Popular Culture Review Vol. 2, No. 2, July 1991 | Page 72

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The Popular Culture Review

In On Golden Pond, the relationship between Chelsea (played by
Jane Fonda) and her father, Norman Thayer (Henry Fonda), is
symbolized by a provocative semantic war during a seemingly
innocent game of Parcheesi. Chelsea equates her father's need to win
the board game with his enjoyment of beating others in word games,
games which have cost her the intimacy she craves. Unlike Mrs.
McIntyre and Guizac, Norman and Chelsea eventually understand
that they are no longer talking about an outside person or event but
about their own relationship:
"Chelsea doesn’t like playing games. . . We don’t
know why. Probably doesn't like losing." (Norman)
"I tend to panic when the competition gets too
intense." (Chelsea)
"What I’d like to know is why you enjoy playing
games." (Chelsea)
"Huh?" (Norman)
"You seem to like beating people. I wonder why."
(Chelsea)
"What's that supposed to mean?" (Norman)
"Nothing." (Chelsea)
Evident throughout the film is Chelsea's anguished longing for
connection with her father, sometimes hidden, sometimes expressed
in jealousy or rage, sometimes acknowledged in embarrassment. By
refusing to visit her father for long periods of time, Chelsea uses
silence to express her pain. When Norman connects with Billy, the
son of Chelsea's boyfriend, Chelsea says her father should have
"traded [her] in" for a son. That jealousy sometimes is linked with
anger: "I've been answering to Norman all my life," Chelsea tells
Ethel Thayer (Katherine Hepburn), her mother. "It makes me so
mad. Even when I’m 3,000 miles away and I don't even see him, I’m
still answering to him." Chelsea also expresses her isolation and
frustration in occasional embarrassed confessions of inadequacy: "I act
like a big person everywhere else," Chelsea says. "I’m in charge of
Los Angeles, and I come here and I feel like a little fat girl."
Norman’s inability to express his love for his daughter is mirrored in
Chelsea’s behavior toward him. As Ethel tells Chelsea, "But
darling, you're wrong about your Dad. He does care. He cares deeply.