Monday, March 30, 2009

Why Not Dad?

Why Not Dad?, says the film's website, "is the result of 9 months of ethnographic collaboration between the filmmakers and a group of stay-at-home fathers in San Francisco. Weekly contact with the men and their children gave rise to an unprecedented filmmaking collaboration in which the fathers were able to help shape the direction and development of the film." Which sounds a trifle dry; the film is actually warmer than one would expect an "ethnographic collaboration" to be. You can can watch it here:

3 comments:

Chip said...

nice film. really makes me wish there'd been other stay at home dads around my n'hood back when I was doing this 16-17 yrs ago.

Variations On A Theme said...

Great short film. When the guy related his first experience with the stay-at-home dad's group, and said it was so easy to instantly bond and discuss with other dads various aspects of parenting - without mention of "what did you do before this? - that was my first experience with a mom's group.

Only in the past year, have I started asking, "What did you do in your former life...blah, blah, blah, because I'm wanting to have a career again and am remembering that once upon a time, we all did something outside of the home.

Something I sometimes think when I see a stay-at-home dad is: "Oh, I bet he never loses his patience. His kids are so lucky." I'm not sure why I assume this. It seems an unfair expectation to place on the guy and equally unfair to myself to feel I'm "less than" because I do lose my patience.

I feel like I'm encroaching on sacred ground by commenting here. Hope it's okay. I AM giving out the blog address to the stay-at-home dads at my daughter's school. :)

Vincent O'Keefe said...

Great film. I have been a stay-at-home dad for nine years now. I can certainly relate to much of what the dads said in the film. I think the more people see these types of films, the better for everyone.