While I have not infrequently referred to the current chief executive as the TV-made president, a popular culture creation, today’s reference to him as “big daddy” in Another diary adds a new dimension that I had not considered before.
While I associate the term with the Tennessee Williams play and film, “Cat on a hot tin roof,” current generations are reminded of an Adam Sandler film about an adoption.
Adoptions are significant in large segments of USA culture. Adoption is, of course, easier than reproducing oneself and, if the child is a disappointment, is easier to send back. If the child has any obvious deficits, the adoptive parents can get help with a stipend, a promising start for a lifetime of human husbandry.
Yup. Big Daddy is apt.
The Pollitts, Big Daddy and Big Mama, arriving home by private plane was a big deal in 1958. Perhaps more impressive to young viewers than Elizabeth Taylor.
And then there is Big Daddy’s famous quote:
“What's that smell in this room? Didn't you notice it, Brick? Didn't you notice a powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room?... There ain't nothin' more powerful than the odor of mendacity... You can smell it. It smells like death.”
