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Notes -
I don't like engaging in generational whining but...what's with the trend of reverse-oedipal complexes in media these days? Mrs. FiveHour wanted me to watch The Hawk with her because she liked the first episode she watched. And it's fine for the most part, an inoffensive zany comedy with a solid cast of "Oh look it's Dr. Spaceman from 30 Rock?" in every role. But I'm confounded by the plot: at the opening of the pilot Ferrell is a kind of cross between Tin Cup and Jon Daly, a washed up drunken slob former pga star trying to find his way back to the tour, while his son is a tour pro on the rise. Within five or six episodes, dad has fought his way back to the tour (with a direct Tin Cup homage along the way), and son is frustrated that his dad is better than him and can't handle the competition.
And look I get it, Ferrell is the star people like and tune in for. But how did we get to the point where being just literally irrevocably better than your son was something we celebrated in media? Sure, you have some of the later John Wayne movies where the old timers were still tough, but taking McClintock as our example piece, it is implied and directly written into the script that he expects his heirs (his daughter and the college boy turned ranch-hand he wants her to marry) to grow into their greatness. It's a genuinely weird plot orientation, I have trouble thinking of past examples. Are there a lot of classic "Father is just literally better than his idiot Son at the same task they are both trying" plots that I am not thinking of?
I’m…fairly sure that’s neither oedipal nor reverse-oedipal.
Anyway, it’s common enough in crime stories. “You shot John Wick’s dog?”
History is littered with famous aristocrats whose 10 offspring never amount to anything. As such, there’s no shortage of succession subplots in historical drama (The Tudors, Braveheart) or fantasy (Game of Thrones).
For a more mild version, try Awkward Father Son bonding.
History consists of utterly exceptional men. Whose sons simply regress to the mean and are unable to replicate, sustain or exceed the prodigious accomplishments and/or rotten, overextended edifices of their fathers.
A Philip being followed by an Alexander is a rare occurrence.
Alternatively: when the son does surpass the father, we are more likely to hear about the son.
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