Image via WikipediaThis week, I'm supposed to be doing a QHQ (Question-Hypothesis-Question) about my research project. Here goes.Q: What's the deal with Dolarhyde, his son, and the other young males in Cowboys & Aliens? (yeah, it's not too elegant a question, but it's really my starting point)
H: Dolarhyde is looking for a more satisfying father-son relationship than he has with his son Percy. Percy is a bully, and it's pretty obvious that Dolarhyde has made him that way: he uses his clout to get Percy out of trouble, and Percy makes a lot of trouble. He does whatever he feels like doing, no matter how obnoxious or dangerous it is. In the scene where Percy (accidentally) shoots the deputy, he has already threatened everyone in town with his father's wrath, and there doesn't seem to be any doubt that his father will back him up. But when Dolarhyde shows up to get Percy out of jail, it's also clear that he doesn't think much of his son. He tells him to shut up, and ignores him while he tries to intimidate the sheriff into letting him go.
What I'd really like to know is how they got to this point, but the film doesn't offer any hints about that. So, my next question is . . .
Q: With all of Dolarhyde's more-or-less paternal interactions with the other men and the boy, what do we learn about his parenting style?
I sort of have a (or is it "an") hypothesis for that one, too, but I'll stop here for now.
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