Kramer vs. Kramer Reflects Change in Society through the Film's Family Lawyer

Kramer vs. Kramer was a 1979 film that revealed a change in mainstream American society in the context of the legal apparatus. It revealed a change in how the justice system treats married adults in a divorce when a child is also involved. In the film, the family lawyer helped to show this change in American society, and was a major part of the build-up and resolution of the film.

In the film, the main character, Ted Kramer, is played by Dustin Hoffman. Ted Kramer is obsessed with his job and one day finds out that his wife, Joanna Kramer, who is played by Meryl Streep, has decided to leave the family. After she leaves her husband and child, Billy, to "find herself", Ted is left to raise his child alone. As he and his son grow closer, Ted Kramer eventually makes a new friend—a neighbor named Margaret. As they have begun to rebuild their lives, Joanna returns just short of a year and a half to reclaim her son and finalize a custody battle.

As a legal battle ensues, the family lawyer of each side represented make snarling remarks about the respective parents. Through much turmoil, the court eventually rewards custody to the mother, Joanna. As Ted and Billy return home, they each share a very memorable embrace knowing that they will no longer be able to spend full time together again. By the time Joanna arrives, she confesses that she knows Billy's real home is with her father, and the movie closes as she heads upstairs to reveal the new news to her son. By the end of the film, it is revealed that the legal process never had to take place in the first place, and neither parent truly needed a family lawyer.

Nevertheless, the film represents how equal time was given to both sides' stories in court during the custody battle. More than this, however, the film represented the changing nature of social marriage in the United States that occurred as a result of those that experienced adolescence in the counter culture movement which contained the sexual revolution that changed much of 20th century American society. It also revealed the growing economy of legal business, represented much by the enraged battles between each family lawyer in the film.

The film eventually went on to win five Oscar awards and five Academy Awards in 1979. After the film was released on December 17th, 1979, this classic Robert Benton adaptation would go on to gross more than 100 million dollars worldwide. Because of its massive success, the film was remade in India under a different title and a non-English language track. Kramer vs. Kramer lives on today as one of the most classic films of the 20th century, a film that will probably end up in the Library of Congress for its social and cultural critique of 1970s American society.