Mama Mia! A Girl Needs a Papa!

My friend David Benkof sent me this commentary about the new ABBA movie:

Gay men flocked to see Mamma Mia! this past weekend, drawn by the show-tune jukebox musical, the openly gay character played by Colin Firth, and the gay icon Christine Baranski in a stunning supporting role. That's not to mention Meryl Streep, who was simply fabulous. But how many gay viewers actually noticed the most important and socially relevant theme of the musical, which is that girls who grow up without a father feel like there's something missing? Sophie, the bride who invites three possible Dads to her wedding, isn't just curious about who provided half of her DNA. She's aching for the missing father she never had as a child and an adolescent, and she wants him to celebrate her wedding. The father role could have been filled by someone other than her biological father, but not even the butchest lesbian would have sufficed. Why can't gay people look at Mamma Mia!, tap their toes, sing along, and realize that whatever kind of equality we ask for, we need to respect that whenever possible, children need both a mother and a father?

I have noticed that Hollywood very often presents stories that are not politically correct. "Juno" comes to mind as another example. When Hollywood wants to tell a good story, some of the political correctness has to go out the window, because it just isn't believable! It is not credible to think that a young girl would be completely indifferent about the identity of her father, or of whether she even has a father. I agree with David that it would be refreshing if gay people re-evaluated their political priorities. It would also be refreshing if the highly visible Hollywood types who promote the sexual revolution in so many ways, actually watched their own movies long enough to see that the sexual revolution hasn't made people happy.