User blog:Gumball2/Parents as Characters

Buckle up. This is gonna be yet another blog where I annoy everyone with my thoughts. Proceed with caution.

I wanna talk about Lynn Sr and Rita Loud.

To me, parents present an interesting challenge for storytelling. On one hand, they are supposed to be the voice of reason and authority figure over their children. But on the other hand, they are human beings with flaws, limitations, and misconceptions on the world around them. Using this as a model, one must then adjust for the genre and tone their work is supposed to be. Since Loud House is a comedy, there’s an inclination to amplify the latter for the sake of telling a joke. In theory, it should be funny since one doesn’t expect an authority figure to give into their flaws and act childish even.

But now, comedies have relied so much on this trope that it’s nearly impossible to make it funny or original. The saying goes that the Simpsons already did it, and Homer has been thrust into every situation a stupid, bumbling dad can be thrust into. On top of that, you can add Peter Griffin, Randy Marsh, and countless other comedic dads (both animated and live action). There’s little incentive to continue this trend because while it’s easy to produce, making it stand out from the crowd is practically a fruitless task.

Now I want to make this perfectly clear. I don’t think comparing Lynn Sr. to Peter Griffin is fair. Lynn isn’t completely stupid and for a good chunk of time, he comes across as responsible, affectionate, and likable. I’ll give credit where credit is due (“Legends”, “Fed Up”, and “Lock N Loud” are perfectly fine episodes for his character). I’m also not saying that a parent has to know all the answers or always handle every situation perfectly. I have said before that characterization is something that fascinated me and that anyone can be made interesting, including parents.

What I am expecting, though, is for parents (even in comedies) to either maintain decently high standards most of the time or at least try to make up for any mistakes they make. While I think Lynn Sr and Rita are parents with good enough moments here or there, they are not consistent and their lows undermine their highs.

“No Such Luck” and “Brawl in the Family” have been discussed to death, so I won’t be talking about those. But there are plenty of other episodes that make me concerned about their parenting. Lynn Sr’s endangering of his entire family and disgusting cowardice in “Fools Paradise” is a major reason why that episode is one of my least favorite in Season 2. I know he apologized when Lincoln chewed him out, but in my eyes, it’s too little too late (plus, his “redemption” is playing Luan’s dumb game instead of laying down the law like an actual parent should). While Rita is somewhat better, she sadly has also displayed some less-than-glamorous moments. Her biggest standalone blunder came in “Crying Dame”. While this is a good episode in general, she and Lynn Sr drag it down. Specifically, Rita says not one, but two things no parent should ever say in front of their child/children; first she calls Lucy’s eyes creepy, then she tells all ten of her younger children that she almost didn’t have them because of a toy. While these are played for laughs, I didn’t find them funny. To me, they just fall under the lazy, mean-spirited “bumbling parent” schtick That has been overdone.

I could name other examples, but you can boil it all down to this: At their worst, Lynn Sr and Rita are insensitive while cowarding away from authority. You can argue that this is just from the stress and difficulty from raising not one but eleven kids. But I would like to counter that in two ways. One, they chose to have that many kids; they went into each pregnancy with the understanding that it would add tremendous responsibility, expectations, and challenges on top of everything else. And secondly, not all of their behavior is directly correlated to the number of children they have. If Lucy were their only child, for instance, would that change Rita’s inclination to call her daughter creepy? I doubt it was comparisons to other kids that formed that belief to bein with. If Lori and Leni were their only two children and they got in a fight, would they have intervened sooner? Maybe, but if it turned violent, I think the answer would be no.

You might be wondering at this point. All these things apply to any character, so what makes parents so special?

Aside from the complete unoriginality of “bad parents” in comedies, I am personally not happy when I watch them. In my view, parents are very important people. Their decisions can shape who you are in ways unimaginable. Deciding how many kids to have, how to approach challenges their kids face, and how they present themselves can sometimes be a dealbreaker. Admittedly, this is a personal issue for me.

I am autistic. I began showing symptoms at a year old, bringing about tremendous difficulties. It was to such an extent that I may have been nonverbal without extensive special services. Luckily, I have parents who had limitless determination. They were proactive and unafraid to face administrative and financial obstacles in order to get me the help I needed. It was from that I got off to a good start, that I had the tools I need to catch up to my peers. I have the world to thank for my parents. They were not rich nor special education specialists, but they had strong character. They knew how to find and fight for resources so that I could be raised for a promising future.

Lynn Sr and Rita, as I have said, are not terrible parents. I don’t have a vendetta against them and I enjoy the moments where they are loving or effective at their job. But with their personalities and their tendencies to cave in under pressure, I am left to ask: would I be the same person had these people been my parents? Would I be in college right now? Would I be on the Internet typing these words? Would I even have the luxury of using my voice to express how I feel?

I realize these are questions that apply exclusively to my circumstances, so let me pose all of you this question. Imagine you were a child of Lynn Sr and Rita and one night, the House catches fire in the middle of the night. A wooden beam falls on you, preventing you from escaping on your own. Do you think that in the fiery chaos, your parents would rescue you?

The answer may seem like an unqualified “Yes” and I yearn for that to be the case. But episodes like “Fools Paradise”, “April Fools Rule”, and “Brawl in the Family” make me doubt that assumption. None of the parents have been willing to discipline their own children, get in the rough of things, or own up for any harm their child faces. While this isn’t the case for all episodes, the existence of such moments is troubling.

And I think that’s a shame given how successful Season 2 has been in other respects. Season 2 demonstrates that this is a show that can transcend dead horse tropes if it puts its mind to it. We have seen “The Sister” get toned down; now the show is the children working together instead of it being Lincoln vs. everyone else. Season 2 has also pushed the envelope by having supporting characters moving away (and staying away) and representing both bisexuals and people with Down syndrome. While these things were also present in Season 1, Season 2 turned it up. The show is growing up in many ways.

Even though the parents have felt some of this, they lag behind the show as a whole. To me, the “bad parent” thing is increasingly becoming a relic of the past that detracts from the show rather than conform to it. It stands out and it keeps either parent from growing as characters. I believe that Season 3 should either tone down the lows or have the parents confront the flaws that contribute to them (I.e. cowardice). Through that, the show won’t be bogged down by such a cliched and mean-spirited trope that is more a marker of laziness than brilliance.

But enough about how I feel. What do you think of Lynn Sr and Rita? Feel free to express your thoughts below.