Sam Fox – Better Things
In all the shows featuring moms on movie and television, Better Things most accurately depicts the frustrations, disappointments, and anxieties associated with motherhood, especially mothering girls.
Sam Fox is a single mom who works as an actress in Los Angeles. As such, she has a bit more of progressive attitude when it comes to child rearing. This doesn’t stop her children from being grouch little jerks and taking her completely for granted.
As mothers, we can all understand this on a molecular level. As tiny little humans, our children don’t really know how to read our emotions, and often don’t even really see us actual people with real feelings. This often makes for a lot of heartbreak and sadness when they ultimately treat us with disregard or unkindness. In a perfect world, we’d be able to keep our perspectives about us, and not take it so personally. Sam Fox is an illustration of what happens when we can’t.
Raising girls can be hard on the spirit, and watching Sam makes me feel like we’re kindred spirits. Just like Sam, many mothers have slammed on the brakes and made our daughters get out of the car because we couldn’t stand the way she spoke. Also like Sam, we’ve cried in that same car after they’ve said something about the way our hair looks or because they feel neglected when we won’t give them money.
Her character may not be the ideal picture of a mother, but she’s definitely an accurate one.