I think it's rather sad to have to constantly look over your shoulder as you go about your everyday life, That is what Danny has had to do for many years, though through no fault of his.
Arthur and Annie Pope are very liberal people who treat Danny and Harry (their children) more like grown-ups than as a teenager and a child respectively. The dynamics in the family seem quite egalitarian; every member of the family is important and played a role in the escape scene in the beginning of the film. There is also a low power distance between the parents and the children - Danny and Harry could voice most of their opinions without getting into trouble (a little scolding from their parents does not really count as trouble).
Although this egalitarianism in families would be common in the West, part of the reason that Arthur and Annie treated their children as adults was because Danny and Harry did not behave in ways typical for their age. They had to grow up quickly due to the circumstances they found themselves in, and were more mature than their peers. One example is when Danny offered to chop the wood because he had the day off from school, instead of letting his father do it - most teenagers would be all too happy to avoid doing chores and would not have so readily offered to help.
Running from the FBI throughout all those years has made the family more tightly-knit than most others, since they only had each other to rely on. They value unity, as can be seen from Arthur's initial refusal to allow Danny to go to college as it would split the family up, as well as Danny's hesitance in even just applying to Juilliard as that would mean leaving his family. This makes the Popes more similar to Asian families than Western ones in the sense that they have adopted more collectivistic rather than individualistic values when it comes to decision-making, as the decision of one family member would greatly affect the other members. The group (family) cohesion is extremely high, making it even more difficult for Danny to break one of the most important group norms, i.e. not discussing his family matters with others. We can see that Danny was pained that he could not tell his girlfriend, Lorna, much about himself, and experienced dissonance when he finally revealed his complicated family background.
Throughout the film, Danny repeatedly made statements such as "he needs me", "they need me", "he's my father, I can't", and also told Lorna that "I can't go to college. I can't leave them." This combination of Western and Asian values that Danny is exposed to also results in a lot of internal conflict, because on one hand he wants to be his own person and pursue his dream of studying in Juilliard, but on the other hand, he is also fiercely loyal to his family and is committed to maintaining the family as a unit.
Lorna asks Danny several times throughout the film if he has told his parents - particularly his father - about his college plans. Being from a stereotypical 'normal' Western family, she feels that Danny should be able to make his own life choices and does not really understand why he seems unable to come clean to his parents about what he wants. Despite the low power distance in the Pope family (mainly a Western concept), for the longest of times Danny did not dare voice his feelings to his parents because he knew that it would cause disharmony in his family, and he was putting the family's needs above his own happiness (as is usually the case in the East - or at least, it is what is usually expected of children in Asian families).
We see that Danny really struggled with this decision, and when he finally decided to tell his father that he wanted to stay, he took a long time in working up the nerve to do so. He abides by his father's decision although he is unhappy about it (again, a quintessential Asian trait); Danny rushed off to say goodbye to Lorna when the family had to quickly leave town - he could very well have just stayed with Lorna since there was no one around to force him to leave, but he returned to his family as fast as he could instead of abandoning them.
I liked the ending of the film as Arthur finally realised that while Danny was his child, he was also an individual with his own goals in life, and should be given a say in how to lead it. It also suggests that Arthur knows that his son is no longer the little boy who needs to be protected all the time, and he trusts that Danny would be able to take care of himself. Arthur's earlier vehement objections to the idea of Danny leaving may have been due to the empty nest syndrome. Even though it was merely mentioned as a possible future for Danny, Arthur was probably imagining how incomplete the family would feel without his older son, and therefore objected to it.
The film was an enjoyable one. It was interesting to follow the Pope family's journey throughout the two-hour film, and heartwarming to see that the parents finally learned to let go of their child so that he may live the life they could not have.
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