Hahaha
But really
Ok, starting this thing off, this is probably one of the best films I’ve ever seen. I’ve been putting off watching it for yeeeeears and finally being able to sit down and watch it as a film student was an amazing experience. Looking back at high school, I always hated that there was so much divide between group just because we had different friends. This movie demonstrates that we all have problems that we have to face, and being seperate doesn’t help it.
In terms of character development, I think that Claire had the least development. She was always the prissy popular rich girl, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but she remained the same. When it came down to it, she still asked Brian to do the assignment, and she just found it in her plans to give Allison a makeover. This part is where the post-feminism talk from the reading comes in. Instead of the only two girls in the movie bonding over something that was specifically meant to advance them as women, Claire had to doll her up, and make her look different to be accepted. Even then, it’s weird because this is when Andrew suddenly finds her attractive. From the beginning of the movie, it was evident that he cared about how she felt, but when she kept putting up walls, he gave up. I don’t agree that it was good that she put up walls, but when you’re helping someone out, don’t get mad when they’re putting those walls up.
Another thing about the movie that was pretty weird was the fact that no one smelled the weed. Those kids were openly smoking, and there was no mention of it again. Andrew even hotboxed himself in an office, and that would most definitely come through the vents of the building. As for the ending, I try not to read too deep into it. Yes they were split off into couples, and it was cliche, but I think it was only because things would go back to normal on Monday. They all knew that, so they just tried to have as much fun with each other before the world goes back to normal.
I really like your interpretation that everyone is divided and split in high school and that being separated doesn't help that. I think it's a really brilliant and important observation to take away from this film.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree about Claire on the simple fact that she came in as a princess and believing these people were all beneath her. But she chooses to start something up with the criminal, who she saw as scum in the beginning of the film, and share something she likes doing (i.e. giving a makeover) to another character that she deemed beneath her. I believe this is her way of opening up and allowing different people in her life than she would normally express interest in. I'm not saying she'll go out and disregard her friend group completely, but she's making small changes in the way she sees people. And that's not a terrible start. And about Andy, we can see his intrigue in Allison in the entire time. Even when she put up walls, he did continue to take interest in her feelings and didn't just shut her out. I argue this further in my post, but I believe that Allison finally felt accepted by people after being neglected and ignored for so long that she achieved a confidence in herself after feeling as though she was valued as a person. This confidence allowed her to approach Andy in a different light than she had previously, allowing him in instead of shutting him out. And obviously Andy made a face and noticed her when she came out, she made a complete 180 in her appearance, anyone would notice if someone went from completely covered and in black to wearing white and not hiding her face behind her hair.
I liked the part about the weed, that was a fairly significant amount and there would be no way Vernon wouldn't notice it at all, even after they had finished!
I think that part of what's really interesting about this movie, besides its ambiguity, is that the filmmaking is so deliberately artificial. It's extremely stagy, and there's something interestingly flat about the camera work. It doesn't matter that there's clouds of pot smoke pouring through the ventilation system and under the doors, because it's not meant to be realistic. It's more of a psychodrama. I also think that the end is very much worth interpreting, because as stage, filmed, and acted, it's extremely ambiguous. You allude to some of the ideas in the reading here, but don't really work with it. The image made me actually lol, so thank for that!
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