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In Reply to: Re: Strange... maybe you walked into the trap posted by jamesgarvin on January 29, 2005 at 15:26:15:
Your one-before-last paragraph pretty much states what I stated, that it was not about him being normal, it was about his dealing with the surrounding world.BTW - he did try to escape from the black girl, several times, but she kept coming back and eventually won him.
I also disagree with your characterization of the other characters. The Cuban guy was actually a gentle and tender human being and quite likable and human. And so was the divorsed woman, hysterical at times, but mostly showing warm personality. I certainly did not see these two in any way abnormal with respect to the main character. They came to the event with less baggage, and their behavior towards him were full of warmth and human touch. I think their main strength was in their ability to quickly forget his special features. Most of us (all?) would go through a brief period of adaptation in such a case, and theirs seemed perfectly fine and natural to me.
I usually like that sort of movies, and I liked this one, just not enough to make it something truly special.
Follow Ups:
I'll never forget the horribly hurt look in his eyes when the short guy in no uncertain terms finally rejected him.clark
I did not mean to suggest that the other charachters were abnormal, only abnormal compared to him and his characther. They were likable. They simply had personality traits, baggage, and issues that should have provided fodder, stares, and comment from the locals. The dwarf had none of these things, but he attracts their stares and comments. Why?The major players in the film treat him as normal, because they know him. The other locals who do not know him are, at best, curious, at worst, crude. I think the point of the film was not the dwarf, but those who circle him in this little universe. He is a sort of Sun, trying to exist, while the others are planets, some sympathetic, some not.
I assume that where I would differ from you is that I do not think the film is about how he reacts to them, because he reacts to everyone the same - retreat into his train station (his world). Rather, I think that the film is about the others, and how they think about and look at persons who are different from them, and how they react to him. Ironic that those who know him do not dwell on his dwarfism, while those who do not, do. There is a lesson there.
The problem is that most films about, for lack of a better word, disabled people are mostly about them in the world of normal people, and how the disabled person "gets along." Even though these people have disabilities which make them different, we should appreciate them. Take pity on them. Help them. Hollywood tripe.
I thought The Station Agent turned the tables - it was about how "normal" people behaved in a situation in which the disabled person was perfectly normal. A concept rare in the film industry, which seems to have a politically correct need to make us feel sympathetic. Watching The Station Agent, I did not feel sympathy for the dwarf. I felt sorry for the other locals.
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