I think I'm on Ted's side because I think he was a pretty good father after Joanna left the house. HE took care of Billy and always read comic books to him. Joanna did the right thing at the end? Not to let Billy suffer the "tragedy" twice. However, I've heard some people blaming Ted for his behavior before, they think Ted only looked after Billy for 18 months and that's not worthy for him to gain the custody. What do you think?
shareObviously, little boy was better off with Ted. He tried so hard to be a great father. I didn't think Joanna deserved a second chance, not at all.
shareJoanna was a despicable person. She doesn't deserve the term mother. Ted was a great dad.
shareAt that age, neither. If the kid was older...say 13 I would say Ted.
shareBoth were great parents.
Joanna was a loving and a great mother who could manage to stick with her son for more than 5 years when she was terribly troubled. All the details the kid mentions about their life are an evidence for that, and how he hugs his mother when they finally meet is a bigger proof.
Ted, on the other side, was an awful parent before Joanna left, he didn't know what grade his son was ! Let alone that a parent like that would be totally ignorant of what his child is going through. However, he tried to be a good one and he nailed it.
I am definitely on Ted's side. He made the most out of a bad situation. He did a very good job holding everything together as a single parent. Joanna abandoned not only him but their son as well. A parent should NEVER abandon their child. It is an inexcusible behavior and was completely selfish on her part. If she had wanted a divorce that would have been fine. It was not fine that she also left her son behind. If she were to get custody and things got tough again, how could you trust her not to make the wrong choice again. She has already proven that she's willing to walk out on her kid...not stellar parent material IMHO. If Joanna couldn't handle being a wife and mother when the husband supported them financially how would she be able to handle being a single mother (holding a job, doing all the parenting, doing all the cleaning, etc). Yes, she was unhappy in the marriage but there is a cure for that...divorce. She couldn't handle any of it though so she ran. Ran away from her husband, from her son, and from all her responsibilities. Loving your kid isn't everything. Sure, she loved the boy, but she put her needs before his and a parent should never do that.
shareNeither. I consider movies like these character studies, there is no real side to take IMO. I just enjoy it for what it is.
Every sin is an escape from emptiness.
Agreed. There is always his side, her side and the truth. The truth of this story is probably that they were both at fault in their marriage, Ted for moulding Joanna into something she wasn't and choosing his career over her, and Joanna for abandoning him and her child without any attempt to fix things.
shareFor the marriage they were probably both at fault, but abandoning a child is on a whole other level which makes it hard to side with her.
shareI agree. The divorce would be on both their heads, but Joanna is the only one who abandoned a child. I don't care how crappy you think your life is. You DON'T walk out on your kid EVER! There is no excuse for Joanna's actions. It would have been fine if she had walked out on Ted. It is NOT fine that she also walked out on Billy.
shareFor Joanne and Ted, I think today's split custody arrangement would have worked well. Back in '79, if split custody was not an option, and I had to choose who to award full custody, I'd say Ted, because if Joanne was so shattered mentally and emotionally that she had to abandon her son just 18 months earlier the way she did with no warning to Ted or Billy and no subsequent in-person contact, there is no way I could be convinced she'd be healed enough at the time of the court appearance to assume full custody.
BTW, I have a real-life split custody anecdote: nearly 10 years ago a family with 3 kids elementary to Jr high age, their Mom and step Dad moved in next door to be closer to their biological Dad who lives less than a mile away. They chose to do this to split the custody half the week at Dad's and half the week at Mom's, be in the same school district, and even ride the same bus to school. My daughter was in 4th grade and within a year or two in age as their daughter.
One night I noticed my daughter's collection of American Girl dolls was considerably expanded and I asked how that came about. Once a week after school, on the evening her bio Dad was going to pick her up, the neighbor girl would bring by her collection of dolls and a case of clothing. Each night while my daughter had the extra dolls in her care, along with her own dolls, she dutifully put them into PJs, tucked each one into its own bed and read them a story. It turns out the two girls kept up this "doll parenting split custody arrangement" for several school years.
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