Kramer vs. Kramer Legal Analysis Brief – Aakriti Gera
The film Kramer vs. Kramer is directed by Robert Benton and is based on the novel by Avery Corman. This film is dubbed as a classic due to play of normal life complications. The story follows the life of a couple, which is going through a divorce and through this we see the impact of their decision especially on their child.
To begin with, this film portrays a very ordinary and normal family who are dealing with everyday problems. Ted Kramer is a workaholic; his work comes before his family in order of importance. The wife and mother, Joanna Kramer is a housewife who on the other hand is dedicated to her family completely. She is depressed in her life and seeks the option of a divorce.
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These traditional roles have created a stronger stereotype, which exist until date. In a lot of places it is still of the opinion that the woman should be a homemaker and a mother, and the man should be earning the money to support the family. Such outdated notions reflect in certain judgments, in particular the one delivered in Kramer v Kramer.
The reason why I was not particularly happy about the verdict was because of the nature of the mother itself. In my viewing all, I saw was someone who was in a bad state of mind and needed to break free. Her argument that the child is her son and he needs her just made me feel that she just wanted a right and not much beyond it.
The role of the mother starts to become extremely clichéd towards the trial. I believe that the father should have been awarded the custody of the child, as it should be noticed that the mother had previously abandoned her child in order to “find” herself. The light in which the father is portrayed in seems negative but actually is not. He works longer hours because of his personal issues but he deeply cares about his child and has never purposely abandoned him, he could have changed his work schedule to accommodate the new changes in his life but he is not given a chance to even try. He is not even granted joint custody, which was a bit of a disappointment for