"Simon Dean" <sjdean@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:c61a0j$jap$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> >>>I can certainly vouch for all of that given my experiences. For the
> >>>show, though, I think they may be able to mix that with an element of
> >>>comedy a little better if they have him grow up to be successful to
> >>>some degree, THEN have his family hold him back in many ways like
> >>>running to him for every little thing (possibly asking for money most
> >>>of the time) then still managing to take him for granted.
> >>
> >>Hrm. Tricky one. You need to make him successful, yet not so
successful
> >>that he can say goodbye to his parents. Because if that happened, he'd
> >>never get held back.
> >
> >Precisely. There will always be something that will keep Malcolm from
being
> >as independent as he should be. Think back on a lot of the episode
where
> >Lois (and Hal, to a limited point) have addressed Malcolm's implied
> >obligation to the family. They need him. They believe that his smarts
> >aren't to be used so much to further himself but for the good of others
-
> >namely, the family.
>
> Hrm. I'll have to look for more than that, but I thought Lois was even
> more shallow than that.
You mean you can get _more_ shallow than that? I thought that took the
cake
with her, but I guess even she can always lower the bar and surpass
expectations. But I believe that this is one of the great oxymorons or
caveats of MITM - it is Hal and Lois's diligent belief in Malcolm and his
intelligence that turns them purely selfish. They do see what a great
person he is, and they must milk it for themselves for all it is worth.
> >>mind you look at Francis, he's successful yet keeps
> >>coming back, though he is moving forward with his life, he got
> >>emancipated, and learned a lot of lessons, and is now successful. You
> >>need to find an element that makes Malcolm reliant on his family for
> >>things.
> >
> >But I think that is by his own choosing. Now that Francis has benefit
of
> >these life lessons, he feels that he is owed in a way for how he was
> >wronged, and he is also doing it more for the benefit of his brothers
than
> >for himself - trying to prevent as much of what happened to him as
possible.
>
> Hrm. I definitely need to look at it a lot more closely. Francis did
> choose to leave, he chose to be independent, and he's made himself a
> success. But the other's don't seem to see that.
I think they do. Notice that Hal has been impressed with his ranch gig;
he
sent him a pair of cowboy boots for his birthday, and notice how the
episode
where they visited the ranch was conveniently filmed during one of
Kaczmerek's absences. Dewey ran away to him, so he obviously saw
something
in Francis that was more mature than his other brothers. Lois...well, it
would just be too much out of character for her to give him any credit.
(Unless she is in labor and has no choice of course. :) )
> its interesting as well
> when Francis returns back home at the start of season 3, the brother's
> all beat up on him, saying "how could you do that to mom". Its like
> mother's are this all invincible being and should be obeyed and
> cherished at all cost to your own personal self. (Calm, Calm Calm)
I know. I couldn't figure that out either. Maybe for them it was like
"we're jealous because you get to get away from her" or "don't leave us
with
her" or something.
> >(Have you seen "Reese's Apartment" yet? I am always leery of talking
> >spoilers but there are several things in that episode that tie in with
this
> >discussion.)
>
> Yeah, I've downloaded quite a few DivX's from Season 5. I love it all.
Okay. I was going to talk about something in that episode that was
pertinent here but didn't want to give spoilers.
Remember in that episode Lois walked in and when she thought Reese was
doing
so well on his own she said he could stay in the apartment? It killed her
to say that almost as much as the one time she had to admit she was
"wr...wr...wro...wro...wrong" in the traffic ticket episode. Then when
she
found out he was digging himself thousands of dollars in credit card debt
she was actually ecstatic, breathing a visible sigh of relief saying
"Reese,
you restored my faith in myself", no doubt feeling exonerated that since
he
had screwed up without her she wasn't superfluous in any way.
I bring this up to say that scenes like this and with Malcolm illustrate
that Hal and Lois are the type of people who can truly do little else
besides harp over their kids. I don't know about over there, but here in
America they seem to be a growing sector of our population. Their whole
ticket into societal validation and worth as a person hinges on how they
"manage" their kids. Like most other social vicissitudes, MITM plays well
off of it.
I believe this plays with each kid differently. With Francis and Reese it
was control and punishment for whatever they did wrong. But with Malcolm,
it's still a need to keep him from being independent and benefiting
himself.
Lois is so used to keeping Francis from doing the same or Reese from
killing
himself or someone else that the natural reaction in her is to play
defense
against any kid, no matter how undeserving they are.
And I think in some way the arrival of the new baby plays into this -
they're going to be parents for 10+ years longer than they thought. By
the
time Jamie is 21 years old Hal and Lois will have been rearing their kids
for <<FORTY>> years. By that time (assuming they don't have even MORE)
will
they even be able to imagine how to see their kids as anything else
besides
property?
> Most certainly the others rebel with physical means. Francis literally
> escapes, no doubt Reese will too.
>
> But Malcolm, he will try and communicate, he will try and talk. But his
> mother will never see him as a valuable human being, never as adult,
> always as her son, if my experience is anything to go by. Malcolm then
> can never expand, and he's trapped in a pseudo-boyhood for eternity
> hoping for praise and acknowledgement from his mother. I rattled that
> off the top of my brain, so forgive me if it doesn't make much sense.
That's all certainly true. I guess the original concept of how mismatched
Malcolm is with his family is and will play almost as well as it did in
the
beginning. So all that has the possibility of happening. Malcolm makes
the
mistake of assuming that since he is more intelligent and principled than
the rest of his clan they will sooner or later follow his lead, and of
course they never will. Malcolm is trying to make his intelligence pay
off
or be appreciated and it isn't happening. He may in some twisted way
actually think that to give up and stop caring what they think would be
selling himself short and admitting defeat, so he will keep trying.
This is one reason why a lot of intelligent kids often grow up to be stuck
in a sense of prolonged adolescence. You develop when you are allowed to
be
your own person, and Lois is so foreign to that concept she can only fear
it.
> >>Its like when she
> >>talked about "I'd sell Malcolm down the river in a heartbeat" or
> >>something. Which, I guess, in some respects is a really good
compliment,
> >>but at the same time, it sounds heartless and cruel.
> >
> >And it is - I believe Lois has taken that philosophy with he children
that
> >to show even the slightest bit of empathy for them is to totally tear
down
> >the parent/child barrier and enslave herself to them.
>
> For sure, no way could a child, even an adult child(?) be on the same
> level as its parent! Preposterous.
And if they are (or are morally/intellectually above it) they must be
taken
down a few pegs to keep them in line. Hence, Malcolm.
> >But that does perfectly mirror the observation I mentioned above about
how
> >she sees Malcolm and what his intelligence is supposed to do for
everyone.
> >In this scene mentioned above, she is of course saying Malcolm's
> >intelligence fruits could be distributed in such a way that Reese could
be
> >saved from failing.
>
> Hrm. Im not so sure about distributed... the thing that comes across to
> me is that, really, they don't care about him. He can take care of
> himself, they're not going to give him any sup****t. Then that's seen in
> the Yard Sale as well I think, where the attention is diverted to Reese
> and Malcolm keeps trying to fight for equality for that attention.
>
> What am I missing?
Nothing necessarily. What I guess I meant to say was that since Malcolm
is
so self resourceful they think he obviously doesn't need doting over.
Instead he has an obligation to use that resourcefulness for others when
they see the need. Like the above mentioned episode, what may happen to
Malcolm is superfluous - he is so smart he can bounce back. But since
Reese
is so unremorseful, he is the one that needs benefit of it. Reese should
be
spared to keep him from becoming a total ne'er-do-well; Malcolm should be
sacrificed because supposedly he can bounce back one way or the other.
This is what I meant by "diffusion" - Reese, the lower level of
intelligence
and ability, gets benefit of Malcolm's higher end. Same thing did happen
in
the Yard Sale episode, though you could tell that while Lois was going
through the motions of that even she didn't believe in him that much - she
just needed to try to see if it had any effect.
All the same, the treatment of Malcolm in deference to others in the
family
suggests a sort of zero-sum gain - he gives, they take so the playing
field
is level. Sort of a way to keep all the kids equal and not let Malcolm
get
away with being the smart one.
Come to think of it, the Wilkersons do seem to be sticklers for
mediocrity.
I have always wondered about Lois. She's a college graduate and certainly
so self assured she has literally consumed herself with volumous
self-certainty. Yet she feels perfectly content settling for a $10/hour
menial job at Lucky Aid. Maybe someday the show will explore this and
quite
possibly find out that Lois is a lot like Malcolm and has been trying to
raise him accordingly, thus perpetuating the mediocrity.
Or, thinking back to the above mentioned Yard Sale episode, Lois laments
that her parents liked her sister Susan better, that they thought she was
the smart one, etc, And Susan does seem to be the greater financial
success
if nothing else. Perhaps Lois fears that giving Malcolm the same praise
that her parents gave Susan would open up a lot of wounds and stir
feelings
Lois harbors for her sister, especially if Malcolm did turn out to be a
success.
Again, so many possibilities...
> > That's the long and short of it - they have so much faith and optimism
of
> > Malcolm's abilities that they are too scared to let him even become
his
own
> > person long enough to conceive of making a decision about himself that
may
> > benefit him more than them. They need him for themselves - not for
him
to
> > be a self actualized individual.
>
> I see the blind faith and optimism. But I do struggle to see how in one
> sided relation****ps, that they could have any control over Malcolm? How
> does the guilt get in there? Obviously if Malcolm suffered no guilt, he
> would have gone to that school from "Baby Part One" right? That was more
> of a selfless act and he seemed almost sheepish and guilty about
> suggesting it, hence the control, but how does the control get in there.
In the case of going to the school in London. I just don't think he had a
choice. I guess he had to have parental permission to go and they just
didn't give it. (oddly it was Hal, not Lois, who told him "you don't get
to
leave".) Translation: "We're on the sinking Titanic and since there
isn't
a life raft big enough for the whole family, you don't get to jump on one
thrown your way". Obviously Hal thought that since the whole family was
suffering he should suffer with them - or think of a way to get them all
out
of it while he's there, being constantly reminded of their dire straights.
But how does the guilt get in there? For Malcolm it's more of a question
of
second guessing aggravated by being held on the same plane as his more
doless and less intelligent brothers. Little by little he sees how he is
dispro****tionately treated like a delinquent, and has to wonder more and
more if he really is like that - or if the intelligence he has can really
be
applied to anything realistically and do him any good.
|
