Fathers STILL get the rough treatment in media, from being portrayed as too old to understand the modern day, feckless, violent, cold and just plain absent.
And we all see the fatherless behaviour that in reality causes...
So to celebrate a day that often gets overlooked to the female equivalent, what are some of the best representations of fathers you've seen in media?
Anime My daughter left the nest and Returned an S Rank adventurer: Belgrieve or 'the red ogre' is a perfect example of a positive role model I can think of in Anime. He's strict but fair, patient when he needs to be but not a push over, knows when to be emotional and when to think with a clear head. He's such a good role model that even former enemies switch to following his leads and former friends who fell off the right path immediately get back on the path just knowing He's around.
**As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll use my appraisal skill to Rise in the world **: for the time he's on screen, Raven shows he's not just a great warrior and lord but an excellent father, encouraging his son when he can, traching him the right values and when it matters most, just talking to him when he needed it and that attitude extended to all the other members of the cast.
Western Media: I think the diluge of propaganda over the years is making my mind a bit blank on this unfortunately. Had to delve into my brain for this:
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (1990s): James Avery played uncle Philip PERFECTLY, he was the greatest role model of a good Black father figure so no wonder they character assassinated him in the 'remake'
What are you're picks as to save it going to long, I should mention there are quite a few 'regression father stories' in Manhwa too where a father who makes mistakes raising their child (usually daughter) regresses in time to raise them properly, it's a genre to itself at this point.
Bioshock 2 is probably the peak from the "dads with daughters" era of gaming in the early '10s for me.
Because the game doesn't let you just take the "anything goes to protect her" angle for free. It reminds you that they aren't just taking the lesson you tell them, they are also watching what you do and taking huge inspiration from that. If you aren't ready for the scene where she turns around and murders an innocent little girl in her bed because she "studied how you treated others" its a real gut punch moment of realizing how evil you were. Which is a lot after the game has them whisper in fear of you lines that sound right out of a fucking Domestic Violence scene.
But if you weren't "Pure Evil" the entire game, it even offers you an ending where you can reject her emulating you at the very end and tell her to be better. Which after her edgy supervillain speech on the way up is a really redeeming moment of breaking a teenager out of a bad path, like they often fall on.
Its a massivley underrated game that improves on nearly everything from the first, sans the big twist, but got absolutely buried by critics because it exchanges the capitalism/objectivism mockery for burying collectivism/therapy. They wouldn't admit it, but the fact that it shits all over the Left and even the way they brainwash people is a huge reason why it got treated as "weak, forgettable B team sequel."
Related to this, I'd include Dishonored (the first one). Especially due to how the game framed the story and events in such a way that at least to me, I couldn't stomach coming home to my character's daughter if I'd been murdering people left and right. A rather unique and heartfelt way to motivate me towards going for the non-lethal approach.
Another game character and fatherly figure I'd mention would be Miller from the Metro games.
Its usually a great example of soul vs soulless.
Because when you can tell they are trying to manipulate you with cheap tricks like that, its insulting and takes you right out of it. Last of Us 2 making you play with the dog or shouting random names is a good example of it being overt.
But when it works, it really does make the game's "choices" work a lot better than the pure mechanical version it otherwise would be.
Even if you ignore the overarching, big-brained, "collectivism bad" theme, BioShock 2 had a surprisingly personal tale of getting your daughter back from her abusive cunt of a mother, where Sophia Lamb treats Eleanor like an accessory than a person. I'm sure that's a far more relatable tale for many a divorced father than Infinite's "muh greater good" ending, or even BioShock 1's "free will is a lie".
All of the little 1 to 1 stories in Bioshock 2 are more personal, way more so than most else in the series.
Sinclair is setup to be an obvious Judas who would betray you just like Fontaine. But while he is a slimy business man, he isn't a monster and fights to the end to resist being forced into one. The black mammy is lost in her blind bigotry and idolization that she is literally shook by seeing the fact that her "enemies" can think.
Bioshock 1 has this grand story about the literal top of the top Elites and their machinations, and its amazing at times, but none of us will ever be a Frank Fontaine or Andrew Ryan. But a lot of us could be just a simp being abused by a monster (Gilbert Alexander) or a broken father trying to do his best in an awful world (Alpha).