I became a father in the spring of 2015, and both the joy and anxiety factors in my life have increased a hundredfold. While I love my son to no end, and hearing him giggle is the most beautiful sound in the world (my child is, I can say with complete and total objectivity, the cutest child on the planet), I am also constantly wondering if I’m doing the correct thing. What oddball, bad habit of mine will he unwittingly accumulate? Will he grow up smart because of something I’m doing now? What if I’m not doing that thing? And is it possible for a one-year-old to eat too many Goldfish crackers over a 24-hour period? This anxiety is, I’m sure, the commonest type, and is likely felt by every single parent in the world, including yours.
The old saying goes that there is no “perfect” parent. There is only “good enough,” and that’s good enough. This leaden aphorism, of course, pertains strictly to that banal, faraway realm known as reality. In movies, there is such a thing as a perfect father, and all fathers been trying to emulate him ever since he first appeared in cinemas way back in 1962. I refer, of course, to Atticus Finch, the stentorian, soft-spoken, morally perfect, and infinitely wise dad from To Kill a Mockingbird.
Universal
Also: Growing Up with Atticus Finch | An Interview with Cecilia Peck
Atticus Finch, as portrayed brilliantly by Academy Award winner Gregory Peck, is, in no uncertain terms, the Platonic ideal of fatherhood. He is strong, resolute, knows how to talk to his kids, and is possessed of an unshakable moral code. Even upon deep analysis, he seems afflicted only by the singular flaw of being occasionally impatient from time to time. And that he’s a bit of a square – he’s not the type to roll around laughing. To be fair, he is seen through the eyes of his six-year-old daughter Scout (Mary Badham), so his image may be taken from that idealized childhood era when your parents are still indestructible, but there’s no denying that he seems perfect.
Atticus, who is called “Atticus” by his kids, seems preternaturally predisposed to fatherhood. When his young kids do something to another person, he calmly invites them to see the world from their perspective. To be compassionate. To walk the world in their shoes. This is a man whose biggest lesson to his children is that of empathy. Which is noble and great. In real life, some fathers are overwhelmed by the challenge of merely keeping fingers out of noses. Atticus is already on the “life philosophy” track. He’s almost aggravatingly perfect.
Universal
What’s more, he is possessed of a very forward-thinking social attitude. The novel of To Kill a Mockingbird was written in 1960, and the film was released in 1962. Both take place in 1932 Alabama, a time and place that was, notable to the story, not the friendliest time and place for black people. Atticus Finch is not a racist, and quietly implores the community that surrounds him to be more accepting of black people. He is, essentially, a civil rights activist. But not in the way that requires noisy protest. He is, more of less, trying to calmly and practically sell compassion from within a climate of racial hatred. He can’t out and say that he is not racist – that would invite rancor. But he can say that he is a human, and that his accused black client Tom (Brock Peters) is also a human with the same legal rights as anyone.
Also: Crave’s Review of To Kill a Mockingbird on its 50th Anniversary
Peck was a father himself, and Crave once interviewed his daughter, filmmaker Cecilia Peck, about growing up with Atticus Finch as a father. Peck seems to have also taken lessons from Atticus Finch, as all fathers did, and perhaps tried to live up to his on-screen image as the world’s most perfect father.
This Father’s Day, all fathers should perhaps sit down with To Kill a Mockingbird again and ponder the greatness of Atticus Finch, the aspirational ideal for all dads. Be like that guy.
Top Image: Universal
Witney Seibold is a contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and the co-host of The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon. He also contributes to Legion of Leia and to Blumhouse. You can follow him on “The Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
