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Re: Strange... maybe you walked into the trap

Posted by jamesgarvin (A) on January 29, 2005 at 15:26:15

In Reply to: Strange... maybe you walked into the trap posted by Victor Khomenko on January 29, 2005 at 14:29:29:

Well, let's look at who they surrounded him with: Bobby Canavale, playing a Cuban who runs a coffe stand outside an abandoned train station, and who thinks of nothing more than hooking up, both of which would be better accomplished where there is more traffic. Patricia Clarkson, who plays a wife who is an emotional wreck, going through a divorce, and who, on two occasions, runs the dwarf off the road. Michelle Williams who plays a woman who works in a library, is in a relationship with a "redneck", and who wants to have a sexual experience with the dwarf. These charachters were deliberately placed here. They were not doctors, lawyers, and indian chiefs. Surrounding him with normal people, with no baggage, would not accentuate his normalcy. The goal was to make us watch him because he was the only normal person.

Yet the bystanders do not view them as the "oddities", or abnormal. Rather, the dwarf has no such personality quirks or personal issues, yet they view him as the oddity. Consider two scenes: The first when he makes an appearance in the little girl's school. The children ask him goofy questions, as only children can. They are learning, and do not know better. They giggle. Then the other scene in the bar. When the adults, in another "classroom", looking and gawking, acting worse than the children, resulting in his eruption.

Yet the goofballs what surround him gather nary a stare, or a joke. He is their Abbott to their Costello. Yet he is the one they look at. Costello should be receiving the stares, not Abbott.

I also think it more than coincidence that the only other "normal" charachter in the film is a little black girl. In many settings, she would be receiving the stares merely because of her physical appearance, rather than her actions. Not because of who she is, but rather what she is. I think the same applies to him. The people look, stare, and make comments about what he is, not who he is. While at the same time, people whose actions should be talked about go uncommented upon by the townsfolk. I think this was deliberate.

The point was not to show us that dwarfs can be normal or sane. I assume intelligent people will agree to that. The point was that dwarfs who are normal, or sane, still get gawks, laughs, and comments, for no other reason than their physical appearance. His response is to try to get away from them. Not because he is goofy, but because they are. This is also the reason that the only person in the film that he does not try to escape from is the little black girl. In some subliminal way, they have a shared experience.

I cannot say that there were any strong emotions in the film which struck me. I can say that it made me think of the way I look at people who seem to "odd", but who are in other respects average. Which I think was the point of the film.

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