>
>I haven't actually seen the movie and, since I don't like horror, I don't
>intend to, so keep that in mind. But my problem is not so much with a parent
>being more concerned with their kids than their job, but rather with the
>fact that yet again, the character chosen to be a parent is a woman. Why
>not give the captain kids and have the doctor not be a parent? Or better
>yet, make the captain a childless woman and the doctor a father?
>
>Gabby
Gabby,
I think that's over-analyzing. One must consider that this isn't,
apparently, the way the characters were written (the way suggested above).
The question then becomes, as you ask, why were they written the way they
were written? We could just as well ask why the hero in Eastwoods _The
Unforgiven_ had to be a man. There were female gunfighters in the Old
West, weren't there? We could ask the same of any number of stories, but
it boils down, in this case, probably, to either the original author's
inclination or perhaps a marketing decision. I think it's very likely that
this was thought to be more palatable to mainstream audiences.
Would the captain have behaved differently had he had kids? Who
knows? We can only work with what's there, not what we would like to be
there.
As to the last suggestion, it's a good one, but it wouldn't have
made that much of a difference. I'd still expect the parent to be most
concerned about their kids.
I'd suggest seeing the movie, though. It's not strictly horror,
really. It's not strictly good, either, but it's be worth a look-see just
to find out exactly what we're talking so much about and why at least this
author is a little disappointed.
-Sean
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:36 PDT