Question 3: Describe an important idea in the text.
Explain whether or not you think this idea is relevant to teenagers today.
Materialistic things can not buy you loving bonds. In Steven Speilberg’s movie “Catch me if you can”, this is a highlighted idea. Frank Jr. was a boy who was able to forge millions of dollars, and no matter how much money he was able to get - and use to attempt to get the love he craved, he would go unsuccessful and wouldn’t be truly happy. Happiness is something that doesn’t come from just materialistic things, but from being loved, in real relationships, and you can’t buy this like Frank tried and tried to do. This idea is relevant to teenagers in today’s society and probably forever. They commonly attempt to use materialistic things to put together relationships, and that is not possible, just like it wasn’t for Frank.
After the divorce of Frank’s parents, he longed for a loving perfect family. In his mind, he could buy this perfect family. He was wrong about this. The Cadilac was a prop used to show this. In one scene, Frank calls his Father and offers him a Cadilac to go pick his Mother up in. Frank does this because he believes that could fix their marriage - his Father riding a fancy expensive car to go pick up his Mother in, how could either of them say no? But his Father turned down the offer. Frank’s parents would never really love each other again no matter how much money Frank put into it. That relates to teenagers as it is a common thing for teenagers in a relationship to try buy one another’s love. They get them gifts, and if they can afford expensive gifts they get them expensive gifts. But this is not how true love works, it is not a materialistic thing. No matter how much money you pour into a relationship that alone cannot build a true bond. And that true bond is what brings happiness to a person.
Frank used materialistic things to try to make bonds with people constantly. For example, he usually wore casual clothes when he wasn’t out at a job, but the day he and Carl met for the first time he was wearing a formal suit, even though he was just at his home. The suits were a symbol of Frank’s longingness to have a loving family. Carl had become a father figure to him and now Frank was subconsciously copying his ways to feel closer to him. This is a way that Frank used materialistic things to feel closer to having a loving family. This idea is relevant to teenagers as they commonly use materialistic things to copy someone and try to build bonds with others. Like say someone saw a celebrity they like wearing platform shoes, they might decide to copy them and also wear platform shoes. They do this to try to feel closer to the celebrity they admire and look up to, but most of the time the person they’re copying wouldn’t even notice. Doing this sort of thing is a way people try to convince themselves they have a connection with someone, but usually, no one would even notice.
Frank couldn’t make any true connections without a payment being involved, and due to this, he could never be happy. In one part of the movie, Frank sleeps with a model who worked as a sex worker by night. He paid her $1400, although she returned $400 of it as he gave her too much. At the end of this scene, Frank’s face is shown in a close-up shot where you can see his facial expression. This close-up shot showed how he looked sad, even after just having a good time with this girl. Frank craves a true bond - he craves attention and love, and he thought that paying this woman to sleep with him would make him feel happier but it did not. True relationships like what he craved can’t be bought, they have to be genuine. For teenagers to mature they need to remember that true relationships are more than just sleeping with each other, but being happy with each other, doing things they love together, sharing interests with each other, etc. Frank does not yet know this.
Steven Speilberg’s film ‘Catch me if you can’ teaches teenagers that true bonds cannot be bought - they are more than materialistic things. You can’t truly be happy while just finding substitutes for real relationships, you have to put real effort into them, not just money. Franks’s failed attempts at making relationships from materialistic things give teenagers the chance to learn from his mistakes. The money just wasn’t enough. To be happy you have to be loved, to be loved you have to have a real connection with someone. You can’t buy connections, you can’t buy love, and you can’t buy happiness.