Character Analysis
If you look up "workaholic," in the dictionary, we're pretty sure you'll see a picture of Ted Kramer.
Dictionaries, BTW, are these thick books full of words and their definitions that people used to keep in their homes and classrooms before the internet.
Original Recipe Ted
At the start of Kramer vs. Kramer, Ted's a self-centered Manhattan ad man working his tail off to become a partner in his firm. He's married and has a six-year-old son, but did we mention that he's on track to make partner? Because that's the most important thing in Ted's world. It's what he wants more than anything. He's hardworking, he's tenacious, and he's totally checked out of his family life. Here's what happens when Joanna tries to tell him that she's leaving him:
TED: I just gotta call the office before they go. Joey, you're gonna be real proud of me. I got good news.
JOANNA: Ted.
TED: Yeah, one second. Let me just do this
JOANNA: I'm leaving you.
TED: Honey, please. I can't hear. (into the phone) What? Okay. You, too. Thanks a lot. See you tomorrow.
Ted hangs up.
TED: You guys eat?
JOANNA: Ted, I'm leaving you.
Ted may be home, but the office is still at the forefront of his mind (and on the other end of the phone). He doesn't know what Joanna's trying to tell him; frankly, he doesn't care. All he knows is that, whatever it is, it can't possibly be more important that what he's trying to get done for work.
Later, when Ted and Margaret discuss Joanna's departure and what might happen next—before it's clear that Joanna's gone for good—Ted's incapable of seeing things from Joanna's perspective and consider A) why she left; and B) why she may never come back. He's not even worried about the fact that he might suddenly be a single parent; he's still most preoccupied with his quest to become Creative Director and how Joanna ruined what should've been one of the best days of his life with her whole "I don't love you anymore. Gurrl, bye!" speech. Here's how he sums up Joanna's departure to Margaret:
TED: Look, the fact is, for the last six months, I've been spitting blood to get this agency one of the biggest accounts it's ever had, and at 5:00 this afternoon, we got the account! At 8:00, I'm walking home with the vice president who tells me I'm going to be the next Creative Director of this department. I come through this door to share with my wife what's probably is going to be one of the five best days of my life, and she looks at me, cool as a cucumber, and tells me she doesn't want to live with me anymore! Can't you understand what she's done to me?
MARGARET: Yeah, she loused up one of the five best days of your life.
How's that for clueless?
If Ted sounds like a child there, it's because he's acting like one. That's why Margaret drops some sarcasm on him. Ted thinks his entire family revolves around him because he's the man and he "brings home the bacon" because that's what men do. Joanna's wants and needs are less important than his at best and completely inconsequential at worst.
After Joanna leaves and the dust settles (read: Ted realizes she's never coming back), everything starts to change for Ted: his home life, his work life, his relationship with Billy, even his relationship with Margaret. For starters, he has no choice but to get involved in his family's life, immediately, because this isn't a Charles Dickens novel and Billy's not going to raise himself.
Ted's Most Important Client
Joanna's out of the picture for 18 months. During that time, Ted slowly gets his act together. His priorities gradually change. He applies his strengths as an ad man—namely his work ethic and his tenacity—to parenting. For example, when Billy takes a nasty fall off the jungle gym, Ted scoops him up and runs him all the way to the hospital on foot. Makes you wonder why, when Jim fires him, Ted doesn't just start his own rickshaw ambulance company, right? Just us?
Later, when the doc asks Ted to step out of the room while he stitches up Billy's head, Ted refuses, making it clear to the doctor that the only way he's leaving that room is if a couple of massive orderlies carry him out over their shoulders, sack-of-potatoes style.
As Ted's primary goal shifts from making himself Creative Director to taking care of Billy, his priorities at work change accordingly. He still works his tail off, and he still definitely wants to nab that phat promotion, but over the course of the story he becomes more and more willing to put Billy before his clients and Jim. He shows up late when Billy's needs and school schedule conflict with work, and, as it's revealed in court, he missed an important deadline because Billy was running a 104º fever:
TED: On that day, I had to go home because my child was sick. He had a fever.
GRESSEN: Mr. Kramer, did you or did you not miss a deadline? Yes or no?
TED: My son was sick.
ATKINS: Mr. Kramer, answer the question.
TED: I'm trying to answer the question. It's not yes or no. I'm sitting there in my office—
GRESSEN: Mr. Kramer, yes or no?
TED: He had a 104 temperature! He's lying there sweating! I go home to be with him!
ATKINS: Mr. Kramer, I must urge you to stop or else I'll have to hold you in contempt.
TED: I missed the deadline.
Original Recipe Ted would've never missed a deadline; because he would've just ignored the fact that Billy was this close to melting and just let Joanna handle it. That was her job, not his. Being left in charge of Billy forces Ted to grow up and take responsibility at home.
It also means a twisty combination of working harder than ever before while effectively sacrificing his dream of becoming Creative Director—at least for now. He simply can't give Jim the time that Jim needs (which is basically all of Ted's time) and take awesome care of his most important client: Billy. In other words, Ted can shoot for being Creative Director or for being Father of the Year, and he chooses Father of the Year.
Now We're Talkin'
Shouldering all the responsible at home also prods Ted to develop way better communication skills with his kid. Again, it doesn't happen immediately. Initially, Ted thinks he can just handle Billy like an advertising account and make business deals with him. Check out what happens when Billy spills some juice by accident:
BILLY: Sorry.
TED: Yeah, you're sorry. I told you to keep that juice in the dining room. You don't take anything out here anymore.
BILLY: Sorry.
TED: Who took you to the park and gave you everything you wanted, huh?
BILLY: You.
TED: Yeah. Who bought you an ice cream?
BILLY: You.
TED: Yeah. And who promised Daddy that when we got home, you would let him work and not bother him, huh?
Ted acts like Billy violated some binding verbal contract they had. Every parent knows it simply doesn't work that way. Kids don't mean to knock over their juice (or a lamp or a 10-gallon fish tank), and a promise not to be annoying is utterly unenforceable. Just ask your mom.
Billy still has to suffer through some suppers where Ted reads the Sports page instead of talking to his kid, but eventually, just as he learns where Joanna kept the bowls, Ted learns how to communicate with Billy. Big Kramer and Little Kramer grow closer and closer with each passing day—close enough that they feel comfortable enough discussing things like whether or not Ted will ever get married again. Check out this exchange that goes down as Ted shows Billy his new office:
BILLY: Dad, are you ever gonna get remarried?
TED: I don't know. I hadn't thought about it.
BILLY: Are you ever gonna remarry to Phyllis?
TED: No. We're just good friends.
BILLY: Oh. Are you and Mom ever gonna get remarried?
TED: No, Mommy and me will never be remarried.
BILLY: I bet if she saw this [Ted's new office] she'd remarry you.
Ted learns that raising Billy isn't a series of business transactions, it's a sequence of moments that require him to look alive, push himself, and be patient. If he wants to do right by Billy and succeed as a parent, he can't check out like he used to; he can't be the old Ted who was so indifferent to his family that he didn't know what grade his own son was in. He has to be engaged 24/7, and the longer Joanna's in the Golden State, the closer Ted and Billy become.
Ideas Like Bell Bottoms
Billy isn't the only one who grows like a weed while Joanna's away. Kramer vs. Kramer is the story of Ted's rapid, trial-by-fire evolution from a self-centered workaholic to a doting, dedicated dad. The Ted we meet at the beginning of the movie seems to have totally bought into the cultural norms of 1979 that say:
- Because he's the breadwinner and a dude, Ted isn't obligated (or even expected) to take any interest in what goes on at home.
- Joanna should do the parenting because she's a woman.
Yup. Pretty retro stuff.
That's old Ted: a lame husband and a shoddy dad. The Ted that tells Joanna she looks "fantastic" at the end of the film, on the other hand, has grown to reject those caveman-quality gender ideas completely. Here's what Ted 2.0 says in court:
TED: My wife used to always say to me, "Why can't a woman have the same ambitions as a man?" I think you're right, and maybe I've learned that much, but by the same token, I'd like to know what law is it that says that a woman is a better parent simply by virtue of her sex.
It's hard to picture Original Recipe Ted saying that. Fortunately, ORT is AWOL. Ted's learned that being a parent is a balancing act. He's learned that, as with so many things in life, success as a parent is primarily predicated upon just showing up:
TED: You know, I've had a lot of time to think about what is it that makes somebody a good parent. You know, it has to do with constancy; it has to do with patience. It has to do with listening to him. It has to do with pretending to listen to him when you can't even listen anymore. It has to do with love, like she was saying, and I don't know where it's written that says that a woman has a corner on that market, that a man has any less of those emotions than a woman does.
Ted's had about 18 months to think about things, in fact: a year-and-a-half to keep showing up, even when he's tired, even when he'd rather be doing something else, and to get promoted to legit Dad status.
Joanna's departure might just be the best thing that could've happened to Ted—you know, aside from him never taking her for granted or adhering to such antiquated ideas about gender roles and parenting in the first place. Being thrown into the role of primary parent, Ted had no choice but to grow up and think about people other than Ted. He may not have made Creative Director this year, but he's definitely Father of the Year in Billy's eyes—even if he still makes him eat Salisbury steak.
Ted's Timeline