MovieChat Forums > American Dreams (2002) Discussion > Cringeworthy Moments

Cringeworthy Moments

posted 12 years ago by sartan01
21 replies | jump to latest

I was just wondering which scenes or episodes of "American Dreams" made you cringe? I don't mean scenes that you truly hated, but scenes that made you uncomfortable.

One that I can think of at the top of my head was when Meg, JJ and Patty were all at this party (maybe Luke's?) in the third season. Well, of course Meg was off with Roxanne and Luke and maybe Sam, and then JJ meets up with Tommy and the other guys and he comes with Beth, but Patty is just sitting alone. Some guy offers her a joint and she just shakes her head. I think the reason why that scene made me cringe is because I felt just as uncomfortable as Patty. Not only was it kind of weird that three of the Pryor kids were at a party together, but it was also painfully obvious that Patty just lacked the social skills and graces that Meg and JJ had. She looked so out of place and scared. I felt emotionally she was still kind of naïve even though she skipped a grade.

What about you all?

[–] JimmyCollins 12 years ago

The episode that Kristen Bell guest starred in and she's told that abortion is murder in the churches eyes, and then Gail O' Grady says she agrees with that. I was furious in this episode.

[–] sartan01 12 years ago

Yeah, I kind of thought it was odd that Helen had such a strong opinion on abortion, yet she wanted birth control (I know they're obviously both different situations.) The Catholic Church was really strict about all that. It's just that it was awkward how she dealt with her own issues, and realized she was still unsure about things just like Bell's character.

[–] pioneergrrrl 8 years ago

I'm sure they did it so they could get the episode on air period. Otherwise they would have people protesting that American Dreams was promoting abortion.

Dad who had been catholic (and around JJ's age) said Church did not hammer anti-abortion message back then.

[–] mistermycroft 8 years ago

I don't think abortion was an issue that the Church would have spoken about until the 1970s, when it became totally legal

In the 1950s and 60s, if you got a girl pregnant, even if you were 17 years old, you were pressured to marry her in a quicky wedding, which is what happened

Or the girl would disappear for 9 months to some relative's house out of state, where the baby would be put up for adoption

Watch the movies THE WANDERERS (1979) and THE LORDS OF FLATBUSH (1974), set in the late 1950s and early 60s, as an example of this

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] mikziv 12 years ago

Wasn't this the same episode when the entire family plus Roxanne, Uncle Pete and the new neighbor Mrs. Pearce, and Beth are all eating dinner and Beth tells Mrs. Pearce that her own parents aren't invited to the wedding but doesn't go into it any further and then Patty blurts out that it is because Beth's parents threw Beth out of their house when they found out that Beth was going to keep the baby. That was very cringe worthy. Poor Patty.

[–] sartan01 12 years ago

No, that was before the episode where all of them are at the party. Beth had already had the baby. She and JJ all met up with his old high school buddies. Some guy was flashing around a strobe light, and JJ started having flashbacks of 'Nam.

[–] USGrrrl 10 years ago

I always cringed during the scenes where the family were gathered together at the dinner table or any other situation and everyone would talk at the same time.

[–] hurricane_greg86-596-716877 10 years ago

I think Meg's whole anti-war liberalism was cringeworthy cause it did not feel genuine it always felt like it was not her opinion. Part of it is to blame on casting a pretty blonde conservative looking girl to play her. Almost all footage they show of most the women protesters were ugly looking

[–] sartan01 10 years ago

I agree. It was almost as if NBC had an agenda to make Meg like that because Iraq was happening in real life. I may have missed something, but I didn't even know why she thought like that unless she was just sprouting what Drew had told her or whatever.

Plus, it didn't help that Brittany Snow isn't that good of an actress. She just looked super fake trying to act like she cared about anything other than her hair or something.

[–] dianelkelly 10 years ago

It drove my husband and me crazy to see Will with those antique leg braces! We're the same age Will would have been in those days, and we never knew anyone of any age who had had polio. Also, the one person that I knew who had leg braces (because of a birth defect) had modern metal braces with foam cushioning, used with modern metal crutches - the kind that attach to the user below the elbow. Will looked like he was out of the 1940s, maybe 50s, definitely not 60s.

[–] nitestar95 10 years ago

Will had polio because his dad didn't get him vaccinated. In the 1960's, many people still paid cash for their medical visits; health insurance wasn't universal. My dad worked for the public school system and we had no insurance until the early 70's when they unionized. so it's not a stretch to believe that the pryors (who's dad had a small business, and no company paid health insurance) would only have paid for whatever braces they could get, and braces weren't all made by the same huge companies; some were made locally, all custom design, and each set was different. If the person making them had been making them for 30 years (conceivable, as polio was much more common in the 30's and 40's) that person would probably keep making the same design.

[–] dianelkelly 10 years ago

I'll give you a "maybe" on the braces (your reasoning makes sense), but not on the vaccine.
We were not poor, but we also had no health insurance throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Polio was such a horrible disease (and very high in the public consciousness during a time when parents did not opt out of vaccines) that there were free clinics giving out the vaccines. I remember (as a toddler?) going to my local high school (in our small west coast suburb) and getting the sugar cube with the vaccine; I was relieved that I didn't have to get a shot. Could I have contracted polio before that? Maybe, but I repeat that we never knew anyone of any age who had had polio.
I haven't seen a polio map to know if there were a greater number of cases in the eastern U.S., which might also be a factor in this discussion.

[–] MizzNijna 9 years ago

The Pryors said they didn't trust the "new" vaccine and that's why Will didn't get it.

[–] dianelkelly 9 years ago

If they said that, then I stand corrected. Back then, however, common folk like the Pryors usually didn't question doctors' wisdom or opt out of vaccines. The anti-vaccine movement is fairly recent - and losing ground quickly (the Governor of California just signed the bill to require vaccines for children who attend public school).

[–] DegrassiFan08 9 years ago

I remember the vaccine discussion scene. Helen said "plenty of people didn't trust the polio vaccine when it came out" and Jack replied with "but you would have taken him to get the shot".

I'm assuming the decision was left up to Jack? Or maybe Helen was busy or out of town and for some reason could not take Will to the clinic for the vaccine. I don't think they ever elaborated further on it.

[–] dianelkelly 9 years ago

OK; I didn't remember that. An earlier post said that dad didn't get Will vaccinated, so I guess it was up to Jack. Thanks!

That said, I now think the writers played loose with the facts about public reaction to the polio vaccine and added a 2000s sensibility to the issue.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] pioneergrrrl 8 years ago

They did the same thing with the abortion episode, my dad grew up Catholic (he would have been JJ's age) --and he said that the church did not organize against abortion.

Helen just would have been quiet when Amy told her what happened. She still would have helped her.

More realistic and time-accurate reaction is in the movie "if these walls could talk". The catholic relatives of a single nurse do explicitly tell her that they don't care what she does as long as the mother in law does not find out. Reputation is more important in that era.

[–] norway-jm 8 years ago

The one where Patty invites the boy she likes to the house and tells him Jay and the Americans will be there because Meg is planning a party. No one shows up because Meg and the Bandstand gang decided to go elsewhere. I felt so embarrassed for Patty.

[–] ADBruns 8 years ago

Generally, any time Meg cried, or any time Patty tried to scheme, mainly because of how those things seemed to happen nearly every episode.