Sound of Music v. Meet Me at St. Louis

I have seen Sound of Music like 50 times, no exaggeration at all. Recently, I saw Meet Me at St. Louis the first time. I was stuck that fact that though Meet Me at St. Louis will never achieve the iconic status of Sound of Music it is more relatable than the later, the later being loosely based on a true WWII story notwithstanding. For most people today it is difficult to relate to a bunch of rich, motherless, governess led, song loving kids escaping the Nazi Riech. 

Meet Me at St. Louis tells the story of a bourgeois family facing the typical struggles of the upper middle class life. An ambitious father, who does not quite know where his work starts and family ends, wants to move to the New York as part of the promotion. He says he does this for the sake of the family. Of course, the members of the family do not want to leave their settled life. So a battle in the family ensues - the father wants the family to fall in line and go to New York. The family wants to stay back at St. Louis. 

Where both stories do align is that the point of tension of the story is where or not fathers get to see the world from the point of view of the children. In Sound of Music the story the father gets to see things the way of the children by realizing that the children would want the simple looking, deeply empathic Maria for their mother instead of the rich, glamorous, affection-less lady, he had been dating. In Meet Me at St. Louis the father finally realizes that his decision is causing too much pain for his children - especially the youngest sweetest one who runs out of the house in the middle of the night to breaks the snow dolls. 

Ultimately it is love, the human ability for empathy, that brings both stories together. Both movies will remain classics not merely because they have good songs but because they celebrate the human ability for empathy, the empathy of a father for his children, the empathy of those made powerful for the under-served.