family matters

i am not sure about the casting choices for the film version of the man in the gray flannel suit. it seems impossible to be gregory peck and be hesitant, stressed, and fearful of economic impotence–basically everything that tom rath is in the novel, and gregory peck is not. instead, he remakes tom rath into a suave, forthright, albeit emotional man, and yet so not emotional; rather, peck's emotions are all noble and contained, like the pinnacle of what american manhood is supposed to be.

that's what the whole film felt like for me, however: an ennobling of the struggle for meaning that sloan wilson almost makes seem a bit pathetic, or at least unattainable, but the film makes into a heroic affirmation of 'real' values.

family is what ultimately comes to represent the most valuable entity in the world of the film. i think the novel eventually comes to that conclusion too, in tom and betsy's focus on creating a healthier school environment for their children. but the film really pushes this image immediately the film begins: we see the cute antics of the rath children, the tv time, the temper tantrums before bed, the dog, the fatal drama of chicken pox. sentimental music plays in the background, reinforcing the warmth and connectedness of the home and the family. and by the end of the film, instead of tom's obsessive mental harping on maria, he says to betsy that he has put maria in the past and only thinks of the welfare of his child (if we believe him). finally, the part of the novel in which hopkins invites tom to join him on the business trip in california is moved to the very end of the film, to allow tom to actively reject "success" over the time he wants to spend with his family.

hopkins also expresses more bitterness and vindictiveness at why he has chosen "success" over family, and in the staging of the scene i think we are meant to be left with the impression that he has made the wrong choice, that it has deprived him of a life he could have had. in the novel, getting to hear more of hopkins' own narrative, his upbringing and his relationships with his family, we draw basically the same conclusion, except there is a sense that even if he has made sacrifices, the person he is must always draw him to the life of business, and therefore almost seems less like the choice he made, than like the compulsion he is forced to obey.