Over this past holiday weekend, I noticed a lot of posts in the blogosphere about favorite, memorable and even classic movie fathers. What I didn’t seem to come across, however, were those dads that are not exactly the best role models to reference, where parenting is concerned.
Let’s face it, that’s the reality of the situation -- while many of us are usually quick to celebrate any and all fathers on Father's Day (the same goes for Mother's Day too so maybe we can cover that next year), there are some men who do not necessarily live up to nor deserve that honor for many reasons including the way that they treat their children (abuse, neglect, etc.) or the way that they treat other people in front of their children (being violent, dishonest, uncompassionate, judgemental, etc.) without fail. So, the theme for this week’s Monday Movie Meme is: O Father, Where Art Thou?
Share on your blog or in the comments section, some of the worst fathers that have graced the big screen. If your response is on your own blog, remember to link back to this post and also remember to visit the blogs of fellow Monday Movie Meme participants. Here are my selections for this week’s O Father, Where Art Thou? theme.
Viktor
His prejudices against the Lycans was so strong that he didn’t even consider showing mercy on his only daughter Sonia when she fell in love with one of these half-human/half-werewolf Hybrids in “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.”
Viktor is a mean father with a superiority complex that luckily didn’t pass down to his offspring, yet, still managed to cause havoc and tragedy for future generations of his Vampire lineage.
Charlie Kenton
Any father who gives up full custody of his young, biological son Max, for six figures to spend on a robot, is not even worthy of a greeting card, let alone a cake or brand new socks! -- Add to that the fact that he was reluctant to babysit Max short-term and treated the little boy like he was a burden, I’m sure it’s not hard for any of you to understand why this “Reel Steal” movie character fits the bill for worst fathers on film.
Denethor
He is a madman and coward who sent his only living son Faramir into a deadly battle. To add insult to injury before Faramir headed to certain death, Denethor told him that he’d rather his favorite, but slain son Boromir be alive than Faramir. Sheesh! I can only imagine how that made Faramir feel -- Any average son in the real world would probably say something like “I’m about to go fight an unnecessary war to appease you and instead of telling me to be safe, you tell me that you wished I died instead of my brother?!! Thanks for the pep talk, Dad. You suck!”
I don’t know what’s worse, crushing the spirit of the son that you do have, during a time when he needs love and encouragement the most -- or trying to burn him alive when he surprisingly returns to Gondor with a pulse, proving that he is not only a good fighter but he is also more honorable than his father could ever be in “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”
Who do YOU think are some of the worst fathers on film?