didn't like it

first and foremost, most of the time i don't like it when people die in movies, especially if they're children. there are exceptions, but i think it's an overtired plot device that usually doesn't make much sense if you're not thinking of it in symbolic or emotional terms. in this case, the child's death symbolizes the total breakdown of the family. you're supposed to be sad and mad at his parents and think really deep and hard about the state of the american family and the emptiness of the american dream etc etc. yeah yeah yeah, we get it. you really didn't need to kill a kid to say all that.

second, i'm obviously not all for parents going around having affairs and ignoring their kids. but come ON! showing the breakdown of these families against the backdrop of women's lib, sexual lib, a rethinking of the american family, the growing independence of american youth? this movie really comes across as an indictment of modernity and the ways american society has changed in the past century as much as it is a criticism of parents who act like heathens and neglect their children.

i just didn't like it at all.