- like his sister, go out and get laid, smoke pot with your peers at their high school parties - so that you can gain (what I would call average teen) experiences that will make you a writer? What a marvellous, genius suggestion. Even more marvellous than the idea that if you are a famous writer who pays his kids to write journals both these kids will inevitably turn out to be talented published writers at ages 17-21...Yeah, right.
shareYeah, more likely that they'll grow up spoiled, feeling self-important, and live off their trust funds. Decent movie, though.
Rarely ever do kids following in their parent's career/footsteps, have the same passion for it, or end up with equal success.
Experience is vital. I'm not for irresponsible drug use and sex, but between that and sitting at home doing nothing there's a big range of possible activities that are both fun and safe and are essential for one's emotional health.
Getting laid in a party is not a good advice, but he never said that promiscuity is what he needs to emulate from his sister, what he referred to was her courage and was clearly talking about his son not expressing his feeling for Kate.
Yeah that bothered me too. The father thinks the only experiences a teenager can have that are worth writing about are getting drunk and having lots of sex in parties? Sorry but those 'experiences' are going to make for terrible writing unless your intention is to become the next Brett Easton Ellis. Hey, by the sound of it, that was more or less what Samantha's book was like. It was probably a *beep* book.
What about other life experiences that are actually fulfilling and productive? Like going on a camping trip with your friends, volunteering at a shelter, joining an international student exchange program, going to a music festival (to enjoy the actual music, not just to get high), getting a summer job. Those kinds of things. God the dad was an idiot.
That's not to say that teenagers can't pull together a good piece of writing despite their lack of life experience, though. John Kennedy Toole was 16 when he wrote "The Neon Bible" and it was a decent book.
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The conversation begins at about 20 minutes from the beginning after the father is caught reading the son's journal.
The father had read "I remember that it hurt, looking at her hurt" in the journal. He says it would make a good opening line of a book, a good hook. He justified reading the journal because that line got him hooked.
Then he quoted another writer that said a writer's work is made possible by their life's experiences. Then the father says the son is not experiencing enough. The father says that other kids are doing things like going to parties and getting laid. Then the father says he is concerned that the son will regret not telling Kate how he feels. The son says it is not so easy and the father says, yes it is; look at your sister, she is a great writer because she is courageous in her life. Then the son says she is promiscuous (and that is not a summarized version of what he says, it is all that he says relevant to that moment). Then the father says a writer is the sum of their experiences, go get some. End of scene. The next thing we see is the son going to a party and he immediately goes to find her.
There is no way he gives the advice "like his sister, go out and get laid, smoke pot with your peers". He is just telling his son to do something; the only specific advice he gives in that scene is to be courageous and to tell Kate how he feels.
Yes, he does imply that it is okay to go to parties and get laid but he is not giving that advice.