#sitcom dads

It’s a frustratingly common trope in entertainment: The clumsy, dopey, misunderstanding, almost always wrong dad. Even the best family sitcoms are guilty of using it to motivate half or more of their episode plots. Making the dad of the family the butt of the most jokes or the one in need of learning the most lessons may have contributed to our society’s tendency these days to not take the role of fatherhood anywhere near as seriously as we desperately need to. And it becomes downright infuriating when it seems like every dad in a sitcom or children’s cartoon is the incompetent buffoon who acts more like an obstacle to the other members of his family than the moral compass and loving head of the household he’s supposed to be to them. I know I’m sick of seeing that trope just about everywhere, which is why I tend to latch onto the rare aversions that come our way (lookin’ at you, Tenzin; you’re not perfect, but you are an excellent father).

That said, there are ways this trope can be done well. And I can think of no better example than our beloved masked mallard, Darkwing Duck--known also by his civilian name, Drake Mallard.

Drake’s got all the classic hallmarks of a sitcom dad. He’s clumsy, egotistical, overbearing, and he and Gosalyn are constantly at each other’s throats while still loving each other deeply. But for him, it works. Because Drake has a valid excuse most sitcom dads do not: He has only been a parent for a short time, and he has never had a partner in the picture. At best, he’s got Launchpad, who is more like the uncle who enables the spirited child in her rebellion, either directly or by his agreeing to look the other way. And sometimes it’s almost as if Drake is raising Launchpad too. Plus his work is very dangerous, and Gosalyn is a part time sidekick as she learns to fight crime alongside her dad. Drake’s got a lot on his plate. If anyone can be forgiven for being overwhelmed or breaking down now and then, it’s him.

Drake’s not the only duck on the block to take on the enormous responsibility of raising a child. He hates this, but I’m gonna do it anyway. Drake is comparable in many ways to Donald Duck. And Drake had better just learn to deal with the fact that he and Donald are so similar. They both generally have bad luck, but most of it is self-inflicted because of their respective vices. Despite this, they are the epitome of determination. They voluntarily took on the role of father to children missing their birth parents, both going so far as to formally adopt said children (yes, Huey, Dewey and Louie are, in the eyes of the state, the sons of Donald), and both will do anything and everything to protect their kids. That selfless love is what motivates them to keep pressing on despite their flaws and their bad luck, and is by far their most admirable trait. Donald, like Drake with Gosalyn, is raising HD&L as a single father, but he lacks the excuse of not knowing how to parent the boys by the time they’re Gosalyn’s age. He’s had them since at least early childhood, and in some iterations, since they were eggs, and he’s at least known about them since their birth.

Drake, on the other hand, agreed to adopt a spirited older child who was nearly deemed unadoptable. And having had absolutely no experience whatsoever with children prior to Gosalyn, he’s clueless as to how to raise her. But he dives in with gusto. “Domestic life was never quite [his] style,” but he slips into it almost flawlessly. Drake is a good actor, and playing the part of dad isn’t hard for him--as long as he doesn’t get in his way. Which he does. A lot. Drake and Gosalyn have very similar interests, including both being gamers, but they also have similar sized egos. And this causes them to be pitted against one another in their household. Drake does the domestic part of fatherhood quite well, but the other, more important part--the part that involves conflict resolution--he doesn’t do well at all. Because he has no idea how.

It’s easy to write the rebellious preteen or teen going toe to toe with the stubborn dad who doesn’t “get” them, but when done wrong or too often, it doesn’t feel authentic. With Drake and Gosalyn it does, because both are still getting to know one another and figuring out how to be a family. So they’re going to argue and scream at each other more often than they’re going to cooperate. Add in Drake’s protective nature with Gosalyn and you get a dad who’s trying too hard and a kid who wants to be grateful, but can’t help feeling smothered.

And yet neither of them seems to realize that their relationship is not supposed to be so natural. By the fourth episode of the series, Drake has no problem whatsoever referring to Gosalyn as his daughter, using the term and all its accompanying pet names as naturally as if he’d held her in his arms on the day she was hatched. He even does it in costume at least once. Not with any sense of amazement, pride, awkwardness or disbelief, but rather as if stating an undisputed fact of life. And Gosalyn calls him dad as if she’s been doing so her whole life. Gosalyn does mention her adoptee status more than once in the series, even telling Drake’s ancestors that that’s how she’s come to be part of their family. But she never uses it against him. She makes tongue-in-cheek threats to reveal Drake’s secret identity on more than one occasion, but we never hear her spout anything remotely along the lines of, “You aren’t my real dad!” even in a fit of pique. In the end, she knows exactly how far Darkwing Duck would go and has gone for her, what he has sacrificed, what his flaws are, how he pushes on despite those flaws, and just how much he really, really, really loves his little girl. And she’s eternally grateful for him, not once taking her adoptee status for granted.

As for Drake, he’s starting to understand exactly how important Gosalyn’s place in his heart is. Drake’s own decision on that fateful prom night might have spawned Darkwing Duck, but these days, it is Gosalyn who defines Darkwing. That daring duck of mystery’s greatest act of heroism isn’t defeating all those criminals and super villains, but becoming a father to a very spirited young girl. As Frank Angones put it, “Darkwing Duck without Gosalyn is not Darkwing Duck.”

One thing Darkwing Duck is: Best not-so-incompetent dad in the entire Mouse empire.

so, submitted for your approval:

kamal and sam quote vines during practice. it frightens, confuses and annoys the Elderly (everyone else) on their team. and it’s one of the very few times they actually connect. 

@miacheezytoon

ahhh yay accidentally eavesdropping and ill-timed confessions!!!!

you’re 18 steps ahead of me and i love it yes that was basically my inpulse

but like...... there’s so many ways to take it.

i feel like there’s an “easy” option here with ash. i like the idea that while prepping for their second season, alex and ash will set aside emergency days to just go and get completely day drunk. (in my interpretation ryland drinks but not nearly as much as these two oh my god.)this got looooong im so sorry but thank you so much!!

(I’m sorry but I’m not gonna take bathtub romance too literally because I don’t know how to write that and I feel like it edges towards nsfw and I’d just rather not but here’s something pretty close?? Thanks for understanding bab!! And thank you for the super sweet request!!!)Recently-established relationship, canon age. Ryland has a flu and has been pumped with all the medications possible. Alex has a gig coming up as he struggles to plunge himself back into the world of music. So much of their disputes this week have been Alex wanting to take care of Ryland and Ryland trying to keep Alex healthy.