Motherload

Go and see Brave . Go and see it if you have a daughter. This is the latest Pixar, and it's directed by a woman, Brenda Chapman. Hallelujah! A female animation director! Brave  manages to bring together Celtic and Norse legend with Astérix-style animation, and produce a story about the transformative power of... transformation. The rebellious tomboy daughter of a Scottish king rejects her upbringing, and the destiny planned for her by her mother the queen, and inadvertently turns her into a bear, when she foolhardily buys a spell from a witch. In wanting to be brave, and challenge the status quo, the girl finds herself in a nightmare in which she is on the verge of destroying everything she knows, mother, father and kingdom. Her bravery is revealed to be impulsiveness and pride. But in turning her mother into a bear, she also enables the mother to see that she is being literally overbearing, and that the daughter needs greater freedom if she is to succeed in life, and if ...

I was recently flying back from Australia and had a good long time to appraise the genre of Family TV, by watching The Middle , Parenthood , Suburgatory , and Modern Families between halal chicken dinners (we flew via Abu Dhabi). I was surprised to find out how different each series was, even though they were all part of (ahem) one big family. The Middle is a sitcom that looks at the 'squeezed middle' from the perspective of the harrassed mother and father who can't afford what most of their peers seem able to give their children. They have obligations to both the older and the younger generation. They worry incessantly about the impact their own lack of material success will have on their children. They love and resent their choices. Obviously, the answer is that a loving family conquers all, despite problems along the way, pretty much because the alternatives (divorce, adoption) appear to them to be so bleak. Parenthood is a family saga drama, featuring a patriar...