The article makes the following points about the state of
father-son relationships (and images in film) in the early
1970s, and these points are still true -- sometimes more so -- today:
"Social temperament . . . affects what we see on the screen
and what we see on the screen affects social temperament." (June 1974, p.23)
"For a considerable time now it has been the
women--mothers, schoolteachers, baby-sitters and the ever-present
feminine influence in advertising--who have been raising the
children almost single-handedly." (July 1974, p.28)
". . . [T]he young (particularly boys) are hard-pressed to find a
model on which to fashion their own identity, hence we often see
them trying to forge their own paths and meet their problems
without the benefit of experience." (July 1974, p.28)
I can only hope that the (near) future will see this
prediction from the article become reality:
". . . [We] will again see positive male images reflected in
films on a regular basis. Future man-boy relationships will not
be as limited as before, and will very likely follow a whole new
set of rules. It will be possible, for instance, to see
complete father-son relationships between boys and men who are
not even related, simply because in our society of fragmented
families this is the only way we will be able to give the
younge [sic; a typesetter's error!] people the examples they seek."
July 1974, p.28)
A current
Web search of my article's title results in scores of
"hits" for articles written in the last few years,
many of which are on the same topic.