Daily Dialogue — March 28, 2016

DAD: You have a boyfriend. . . Wow. Have you heard of Sarah Palin? 
SAMANTHA: Yes. 
DAD: What’s the one thing that you know about Sarah Palin” s seventeen year old daughter? 
SAMANTHA: She’s pregnant? 
DAD: That’s right. And what is the one thing that you are not going to be in a couple of years when you turn seventeen? 
SAMANTHA: Pregnant? 
DAD: That’s right! Alright, now what are the, the two ways that you can achieve that goal? The first is… not have any sex. Okay? That’s the first way. Okay? Just not engage in that. That did not work out very well for your mother and me. And what’s the second way?

Mason stands to leave the table.

DAD: Where are you going? 
MASON: Bathroom. 
DAD: You don’t have to go to the bathroom. Sit down, Mason. Just… Just sit down. What’s the second way? Alright? Has your mother talked to you guys about this stuff? 
SAMANTHA: Oh, Dad. Dad. 
DAD: No, come on. Has she talked to you about… contraception?

The kids are visibly uncomfortable with the conversation.

DAD: Huh? What has she — condoms? Has she talked about that? 
SAMANTHA (0.S.): Oh, Dad. Please! 
DAD: What? What? 
SAMANTHA: That’s enough. 
DAD: Well. Does Garret have a condom? 
SAMANTHA: Ohh! God! Dad! 
DAD: What? What, come on Sam. We have to be able to talk about this. Alright? Come on, we do. We can do it. We can do it. Just stay with me here. Alright? It’s as hard for me as it is for you. But, seriously though, alright, I read an article in the paper the other day… that said that although U.S. teenagers are not the most sexually active, we have the highest rate of teenage pregnancy. Okay?

A woman, TAMMY, walks up to the table, interrupting their conversation.

— Boyhood (2012), written by Richard Linklater

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Parental advice, suggested by Michael Waters.

Trivia: Richard Linklater cast his daughter Lorelei Linklater as Samantha because she was always singing and dancing around the house and wanted to be in his movies. At about the third or fourth year of filming, she lost interest and asked for her character to be killed off. Linklater refused, saying it was too violent for what he was planning (Lorelei eventually regained her enthusiasm and continued with the project).

Dialogue On Dialogue: A birds and the bees conversation between father, daughter, and son given a unique spin by Ethan Hawke’s character in of all places… a bowling alley.