Subject
Re: Lolita/American Beauty (fwd)
Date
Body
I think a revisitation of American Beauty will reveal
Lester Burnham's (Kevin Spacey) daughter Jane and her
friend to be between 14 and 16, not 18, as stated in
Barbara Wyllie's posting. And I would argue that that makes
a big difference in our perception of the
reprehensibility Lester's lust for his daughter's friend.
That being said, I do agree that it is a no-contest between
Lester and HH as to which one is the worse (and for a lot
of the reasons listed in the afore-mentioned post). I'm
not sure how I feel about AB/Lolita parallels, but I do
feel that AB is definitely worth the time and the effort,
maybe not for the messages it presents, which have been
presented before by tons of writers (film and screen), but
for the brilliance with which they are presented.
Tom Mulherin
TheBigT@virginia.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ireland, Sir, for good or evil,
is like no other place under heaven;
and no man can touch its sod
or breathe its air without becoming
better or worse.
-- George Bernard Shaw
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And it's the damage that we do
and never know,
It's the words that we don't say that
scare me so...
-- Elvis Costello
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lester Burnham's (Kevin Spacey) daughter Jane and her
friend to be between 14 and 16, not 18, as stated in
Barbara Wyllie's posting. And I would argue that that makes
a big difference in our perception of the
reprehensibility Lester's lust for his daughter's friend.
That being said, I do agree that it is a no-contest between
Lester and HH as to which one is the worse (and for a lot
of the reasons listed in the afore-mentioned post). I'm
not sure how I feel about AB/Lolita parallels, but I do
feel that AB is definitely worth the time and the effort,
maybe not for the messages it presents, which have been
presented before by tons of writers (film and screen), but
for the brilliance with which they are presented.
Tom Mulherin
TheBigT@virginia.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ireland, Sir, for good or evil,
is like no other place under heaven;
and no man can touch its sod
or breathe its air without becoming
better or worse.
-- George Bernard Shaw
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And it's the damage that we do
and never know,
It's the words that we don't say that
scare me so...
-- Elvis Costello
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~