MovieChat Forums > Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) Discussion > I felt bad for Goober and Mae

I felt bad for Goober and Mae

posted 12 years ago by egoangel18
12 replies | jump to latest

Yea it was messed up how they were discussing money when Big Daddy was dying. But I couldn't help but feel like Brick was the entitled favorite son. What was so great about him that everyone loved him? He was the good looking football star. The mom and dad hated poor Goober even though all he wanted was to please his parents. Mae seemed mean but Maggie really came off as a huge bitch. Making fun of the lady who got spit in her eye, and rubbing ice cream in a child's face? I mean come on! That was awful.

i hope you choke on your bacardi & coke!
*Team Landa*

[–] athomed 12 years ago

I think you have to separate Gooper and Mae to a certain extent. Mae wanted Big Daddy's money; that's it and that's all. Gooper only married Mae to please Big Daddy. He hungered for the approval of his father. Plain and simple. Perhaps Big Daddy misinterpreted Gooper's eagerness to please as him vying for Big Daddy's fortune? We can't know for sure. With that said, I think Big Daddy kind of saw Gooper as being taken care of. He had a job and a family. Brick was more of an open question and Big Daddy was more focused on setting him straight than dealing with Gooper.

Maggie came off as a huge bitch? I've never gotten that impression. Immature? Sure. Flawed? Of course. Alive, really alive? Yes. But I have been known to be blinded by beauty and that could be part of it!

___
The only people who grow old were born old to begin with.

[–] egoangel18 12 years ago

I had trouble finding anything likeable about Maggie besides her beauty.

i hope you choke on your bacardi & coke!
*Team Landa*

[–] athomed 12 years ago

I think that her devotion to Brick was a likable quality. I think film-watchers start feeling for her character in a serious way when Big Momma insinuates that Brick's problems are because of her and she whispers in a hurt manner, "That's not fair."

___
He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.

[–] TrangPak2 12 years ago

I'd make fun of Mae too. She was a rabble rouser and a huge phony. Always stirring the shyt pot. And those ugly children of hers were rude, disrespectful, untrained monkeys. I honestly do not think Maggie was a bad person. Of course she was flawed but what made her likeable is the fact that underneath all the scheming. She genuinely cared about Big daddy and her husband.

I don't think she would have behaved rudely to Mae or her children if they weren't so rude and antagonizing towards her.

[–] athomed 12 years ago

Good points. Maggie certainly would have acted differently toward Mae and her children if she'd had a higher opinion of them. She felt from the beginning and told Brick as much that Gooper and Mae were going to finagle their way into receiving everything after Big Daddy passed away. Knowing Mae from the film and the play, that would be what she'd want if she could swing it that way. Gooper might not, but if it came down to it, she could probably push him into collusion. It took the plot lines in the film for Gooper to assert himself a little more.

That’s a very interesting mixture of poetry and meanness.

[–] manu5689 12 years ago

I think Goober is the most sympathetic character in the play. He spends his whole life trying to please his father, he does everything right in his eyes but his father just favors Brick. Maybe Goober's eager to please demeanor came off as fake (though I do think he's too dumb to be that plotting) and Mae doesn't really help at all because she isn't too dumb to be that plotting. I think Big Daddy favors Maggie not just for her looks but because she has a backbone and conviction. Big Daddy's one of those people who don't like the people fawning all over him and trying to please him. Maggie and Brick live their own lives on their own time and Big Daddy respects that.

I'm surprised people don't like Maggie and think she's a huge bitch. I think she is a fantastic character, a woman struggling to understand a family that won't open up to her.

"It's hard for me to watch American Idol because I have perfect pitch."
-Jenna, 30 Rock

[–] Yorick_Brown 11 years ago

I'd make fun of Mae too. She was a rabble rouser and a huge phony. Always stirring the shyt pot. And those ugly children of hers were rude, disrespectful, untrained monkeys. I honestly do not think Maggie was a bad person. Of course she was flawed but what made her likeable is the fact that underneath all the scheming. She genuinely cared about Big daddy and her husband.

I don't think she would have behaved rudely to Mae or her children if they weren't so rude and antagonizing towards her.

I agree with every, single word.

Have you ever seen a human heart? It looks like a FIST wrapped in BLOOD!

-Closer (2004)

[–] elisedfr 12 years ago

I did feel bad for Gooper, because he spent his whole life trying to become just what this father wanted him to become -and it was never good enough, he was always preffering the youngest, who did exactly the reverse of what Big Daddy said...Near the end of the film, you can see how tough it is to him and how he becomes ultimately disgusted with his wife's greediness. I was happy to see Brick and Maggie having a bit of sympathy towards him -and the reverse.
As for Mae - she was the real trouble-maker. Her hypocrisy was plain- and all her attempts at kindness towards Big Daddy and Big Mama were just more steps to get the money in the end. She didn't fool Big Daddy but she did fool her mother in law- until she learns her husband is actually dying. Then, you can see her trying to run away from this contrived gentleness.
I sure would not call Maggie a bitch: yes, she was a bit interested in the money herself at the beginning. But her behaviour towards Mae is called for. Mae made fun of her marriage, her husband, her being childless..And the kid meanly threw ice cream on her legs. I guess many fed up people would have reacted in the same fashion.

" You ain't running this place, Bert, WILLIAMS is!" Sgt Harris

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] VaticanAssassinWarlock 11 years ago

I think manu5689 above summed it perfectly. The great thing about the film (I haven't seen the play unfortunately) is that none of the characters are simple, there are no heroes or villains. Maggie is a strong likeable character with a vulnerable side, but she can be nasty and is manipulative due to her upbringing (the only way for women to have any power in that world is to manipulate the men who already have it). Brick is a great character, very Hamlet-esq. He sees all the phoniness in the world around him and is disgusted by it, he wants no part of the sham, but at the same time can be horrible to his wife and family, he is emotionally shut off and self-involved. Gooper appears to be quite villainous to begin with, the scheming brother who wants to overwrite his father's wishes and make his brother destitute, but we soon find out how vulnerable he is. The characters were all multi-layered and it made the film riveting.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] necoleman 10 years ago

I am formerly known as HillieBoliday.....Member since May 2006:

If my niece threw ice cream at me.....and then continued to take a damn bath in the ice cream that was meant to be consumed by the party guests.....I'd do a hell of a lot more than rub ice cream in her face! ARE YOU SERIOUS that you would sympathize with a sullen, bratty, disobedient kid; her sow of a mother and weak-assed father.....NOW THAT'S AWFUL!!!

"OOhhhooo....I'M GON' TELL MAMA!