Parents are Human

Blog4. Parents Are Human

Yes it’s hard to believe but parents do make mistakes.Growing up I did not think that was possible.I saw my parents as immortal beings of sorts and then they got divorced after a happy childhood which stretched into my teens.In Runaways we see teenagers who depend on parents for developmental assets of love and support which is also the case in Good Girls.

The teenagers depend on their parents for structure, love and support.In Runaways they must turn to each other for these developmental assets when their parents become frustrated with society and turn into killers. Audrey has a vast net to derive love and support from. When her mother made the appointment with the gynecologist she was doing the best she could to show love. John Porter initially wants to find out who took the picture of her giving the blowjob and circulates it with a vengeance. He cannot accept the fact that it was his daughter, initially, as he was in denial.
I knew a basketball player who was recruited by a Division 1 high school basketball team but attended school elsewhere. When the coach refused to play him the father talked of planting cocaine in the coaches car.

The Runaways were happy to have each other for support. What would they have done if they didn’t have each other? Audrey Porter had Joelle and Ashley along with her parents. When she got into a tiff with Ash over having sex with Luke, not out of love, she had Cindy and Pam. She had a solid network. In a way I’d rather read about a poor girl who has to find love and support as Audrey was showered with plenty of it.
Friendships are very important to these teens. A valuable resource I wish I had was networking with other teens who were going through the same situations. At Andover there was no support whatsoever. Audrey had all the fixings of a good solid home so where’s the challenge to this story. Tupac couldn’t run home to his parents.

Good Girls reminds me of Marie the “Sap S-----“ at Andover. She developed an early reputation for blowing members of the tennis and hockey teams in the library stacks. She also held several gang bangs as a sophomore and left school very early. Her exploits were well know on campus. Everyone on campus seemed to know Marie.

When I see how parents act in Good Girls and Runaways it makes me conclude that parents are far from perfect and sometimes their actions need to be questioned. When the love and support stops at home we must find other positive sources and this can be hard when perfect images of parents are shattered. When parents communicate poorly or turn to devious acts it greatly affects the love and support teens need. I enjoyed Runaways, my first graphic novel. If Audrey was poor, from a broken home and black what would the school have done?