Fatherhood 101 is an ambitious documentary that explores the emotional, financial, and sociological angles of fatherhood in modern America. Featuring interviews with parents, adult children, civic and nonprofit leaders, and community stakeholders, this film strives to cover a lot of ground in its short 72-minute runtime.
The intended scope of this film is tough to discern. While the title and subject matter address fatherhood from a national perspective, the initiatives profiled throughout the film focus on successful nonprofit work in northern Ohio.
Interviews with nonprofit stakeholders and supportive civic leaders focus on what models have worked for these communities. Appealingly intimate interviews with fathers, father figures, and grown children speaking of their fathers shuffle the flow of this work.
The piece explores race, incarceration, addiction, and blended family impact on modern American fatherhood. The documentary's interview subjects speak personally and philosophically of their own experiences and perceptions of a father’s impact. Fatherhood 101 intersperses this broad view for stretches with the success stories of local intervention programs and the lives of those they have impacted in a specific region. As a result, the film shifts gears between local and national focus, jilted throughout.
The documentary's profile of successful program models (largely those sponsored by the Ohio Commission on Fatherhood) demonstrates how engaged fathers improve outcomes for children, and herein lies the strength of the piece. There is compelling data to back up the positive influence of fathers on the lives of their children, and Fatherhood 101 intersperses relevant statistics throughout.
This project ultimately paints a picture of fatherhood in a specific place and time, though its ambition to tell a broader story detracts from its strengths. Viewers will enjoy a jumping-off point for discussing the successes of publicly funded pro-fatherhood initiatives. However, its original release in 2013 distances it from more recent alternatives that are focused on the same subject matter (for example Dads, 2020).
What kind of film collection would this title be suitable for?
Non-profits with a tie to incarcerated or addicted parents may keep this as a part of their in-house collection for loaning to board members, program participants, or community stakeholders to borrow. Community college programs in Ohio and surrounding states may also take an interest in this film as a supplement to related coursework.
What type of college/university professors would find this title valuable?
Sociology programs may find value in this piece. Its local focus lends itself to libraries, institutions, or film collections in northern Ohio, and public libraries in the Cuyahoga Falls/ Akron region may identify a local interest in the nonprofits and interview subjects.
Would this film be suitable for an outdoor screening?
This film could make a suitable outdoor or community screening event on or around Fathers’ Day weekend, or as part of a fatherhood program curriculum. As mentioned above, there may be more current alternatives available, but the communities involved with the making of this film may hold a special local interest.