Both films, “The Descendants” and “The Kids are All Right”, share many similarities, some subtle, some very obvious and some differences. “The Descendants” involves a struggling family: a father who seems to love his work more than his family; a mother who is in the hospital; and two girls. The family finds out that mom was having an affair, and they set out to find mom’s lover. This brings the family closer, but it takes the mom’s death to finally bring the father and his two girls together. “The Kids are All Right” is a very different story about a same sex marriage between women raising two kids, a girl and a boy. The girl is older and will soon be going away to college and the boy who can’t wait to leave. The boy is curious and wants to find his dad or the man who donated sperm to his mom. The kids start visiting the man and spending time with him. The kids grow to love him. The boy’s mother grows to like the man and ends up having an affair with him, but the girl’s mother flips, and this tears the family apart. The daughter gets drunk and her mom spends many nights on the couch before the two make up. When the daughter goes away to college, all is forgiven, and everything is resolved.
On the surface “The Descendants” and “The Kids are All Right” are very similar movies because both stories are about families facing problems. Also in both stories one spouse is dealing with the cheating of the partner. A difference is how the family discovers and deals with the affair. In “The Descendants” the daughter spills about the mother having an affair, and that triggers the whole family to go on a trip to find the man. After the father and the older daughter meet the man and his family, the father is able to forgive and move on. In “The Kids are All Right” the son desperately wants to find his dad. Once they find the father, chaos breaks out. The son’s mother cheats, the older sister gets drunk and the family is forced to forgive and love again.
Even though both movies deal with family issues, the approaches are different because of the sex of the couples. In “The Descendants” the couple is a woman and a man. In the other movie the couple is same sex females who can discuss their issues. Nevertheless, the issues are quite similar. Both stories deal with the kid problems, and both have to face affairs. Even though their problems are similar, the director’s presentation in each movie is different. In “The Descendants” the director thought the viewer’s might feel more of a connection with the characters so there were more close-ups and in their face shots, so the viewer really understood the actor’s feelings and emotions. Whereas in “The Kids Are All Right” one might not be able to relate to a same sex marriage; therefore, the shots are more pulled back and not so much in the face of the actors, making it harder to understand the characters feelings.
Both “The Descendants” and The Kids are All Right are movies about families and the difficulties a family must work through. The difference is one family is traditional and the other is of same sex parents. Also in “The Descendants” the mother is not an active part of the chaos. Even though the director’s approach is different in each, both movies prove to be successful presentations of family life.
I agree on some of the shots makes it hard to understand and maybe if they changed a couple things then they could of thought we would interrupt the character differently and that's why they chose to do it the way they did but who really knows except the directer...
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