Closely Knit

[Ed. note: The following is excerpted from an interview in the Sept. 19, 2003, Austin Chronicle. For the full feature, see austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2003-09-19/screens_feature4.html .] Most simply put, Nuclear Family is a film in three parts about Texas-style cheerleading tryouts, high school football, and weddings, and how these cultural rituals – shot through, as they are, with outrageous stereotypical excess and hubris – are handed down from one generation to the next.

But Don Howard is hoping you won't stop there, instead ascending to the next level of meaning, understanding that each of these segments – the first, female-specific (labeled "Mom"); the second, male-specific ("Dad"); and the third, a blend of both ("Kids") – has broader anthropological implications, beyond Texas, for the larger culture.

Austin Chronicle: OK, so that brings us to the issue of the title, Nuclear Family. Go for it.

Don Howard: After the film, the title makes sense, because what I wanted to confirm was that yes, you were seeing gender roles or gender-related roles being played out and developed, and in the family setting, this is how our gender formulations get carried forward to the next generation. ... So hopefully, the idea was this cyclical thing that's introduced by this concept of family. And also, this male-female thing does come together to create something else, it's not at all just a fight; it's mutual absorption. In a weird way, it's like cheerleading has to have football and football needs cheerleading. The family – who knows where it goes from here, but it's this continual combination that happens. ... I didn't want viewers to come away with anything I said or forced on them; it was more that the camera kind of reveals that.

Nuclear Family screens as part of the Lone Star States program at the Alamo, 3/13, 12:30pm (the world premiere), and at the Dobie, 3/18, 8pm.