MovieChat Forums > That's So Raven (2003) Discussion > Raven's parents

Raven's parents

posted 12 years ago by furienna
13 replies | jump to latest

Raven's parents, Victor and Tanya, were cool most of the time. But there still were two times, when I got angry with them.

1: The first one is an episode, where Raven has a date with her boyfriend to go to a concert, but she can't go unless she improves her Science grade. I know education is good, but Raven was planning to be a fashion designer, not a scientist, and in my opinion, she was old enough to choose for herself, if she cared more about her boyfriend and going to that concert or about passing a subject in school. I'm sure a lot of people won't agree with me, but this is how I feel about it. If your kid isn't interested in school, forcing him or her into studying, and even punishing him or her for their lack of interest, seems stupid to me. And yet, parents on American sitcoms do it all the time.

2: The second one is an episode, where Raven stands up to that rotten teacher, who keeps insulting his students, and he wants a meeting with her parents. Instead of explaining to Victor and Tonya what was going on, that this awful man had no business teaching, she didn't tell them about the meeting at all, and dressed up to pretend to be her mother. And she ends up being punished, without ever telling her parents what had happened. Okay, I partly have to blame this one Raven herself, because she could have said something. She did get her parents's support, when she had that vision about that woman not hiring black people. Why wouldn't she have gotten their support this time as well? But maybe she didn't tell them, because she had a feeling, that they wouldn't understand? And that sounds terrible.

Intelligence and purity.

[–] beetlejuice82008 12 years ago

Yeah, I also never understood why Raven stuck around in the classroom when her parents came in. She was in disguise so she could have pretended to be the secretary and tell them that her teacher went home sick and then booked it out of there while she was still innocent, LOL.
But I agree with you for the first one. My parents knew I was bad at math and science, so as long as I got a decent mark, like a 60% they were happy. But maybe Victor and Tanya wanted to give Raven some discipline. Maybe they wanted to teach her that she just can't go to run away to go places whenever she had priorities, like school.

[–] RedSimba 12 years ago

1: In that episode she wasn't coming through on her promises (i.e. she also forgot to make the outfit for Cory's friend), so she needed a lesson in responsibility.

2. I don't remember the parents punishing her in that episode, in fact they were really amused by her fat mama outfit, but I do agree Raven should've been honest with them about the teacher (but then we would've missed out on her crazy shenanigans lol)

"Who's there? State your name, rank, and favorite brand of cereal!"

[–] furienna 12 years ago

1: Now that you mention it, I remember vagely something about Raven not keeping the promise about making that outfit. So fair enough. I haven't watched that episode for ages, so I forgot about that detail.

2: I believe she wasn't allowed the use her new phone, which her parents had bought for her. And still, she said nothing about what that teacher was like. About the fat mama outfit, they could have come up with another plot, where she would have had to use it.

Intelligence and purity.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Arvin-G-Borkar 9 years ago

It should not matter. Most good parents will want their kids to do well in school. It does not matter what she wants to be; however, for her parents, they just want to see her best potential in high school. After high school, she can do whatever she wants. Think about it. You are a parent and the kid is on YOUR money. You are going to want them to finish well in high school so that they can stand on their own two feet or else they will have to be dependent on you for the rest of their lives. Boyfriends come and go. If she never made it into fashion and she did horrible in school, she would be on the streets. I would NEVER rely on a girlfriend over school. What you need to do in life to make money comes first and then it is relationships. Many females figure that out in real life when they are left to be single moms and their whole life is screwed.

Better watch out, better start crying. Better hurry up, run and hide. Krampus is coming to town! >:)

[–] furienna 9 years ago

So you feel that forcing a teenager to fake an interest in a school, just to please her parents, is a good idea? Yes, I suppose that Raven's parents wanted what was best for her. But she was old enough to choose for herself if her boyfriend or Science class was most important to her.

Intelligence and purity.

[–] Arvin-G-Borkar 9 years ago

Of course! Parents have to guide the kids. In that situation, any parent with a brain would know that boyfriends, at that stage, are short term and setting a foundation for a career would be for better, long term. Unless I did not have to pay for her college education, she would have to pretty much do what I thought would be a good route. It sounds really restrictive; but in the end, the first girl fails and the more educated gal, is a success.

Better watch out, better start crying. Better hurry up, run and hide. Krampus is coming to town! >:)

[–] shani_dayo 9 years ago

Your first point I feel it totally ludicrous. Education comes first, and if you don't have it then it can be detrimental in the future. Careers like fashion design aren't stable, and you need something to fall back on in case it doesn't work out, a child will regret it in the future when they can't get a job because they goofed off in High school and didn't go to college. Like it or not, this day in age a High school diploma isn't really enough to live on. It's important that our youth grow up to be stable, independent intelligent adults who can provide for themselves, and have a trustworthy main source of income. Parents should instill the drive to learn into their kids from a young age, if your not interested in bettering yourself using the skills your taught in school I feel your an ignorant person. Raven's parents were not wrong in this situation, if She is under 18 and living in their house they have every right to tell Her were She can and can't go, and who She may and may not go with. Keeping your grades up in order to do outside activities is not unreasonable.

Your second point is a bit easier to understand, but if Raven is old enough to make Her own decisions She should be old enough to go to a teacher privately after class to discuss a matter, like a mature teenager who is growing into a young adult. The way She handled it was issue, not standing up for Herself and others.

[–] furienna 9 years ago

Your first point I feel it totally ludicrous. Education comes first, and if you don't have it then it can be detrimental in the future. Careers like fashion design aren't stable, and you need something to fall back on in case it doesn't work out, a child will regret it in the future when they can't get a job because they goofed off in High school and didn't go to college. Like it or not, this day in age a High school diploma isn't really enough to live on. It's important that our youth grow up to be stable, independent intelligent adults who can provide for themselves, and have a trustworthy main source of income. Parents should instill the drive to learn into their kids from a young age, if your not interested in bettering yourself using the skills your taught in school I feel your an ignorant person. Raven's parents were not wrong in this situation, if She is under 18 and living in their house they have every right to tell Her were She can and can't go, and who She may and may not go with. Keeping your grades up in order to do outside activities is not unreasonable.

But it was her life and should be her choice. And if that choice would come back to bite her in the butt later on in her life, it would be her problem to handle when that time came. Yes, I know that Raven was still a minor and lived in her parents's house. Nevertheless though, she was, yet again, old enough to make plenty of decisions on her own. And you also have to understand that higher education isn't for everybody, no matter how awesome it might be for others. And many people have a school subject or two, that is much harder for them than the rest. So even though it feels like we were supposed to be Raven as a stupid reckless teenager in this episode, I still can see where she was coming from.

To be fair to Victor and Tonya though, they were no worse than many other sitcom parents. As a matter of fact, sitcom parents have been notorious for pushing their kids into school work, no matter if the kids were interested in it or not. And yes, I know that we're supposed to think that the parents only want what's best for their kids. But we hardly ever get an episode, when the parents actually explain this to their kids and really talk to them about it. So they will just come across as high-strung jerks, who can not stand that their son or daughter has a mind of their own.

Your second point is a bit easier to understand, but if Raven is old enough to make Her own decisions She should be old enough to go to a teacher privately after class to discuss a matter, like a mature teenager who is growing into a young adult. The way She handled it was issue, not standing up for Herself and others.

But I don't think that your suggestion would have worked either. Sure, I guess that the mean teacher maybe would not have been quite as angry if she had given him the speech during a private meeting. But I can almost promise you that nothing would have changed anyway. Not that I think that standing up to him in front of the whole class worked either (even though we could see that the others applauded Raven for doing it), but that is because she never explained to her parents what was going on.

Intelligence and purity.

[–] Purplecover101 8 years ago

In the episode "Blue in the face" Tanya's issue wasn't the about science project alone. The main issue was her being too preoccupied with Devon that she forgot about everything else and all her responsibilities.

She broke a promise to William b/c Devon which was wrong and she's always late to class and being easily distracted. I'm assuming that she wanted to teach her the importance or priorities and responsibilities.

[–] Furienna (3345) 8 years ago

Fair enough, but... Even if Tanya's issue wasn't the science project alone, that is the part that bothers me. Because I've seen this again and again in American sitcoms and even comic strips: The kid has to be on top of all their classes, or they will have to face anger and even contempt from their parents. Remember how Cliff Huxtable on "The Cosby Show" almost was ready to disown Theo and called him lazy, when he said that he would be satisfied with being a bus driver? And yeah, I guess that we're supposed to think that the parents only want the best for their kids. But since you will hardly ever hear that arguement in the show itself, the parents will only come across as selfish jerks to me. As if they only want the kids to do well, so they can please the parents. And how is that fair? Some times, parents will just have to face that their kids have minds of their own and have to make their own choices and mistakes. Especially if the kid in question is already a teenager like Raven was in that episode. But it seems like American sitcom and comic strip parents are really bad at thinking that far...

But I guess that this comes down to a case of values dissonance between the US and my country. Because here in Sweden, parents in TV shows, movies and books will be far more liberal than their American counterparts. Or if they aren't that liberal, they will have to change and apologize or be labelled as domestic abusers. And I just can't imagine that a "you have to improve your grades, or else" or "you have to go to College, or else" plotline would come up in any Swedish media. Unless you want to portray said parent as a bad person, that is...

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

1) It wasn't JUST about the Science project. As Tanya mentioned, she was also upset about Raven being distracted and spacing out just b/c she was dating Devon. Plus, it was wrong of her to break a promise to William to design his outfit after he DID do her homework. The point her parents were making is that life isn't just about having a BF and that she has to learn responsibility and setting priorities.

2) As for the "Mother Dearest" episode. I agree, that her teacher was an a-hole and that Raven had every right to be mad. But at least they weren't too hard on her. They only took her phone away for a week.

[–] Furienna (3345) 6 years ago

1: Fair enough, this might have been about more than the Science project. Even so, it was like this episode was another example of a trend, that every kid in American TV shows has to pretty much straight As in school, or they will have to face the wrath of their parents. Not funny.

2: My problem with that episode is that Raven didn't even tell her parents what had been going on. And I don't like the awful implication, that they would never have believed her, or they would have believed her, but they would still have sided with that asshole teacher.