Sentimentalist in Children of Invention

Having to watch Children of Invention on my own, I had my notes out to see what terms we have recently learned that would fit the movie or terms that did not fit the movie. Recently learning the definitions of anti-sentimentalism and along with that sentimentalism, I believe that Children of Invention directed by Tze Chun can most definitely be seen a an sentimentalist film. After class discussion it was obvious that we were attached to Tina and Raymond throughout most of the film. Most question asked, we brought up Tina and Raymond. Tina becomes sad and the audience (us) felt sorrow with her when she thinks about the old house and she finally realizes that she will not be going back to live there. We also see Tina's reaction when she the mother gets frustrated with the kids and ends up slapping them. It was as if we felt we were there, witnessing the event a long with Tina. As we saw throughout the movie, Raymond stays pretty calm and caring. We see that he has feelings about what is going on with the family and his mother’s struggles. From the scences of going to the bank to finding food, Raymond acts as the "backbone" of the family. He makes sure Tina is cared for.  This role by Raymond makes us, the audience, feel frustration and pity. We are unable to see Raymond and Tina do something for fun just because. They do fun things to either get money or help in some way.

You can see at how emotion plays a role in the movie to see how Elaine feels. By the end of the movie, Elaine sees how she has failed to be a supportive parent. She sees this when Raymond makes the comment about being better without her. She does not get mad, but she breaks down and realizes that it is true. The director used these scenes of emotion and others like them to tell the story.