"You see, we've reached the point where she's old enough for me to start showing her the things I love, which thrills me in the same way I get excited to tour my own city when someone comes to visit. "This guy sells the best carrots and strawberries at the farmers' market." "This is the shrimp taco from Mariscos Jalisco." "This is Singin' in the Rain.""
"We began about 30 minutes into the film, with Donald O'Connor's rendition of " Make 'Em Laugh," the slapstick number in which he runs up and crashes through walls-and soon she, like O'Connor, was thrusting her elbows and skating across the carpet on her knees (she calls the song "Dancing on My Knees"). She asked for it over and over until I insisted that we watch something else, and skipped ahead to the song the film is named for."
"But on this viewing, something changed in me. Watching Kelly through my daughter's eyes-his bliss in the soundstage downpour, his body a flexile stack of lean musculature and joyous masculinity-I felt a heavy swell in my core. It reminded me of being too drunk in my 20s, overreacting to something beautiful and becoming somehow enraptured and despondent all at once."
A father credits two paternal accomplishments: his three-year-old drinks a collard-and-dandelion-green smoothie and loves Gene Kelly. He begins showing her Singin' in the Rain about 30 minutes in, leading her to imitate Donald O'Connor's 'Make 'Em Laugh' by thrusting elbows and skating on her knees, which she calls 'Dancing on My Knees.' He skips to the title number where she is transfixed by Kelly's jaw and twinkle and asks 'Who is that?' The next night he watches from the start, and viewing Kelly through his daughter's eyes provokes a profound physical and emotional reaction, including a heavy swell and adrenaline.
Read at The Atlantic
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