Piece image

Dads

From: Sue Mell
Length: 00:08:46

People talking about their dads. Read the full description.
Playing
Dads
From
Sue Mell

Suemell_small Independent Producer Sue Mell asks people 3 questions about their fathers: 1.Were you close to your dad growing up? 2.Are you close to him now? 3.What's one thing that stands out in you mind about your dad--good or bad?

To hear the full audio, sign up for a free PRX account or log in.

More from Sue Mell

Piece image

Unintended Detours Episode 7: Foreign Lands (00:35:00)
From: Sue Mell

Stories of Foreign Lands.
Piece image

Unintended Detours Episode 6: Derailed (00:27:13)
From: Sue Mell

Four interwoven stories of lives derailed by serious illness or accident.
Piece image

Unintended Detours Episode 5: Detours-Detour (00:07:48)
From: Sue Mell

Dollar Storeys
Piece image

Unintended Detours Episode 4: Road/Trip (00:27:08)
From: Sue Mell

Stumbling and stranded, in one way or another, on the road.
Piece image

Unintended Detours Episode 3: What Remains (00:12:19)
From: Sue Mell

What Remains: a painter's legacy.
Piece image

Unintended Detours Episode 2: Tic-Toc (00:20:55)
From: Sue Mell

Creativity in the face of time.
Piece image

Unintended Detours Episode 1: Shelf Life (00:14:15)
From: Sue Mell

Musings around the theme of shelf life.
Piece image

Halloween Teen Couture (00:02:37)
From: Sue Mell

Two teenage girls talk about their high end concept for Halloween and clothing as a means of personal expression.
Piece image

What Remains --a painter's legacy. (00:09:47)
From: Sue Mell

A portrait of the painter Mary Yntema.
Piece image

In The Bath (00:04:35)
From: Sue Mell

Vox Pop Collage of people's preferences for baths vs. showers

Piece Description

Independent Producer Sue Mell asks people 3 questions about their fathers: 1.Were you close to your dad growing up? 2.Are you close to him now? 3.What's one thing that stands out in you mind about your dad--good or bad?

2 Comments Atom Feed

User image

Review of Dads

What a nice, surprisingly sad piece. I went away feeling a bit scared to become a father, especially after hearing one woman's story of her creative, fun dad who one day left forever. I was struck by the snippets about these distant men, and how despite the differences they almost blend into a single narrative. Maybe it is because a close, happy relationship doesn't make a good story, that the darkness came to the foreground in this piece.

Strucurally, the movement from the opening montage of shorter clips to longer ones works well, and the closing quote is a nice touch that works as an explanation for the lack of depth in any one story. The closing music sounded great; it would be welcome throughout the piece, possibly replacing the repeteded interviewer questions which, after the first batch, we could infer from the answers.

Thank you for these stories!

User image

Review of Dads

There are unexpectedly poignant moments in these brief interviews which are somehow simultaneously casual and intimate. Because of the collage treatment, you don't really get to know any individual characters--either the speakers or their fathers--in a coherent way, but instead, you receive an oddly affecting composite portrait of fathers, or, more precisely, the EFFECT of fathers. The ending is a bit truncated, leaving you with a mid-stream feeling. For that reason, I'd recommend using this in a larger context, as an element in a larger consideration of fathers. If anything, this piece should be longer, more developed, which might give it more cumulative impact

Musical Works

Don't Come Home, Varnaline, Zero Hour Records, 1997.