Tools of Characterization
Characterization in Kramer vs. Kramer
Actions
"Actions are character," wrote novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. What we do shows who we are. More than any other character, Joanna is characterized by her actions.
She really only takes three of them, but they're three really big ones: She leaves Billy and Ted, she comes back for Billy, and she lets Billy stay with Ted. These are three beats in the story that start all the action and keep it chugging along. In other words, were it not for the actions of Joanna, there wouldn't be a Kramer vs. Kramer. (There wouldn't be this learning guide, either. You'd just be watching a gif of cat with its head stuck in a paper towel roll over and over and over again.)
Back to Joanna's actions, though: She leaves because she's miserable with Ted, she comes back because she's regained her independence and feels fit to take care of Billy, and she lets Billy stay with Ted because she finally understands that Ted's a good dad. In other words, she's conflicted like whoa, and her big, sweeping actions reflect that. We're not saying she acts on a whim; we're just saying that her actions have huge consequences not only for her, but also for her family. Her actions also call her parenting skills into question, and raise thorny questions about the woman's role in a marriage and child-rearing. See? Big stuff.
Ted's also characterized by his actions, but he takes lots of small ones as he climbs the ladder to full-on fatherhood. In other words, he becomes an awesome dad one Salisbury steak at a time.
At the beginning of the film, he's neglectful of both his wife and his son. When Joanna tries to tell him she's leaving, for example, he insists upon making a phone call, and doesn't even hear her the first time she tells him she's outtie 5000. He's all sorts of self-involved, and his actions show that he's been that way for a while. He doesn't know where they keep the bowls, for example, and, worse, he doesn't know what grade Billy's in. Yowza.
As the film progresses, Ted gets it together and we witness most of his maturity and development as a dad through what he does for Billy. He not only attends Billy's Halloween pageant, but he helps Billy with his lines from the audience like a loveable stage mother. He no longer rushes Billy off to school; he ties his shoes and even knows the other kids' names. He literally runs Billy to the ER when the kid topples off the jungle gym, and, in the end, he's willing to cede primary custody of Billy to Joanna if it means keeping his boy off the witness stand. If that's not the act of a great dad, then we don't know what is.
Okay, maybe letting the kid eat ice cream for dinner once in a while would be pretty cool, too.
Family Life
What does it mean to be a mom? What's expected of her, and why is it so much more than what's generally expected of dads?
These questions are central to Kramer vs. Kramer, and they're all wrapped up in how Joanna and Ted are characterized as parents.
As Billy's mom and Ted's wife, Joanna's expected to be Billy's primary caregiver, Ted's #1 fan, and the CEO of domestic tranquility at Casa de Kramer. Ted, meanwhile, is supposed to provide financially for his wife and son.
That's not how it all goes down in Kramer vs. Kramer, though. Instead, Joanna's instead characterized by her refusal to be a miserable mom. She wants to go back to working outside the home, and she wants Ted to participate in his own family. In order to be the best mom she can be to Billy, she needs to be independent and feel that she has value as a person. She needs to be more than just "Billy's mom," and so she leaves.
Ted, on the other hand, is cool with the social status quo.
It's not hard to see why.
Society says he should go out into the world, work, make bank, stockpile accolades, do drinks with co-workers, and indulge in office gossip—and that sounds dope to him.
Ted's characterization as the head of the Kramer family shifts over the course of the movie, though. At first, he's the absentee dad, too obsessed with climbing the corporate ladder to take an interest in trivial stuff like what's going on at his kid's school or his wife's happiness. When Joanna tells him she's leaving him, he doesn't hear it because he's too busy yammering on about work. When he hurriedly drops Billy off at school, he doesn't know what grade Billy's in.
Once he's forced to take a more active role in Billy's life, however, Ted's characterization shifts. He's still characterized as a dad, but now it's by what a caring and attentive father he is. He makes dinner and talks with Billy about his day. He reads him bedtimes stories and talks him through stitches. He helps him learn his lines for the Halloween pageant.
By the time Joanna returns to NYC and starts secretly (and creepily) hanging out in the coffee shop across the street from Billy's school, Ted's full-fledged Father of the Year material.
Occupation
Ted's one of those guys who doesn't have a job; he is his job. All of his self-worth seems to be wrapped up in it. He's a bona fide workaholic, constantly putting his clients above his family, whether that means staying late at the office or just bringing his work home with him in one form or another.
He also hides behind his job; it's his excuse for not being more engaged and responsible at home. He's the one who brings home the bacon. What Joanna wants to do with it after that is up to her; Ted's got more important stuff to do than make breakfast or even know where the bowls are.
Joanna, meanwhile, is characterized by her lack of an occupation outside the home. She used to have one, but she gave it up when she married Ted. It's implied that she was expected to. Then, her occupation became "Being Ted's wife." Later, it became "Being Ted's wife and Billy's mom."
Being relegated to Ted's support staff made Joanna feel unfulfilled and miserable, and that prompted her difficult decision to split. It's no surprise that, when she returns to New York at the end of the film, happy and feeling healthy, Joanna once again has a job—and a high-paying one at that.