The Dangers Of Thinking Your Child Can Do No Wrong | My Thoughts On Disclaimer*
Apple
Disclaimer* is some of the best televesion I have seen in a while. The range of emotions it puts you through can be intense at times, and your feelings and opinions of each character in the first episode are dramatically different in the last episode. I put this show up there with Wandavision, Arcane, and Mare of Eastown as my top 5 shows of all time. Madoka Magica would be in there, too. Yes, I know it’s an anime.
Until the last episode, we all held a specific opinion of Catherine Ravenscroft. The show wanted us to believe that she was a seductive, promiscuous, and secretive woman whose life is slowly spiraling out of control because her husband found out about her ‘affair’ with a younger man that happened 20 years ago and that she was partly responsible for his death.
But episode seven revealed the true horrific story of what happened during that trip to Italy, and it got me thinking: Why do parents feel their children can do no wrong?
About Disclaimer*
Apple
Summary from IMDB.com - Blanchett plays Catherine Ravenscroft, a successful and respected television documentary journalist whose work has been built on revealing the concealed transgressions of long-respected institutions. When an intriguing novel written by a widower, played by Kline, appears on her bedside table, she is horrified to realize she is a key character in a story that she had hoped was long buried in the past, that reveals her darkest secret that she thought was hers alone.
Jonathan the Saint?
Apple
We, the audience, thought Jonathan was a respectable young man. We were told that he was taking a gap year with his girlfriend to travel the world while he was young and figure out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, and as a photographer, I empathized with him.
It wasn't until the penultimate episode that we started to see some of the cracks in the idealized version of Jonathan we were being fed. His girlfriend did not leave the trip early due to a death in the family, and even though it was never explicitly stated why she left, it seems like it had something to do with his violent nature that his mother knew he had but would gaslight herself into thinking she didn’t.
Why Do People Think Their Children Can Do No Wrong?
Apple
So why do people think their children can do no wrong? I don’t know.
From general observations of society, I think some people cannot stomach the fact that something that is biologically theirs or was raised by them with their values is capable of doing such heinous things. They will quickly blame someone else, precisely what Jonathan’s mother, Nancy, did.
She took out her frustration and sadness at her child’s death to paint an idealized image of her son and paint the woman in the photographs as a heartless woman who preyed on her son, used him for sex, and then discarded him once he caught feelings. In reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Apple
Jonathan brutally assaulted Catherine for hours while her child was in the hotel room, and I wonder if Nancy knew that this was something that could have happened but instead resorted to blaming someone else for her son’s death.
I don’t have children, but I imagine that finding out your child has done something awful would make you internalize it in some way. You think of yourself as good; therefore, everything you do and create (even your children) is good. There is no way something you had a hand in creating can be awful; it’s just not possible.
Other thoughts
Apple
Other than these thoughts, I thought the show was fantastic and well done; I love the camerawork and narration.
As someone who has visited London and loves the city's dreariness, I loved the color grading of the show. It felt like I was back in London. I need to go back….
Apple
As I watched this series, I had just started watching the Harry Potter movies for the first time. Alfonso Cuarón directed Disclaimer* and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and I did see some similarities in each piece of media, but I preferred the stylization of Disclaimer*.
Cate Blanchett, one of my favorite actresses, absolutely ate this role. There is a moment in the final episode where her character thinks her son Nicholas is dead, and her reaction moved me to tears; I was full-on sobbing from that moment to when she found out he had wakened from his comatose state and comforted her son.
Just give her the damn Emmy.
Also, I wonder if it is wired when actors take roles of characters they share the same name as….
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Hi! I’m Andrea, the creator of Cinematic Excursions.
I am a video editor, photographer, travel and events vlogger, and blogger who likes to write movie analyses and yap about fandom. I also have a useless film degree.
I have been creating videos since 2018. In 2023, I started Cinematic Excursions to share my unfiltered experiences traveling, cruising, going on excursions, and using city cards that are supposed to save money.
I also use my platform to document my experience attending events like New York Comic-Con, MCM Comic-Con London, and the Food Network New York City Wine and Food Festival, advising others and covering news from these events.