideful and stubborn to listen.  When we jump to the end of the film, having gone through a journey of lessons and musical whim, we get to the ultimate lesson learned--that of Mr. Banks learning that he was the one who was wrong all along, not the children.  Bert sings of this lesson in a very sweet reprise of the tune from Mr. Banks' song from earlier.  Mr. Banks starts the song again by lamenting on how he had dreams of being something more than just a man.  He sings of how his plans were dashed and ruined, and his life in shambles all because of Mary Poppins.  This is when Bert steps in and corrects him, and tells him about the actual problem at heart:

[Bert]: You've got to grind, grind, grind

At that grindstone

Though child'ood slips like sand through a sieve

And all too soon they've up grown

And then they've flown

And it's too late for you to give

Just that spoonful of sugar

To 'elp the medicine go down

Mr. Banks does eventually have the change of heart that is required of him for the film to reach its resolution.  And then, when all is said and done, what the children really needed was love from their father.  Perhaps even their mother as well.  It is right for Mr. Banks to have dreams and aspirations.  However, the film very explicitly admonishes against those dreams being intrinsic and materialistic and worldly.  It instead advocates for a parent's dreams to be centered around creating a loving environment for the family.  After all, what is the good of having anything in the world when you don't have people to share it with?  Bert ultimately was warning Mr. Banks that if he continued to push his children and wife away, he would be alone in the world.  He advocates sweetness as opposed to morals. 

So, in the end, this film feels more like a story for fathers and mothers, and less so for children.  Perhaps it is supposed to warn and aid parents in the right direction, to help correct or prevent families from being broken down.  It is so clearly dealing with an adult problem and presenting a very clear moral to adults, that it is hard for me to know what exactly children take away from the film.  But, perhaps that is not the problem.  The problem is, in actuality, that there are parents who neglect their children, and the solution is not always a film.  But what a noble and beautiful way of addressing the issue this film is.