|
|
| The
show challenges viewers to think about their own character and values.
What has made us into the people we have become? Are the values we
are passing on truly the values that need to be passed on? Are there
values we have learned that we should rethink and perhaps discard? |
(2004) Film Review |
| This
page was created on October 25, 2004
This page was last updated on
June 5, 2005
—Review by Darrel Manson
—Photos
—About this Series
—Spiritual Connections
—Blog
with Darrel Manson
|
| CREDITS |
|
Cast
Christine Lahti
Logan
Lerman
Matt Long
Jessica Pare
Edwin Hodge
John Slattery
From
Warner Bros. Television Production Inc., Berlanti/Liddell Productions,
and Shoe Money Productions. Creator/executive producer Greg Berlanti,
creator/co-executive producer Vanessa Taylor (Everwood), creators
Steve Cohen and Brad Meltzer, with executive producers Mickey Liddell
(Everwood, Go) and Thomas Schlamme. |
| POSTER |
|
| AVAILABILITY
ON VIDEO AND DVD |
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|
|
| SYNOPSIS
|
Jack
& Bobby
Premiered Sunday, September 12, 2004
 From
master storytellers Greg Berlanti (Everwood, Dawson's Creek) and
Thomas Schlamme (The West Wing, Ally McBeal) comes a powerful and
poignant new drama directed by the incomparable David Nutter (Smallville,
Without a Trace). If "greatness is thrust upon us," as
Winston Churchill once said, then it's equally true that those who
are destined for greatness are rarely aware of it. Take Jack and
Bobby McCallister, for example: two bright young brothers growing
up under the watchful eye of their eccentric single mother (Academy
Award, Emmy, and Golden Globe winner Christine Lahti). Her personality
is a force of nature destined to shape both of these young men's
lives and secure one a place in the history books - as future President
of the United States. Set in present day, with flash-forward interviews
of future-President McCallister's White House staffers and first
lady, it's a snapshot of a young man being molded to beat the odds
and become the mid-century's greatest presidential leader.
|
 Review
by
DARREL MANSON
Pastor,
Artesia Christian Church, Artesia, CA
http://netministries.org/see/churches/ch01198
Darrel has an incredible love and interest in the cinematic arts.
His reviews usually include independent and significantly important
film. |
 It's
not unlikely that somewhere in a junior high or high school is a young
man or woman who will, in about another 30 years, become President
of the United States. We don't know which student it is. He or she
probably has no idea of what lays ahead of them. But the experiences
of these years are important influences on the person they will become.
In The WB's Jack and Bobby, we see a present day family in which one
of the sons is a future President. The show spends most of the time
in the present day, watching Jack and Bobby McCallister and their
single mother Grace get through the trials of life. But occasionally
the show shifts to future "documentary" interviews of people talking
about President McCallister and the things that made him a great leader.
Some have likened the show to West Wing. Since it deals with the Presidency,
there is a certain similarity. The difference is that rather than
seeing the power of the office and those involved with it, we see
a much more fragile version of the person who will assume that office.
Each week the show gives us a little more information about the family
and the McCallister presidency. The show offers a bit of a twist each
week. For example, since the first episode is gone until reruns, it's
hardly a spoiler to tell which brother is to become President. Throughout
the first episode, it isn't clear until the end, when it is finally
revealed that the younger brother, Bobby, is the one destined for
high office.
A few other bits of information: Jack and Bobby are not named after
the Kennedy's, but their absent father, who was Mexican. Bobby becomes
a Republican (much to his mother's disappointment), but runs for President
as an independent. Courtney, one of Jack's potential girl friend,
ends up as Bobby's wife.
Like other people their ages, Jack and Bobby make good and bad choices
and may get into trouble. It is these choices and the consequences
that we see forming who Bobby is and who he will become. His understanding
of personhood, of citizenship, of right and wrong are being formed
week by week.
Faith is one of the formative factors in Bobby's life and values.
Although his mother is antagonistic to religion, in the fourth episode
of the series, Bobby begins to have a spiritual awakening. A variety
of faiths come into play that in that episode. The different religions
are each treated fairly, even giving the viewer insight that we may
not have considered. We learn that this religious awakening is of
major importance to Bobby's development, in that before he went into
politics, Bobby becomes a minister.
One problem is that, so far, the show relies on fairly obvious stereotypes.
The boys' mother is a dope smoking, single mother, liberal university
professor always trying to stir up students or trouble with the administration.
Her nemesis, the new university president, Peter Benedict, is of course
a Republican who seems to be more concerned with cutting budgets than
educating students. His is a business attitude, not academic. The
stereotypes are so obvious we can tell the politics of these two just
from visual clues: Grace has hair and body language that go a bit
wild. President Benedict has short white hair, a ramrod posture, and
deadpan face.
There is hope, though, in that the writers seem to enjoy breaking
down stereotypes. They like to twist our expectations. Already there
are some crack in these stereotypes. Grace and Benedict will, I'm
sure influence and be influenced by one another, just as Jack and
Bobby are being shaped week by week by their encounters with other
people and situations.
This is a show that has a great potential for growth as it moves through
the season (and future seasons.) I expect that in many ways the characters
will discover things about life and about themselves that are valuable
for us all to know.
It also has the potential to help us grow in our understanding of
the ways each of us influences other people in our lives. Character
is not something that people are born with; it is something they develop
through the choices they make and the ways they learn from their successes
and their failures. We have influences on one another. How are people
being formed by what we do? How are we passing on our values? If a
future president is in our lives, what are we adding to his or her
character?
The show also challenges viewers to think about their own character
and values. What has made us into the people we have become? Are the
values we are passing on truly the values that need to be passed on?
Are there values we have learned that we should rethink and perhaps
discard?
As we watch Jack and Bobby (and Grace and the other characters) growing
into who they are yet to become, perhaps they will also help to fashion
the character of viewers as well. That marks the potential for a great
series. |
I
am liberated.
Hebba's comments to Grace
from the Jack & Bobby episode,
"A Man of Faith"
I
still believe you were unfair to me that day. You judged me superficially.
You look at me, and you see an oppressed Muslim woman, forced
to cover her head by a misogynistic and backwards culture. That's
what you meant; you see me as a victim. I don't think you see
my choice in all of this...
You
know, there are two girls in my hall who are anorexic, one has
breast implants, and two others are considering surgery either
to their body or their face. All of them obsess over their weight
and their clothes and their looks. This is what your culture does
to women. It suggests ideals they'll never attain, and when they
fail to attain them, tells them they're worthless. You talk about
my conditioning, but what you don't understand is that I am a
feminist, just like you, and this is part of that. This is me
saying "no" to all of the ways your culture tries to
exploit me. This is me saying "yes" to my religion,
and my god, not "no" to being liberated. I am liberated.
|
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| COMMENT
ON THIS FILM |
| —Blog
with Darrel Manson
Your
Private Comments.
I will not post these comments.
What are your personal thoughts? I also welcome your spiritual
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