Standard Fifties Father: Difference between revisions

▲{{quote| ''It was an elderly car, but well preserved. Not using Crowley's method, though, where dents were simply wished away; this car looked like it did, you knew instinctively, because its owner had spent every weekend for two decades doing all the things the manual said should be done every weekend. Before every journey he walked around it and checked the lights and counted the wheels. Serious-minded men who smoked pipes and wore mustaches had written serious instructions saying that this should be done, and so he did it, because he was a serious-minded man who smoked a pipe and wore a mustache and did not take such injunctions lightly, because if you did, where would you be? He had exactly the right amount of insurance. He drove three miles below the speed limit, or forty miles per hour, whichever was the lower. He wore a tie, even on Saturdays.''}}

▲{{quote| ''Archimedes said that with a long enough lever and a solid enough place to stand, he could move the world. He could have stood on Mr. Young.''}}

▲{{quote| -- ''[[Good Omens]]''}}

▲[[Seen It a Million Times|You know this man, and can recognize him on sight.]] The [[Standard Fifties Father]] was born in a small town in the US Mid-West. His parents were farmers of some sort, or perhaps his father was a druggist. A veteran, he put himself through college (possibly through the G.I. Bill) and is now a white-collar professional... unless he's a doctor or the owner of his own store (pharmacy, shoe store, grocery, etc.).

▲The [[Standard Fifties Father]] is solid, dependable, and responsible. He's [[Happily Married]] to his wife, who he met [[High School Sweethearts|when they were both teenagers]]. And if the love he gives his children is slightly distant, it is no less heartfelt for being so. He's an upstanding citizen who rarely swears or drinks to excess, [[Good Smoking, Evil Smoking|if he smokes he]] [[Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe|smokes a pipe]], and attends a regular "bowling night" with his friends. He wears a shirt and tie with dress pants and a cardigan during the day (even while he cuts the lawn on Saturday morning) and sleeps in sensible cotton pajamas. He's buttoned-down, calm, wise, and thoughtful. Only two things can rattle him: [[Panicky Expectant Father|his wife going into labor]], or his wife deciding that she wants a job.

▲When played straight, the [[Standard Fifties Father]]'s primary function is to offer object lessons and moral instructions to the various members of his family. When [[Played for Laughs]], he's the butt of jokes and the perfect example of dorkishness. When played [[Darker and Edgier]], he's often the male version of a [[Stepford Smiler]], hiding his neuroses, insecurities, and other issues behind the fatherly facade. Note that he is pretty much never played straight anymore, as part of the ongoing violent backlash against everything from the era.

▲* A more developed version is Fujitaka Kinomoto from [[Cardcaptor Sakura]], mixing it with [[Yamato Nadeshiko]]. {{spoiler|As much as one of the reincarnations of Clow Reed can be, of course.}}