Subject
Re: Lolita/American Beauty (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. An idle thought: the juxtaposition of "American Beauty" to
VN's "A Russian Beauty" (but, helas, only "Krasavitsa" in Russian.
------------------------
From: Galya Diment <galya@u.washington.edu>
Have to respond to this one. The AB's name is Angela Hayes -- which is
probably suggestive enough. Did it for me -- I was thinking of Lolita
prior to Angela's last name sinking in so that definitely re-enforced it.
Young adults start driving in many states in this country at the age of
16. As a mother of a 15-year-old who has her learning permit already and
is driving around (with us), I would have not particularly minded if the
legal age for driving was 18, but, alas, that is not the case.
Having said that, the kids in the movie are, most likely, 17-18 because
they are close to graduating from high school. And yet, since Angela,
despite all her show-off bravado, turns out to be a virgin, it probably
hardly matters.
As to them doing other "grown-up" things, the movie actually makes you
realize that they say they do these things much more often than they do
them, and that regardless of what they really do or do not do, they are
still very young and vulnerable, which means that the "real" grown-ups
should know better than assume otherwise (the same reproach that, of
course, can -- and has been -- used against HH).
My initial reaction to the movie was not that it's an exact copy of
Nabokov's novel -- but that it definitely shows awareness of Lolita, and
even subtly plays with this awareness (as is, most likely, the case with
the name). I still believe that.
Galya Diment
On Mon, 28 Feb 2000, Donald Barton Johnson wrote:
>
> I'm sorry, but I'm sure that Jane and her friend are 18 - her friend, the AB
> (still can't remember her name), says she's 18 - and they're driving cars
> and smoking joints and doing other sorts of (relatively) grown-up things...
> that's right, like having sex! There is also a distinction to be considered
> between the maturity and sophistication of teenagers in the 1990s and the
> late 1940s.
>
> And I also have to say that the film left me feeling like I'd been
> manipulated and abused. The only moments of relief came from Spacey and
> Benning who are hilarious. As with a number of recent films, AB tries to
> address serious and disturbing issues, but does so in a superficial way, and
> it's only impact is a shock/sensational one, wrapped up in some very clever
> but sometimes cumbersome directorial devices. Adrian Lyne's Lolita had the
> same effect, I felt, but was more offensive because of its deeply
> chauvinistic sensibility, something that doesn't exist either in the novel,
> or even Kubrick's version.
>
> I realise I'm in a minority in thinking that AB is trash, but I can't
> believe that other people don't see it's utter vacuity...
>
> Barbara Wyllie
> SSEES
> London
>
VN's "A Russian Beauty" (but, helas, only "Krasavitsa" in Russian.
------------------------
From: Galya Diment <galya@u.washington.edu>
Have to respond to this one. The AB's name is Angela Hayes -- which is
probably suggestive enough. Did it for me -- I was thinking of Lolita
prior to Angela's last name sinking in so that definitely re-enforced it.
Young adults start driving in many states in this country at the age of
16. As a mother of a 15-year-old who has her learning permit already and
is driving around (with us), I would have not particularly minded if the
legal age for driving was 18, but, alas, that is not the case.
Having said that, the kids in the movie are, most likely, 17-18 because
they are close to graduating from high school. And yet, since Angela,
despite all her show-off bravado, turns out to be a virgin, it probably
hardly matters.
As to them doing other "grown-up" things, the movie actually makes you
realize that they say they do these things much more often than they do
them, and that regardless of what they really do or do not do, they are
still very young and vulnerable, which means that the "real" grown-ups
should know better than assume otherwise (the same reproach that, of
course, can -- and has been -- used against HH).
My initial reaction to the movie was not that it's an exact copy of
Nabokov's novel -- but that it definitely shows awareness of Lolita, and
even subtly plays with this awareness (as is, most likely, the case with
the name). I still believe that.
Galya Diment
On Mon, 28 Feb 2000, Donald Barton Johnson wrote:
>
> I'm sorry, but I'm sure that Jane and her friend are 18 - her friend, the AB
> (still can't remember her name), says she's 18 - and they're driving cars
> and smoking joints and doing other sorts of (relatively) grown-up things...
> that's right, like having sex! There is also a distinction to be considered
> between the maturity and sophistication of teenagers in the 1990s and the
> late 1940s.
>
> And I also have to say that the film left me feeling like I'd been
> manipulated and abused. The only moments of relief came from Spacey and
> Benning who are hilarious. As with a number of recent films, AB tries to
> address serious and disturbing issues, but does so in a superficial way, and
> it's only impact is a shock/sensational one, wrapped up in some very clever
> but sometimes cumbersome directorial devices. Adrian Lyne's Lolita had the
> same effect, I felt, but was more offensive because of its deeply
> chauvinistic sensibility, something that doesn't exist either in the novel,
> or even Kubrick's version.
>
> I realise I'm in a minority in thinking that AB is trash, but I can't
> believe that other people don't see it's utter vacuity...
>
> Barbara Wyllie
> SSEES
> London
>