Auggie27 said: ""The main crux of most of the story revolves around a person believing his family represents something meaningful about The American Dream/Epic and, to me, reeks of the classic white Boomer mindset that dominated culture for a long time..."
I get the meaning here and find it descriptive of the (sub)genre rather than a necessarily pejorative critique of the intentions and execution. And as a boomer myself, I'm old enough to rememberI Never Sang for My Father by Robert Anderson, which in many ways is the same story, certainly genre-adjacent, i.e., white American introspective therapy with a father-son oedipal prism, minus photographs. Worth noting, Anderson's drama lasted on Broadway a half a season, January 25 - May 11, 1968. It starred Hal Holbrook, Alan Webb, Lillian Gish."
I saw that play in a Boston tryout and was probably too young to appreciate, it the acting was superb. There was a movie released for which both father and son received Oscar nominations, Melvyn Douglas and Gene Hackman. I was old enough to appreciate the story, and thought it was excellent. A recommended viewing if you can find it.