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"You also need films that simply represent what this country is like, they don't necessarily have to talk about it." PHOTOGRAPHY: Yes Day
"You also need films that simply represent what this country is like, they don't necessarily have to talk about it." Photo: Yes Day

'Yes Day': A film that says "yes" to everything a child asks

Tired of saying "no" 50 times an hour? In parenting, "no" became the new "yes."

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If you are a parent, you may have discovered that "no" was the new "yes" by yelling it 50 times an hour. It's complicated to manage children's impulses, even more so to warn them of harmful behaviors or teach them the concept of responsibility.

Tired? Jennifer Garner may have the solution in the film Yes Day.

The actress and producer never imagined that reading to her children, Seraphina and Sam, the children's book Yes Day! by well-known author Amy Krouse would lead to a major tradition and a Netflix comedy decades later.

Krouse was an author of adult books and several children's masterpieces, as well as a contributor to radio and independent film. The fictional story is about a boy who celebrates Yes Day, which might seem dangerous but ends up becoming a lesson about consequences.

Actress Jennifer Garner turned the fictional story into real lore when she discovered that it gave the children a sense of autonomy with which to learn the nuances of responsibility and also freed the mother from her institutional role as tyrant. The only rules are that no one can be harmed and no agendas can be set for the future.

Tom Lichtenheld wrote the script for the upcoming Netflix film in the key of family comedy that bets on diversity and fleeing from stereotypes. The protagonist's husband is Venezuelan, and they all live in Los Angeles.

Garner is not the first actress to become a producer opting for a much more personal line, adapting the works that really impacted them. She has also recently become an executive producer for FOX.

The director of the comedy is Puerto Rican Miguel Arteta, who has had to incubate and edit the project delayed by the pandemic, but has found that this is a good time to propose films or art for the whole family.

When the actress started the family tradition her partner was Ben Affleck, now ex-husband. Making the husband a Venezuelan was her decision that corresponds to a certain logic as she explains to NBC. 

"You need those movies that talk about our struggles, and how difficult it is for Latinos in the United States. But you also need films that simply represent what this country is like, they don't necessarily have to talk about it, and that was the joy of making Yes Day," said Garner

The whole point behind the amusing and familiar entanglements of the film, which is suitable for everyone, is a pedagogy based on behavior. It's hard to teach responsibility to someone who has none, let alone faced with the consequences.

The idea is that the day of "yes" functions as a testing ground for them to learn the real meaning of consequences, which can range from embarrassment to exhaustion, so that there is no need to say so many no's the rest of the year. Then finally the "yes" can become the real "yes" for adults.

By the way, stellar appearance of H.E.R. in the film, who recently won a Grammy for "Best Song of the Year" for "I Can't Breathe."

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