MovieChat Forums > Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) Discussion > Ice cream metaphor for the entire plot

Ice cream metaphor for the entire plot

posted 9 years ago by Peterlh
2 replies | jump to latest

Spoilers:

When watching the ice cream scene I couldn't help but think that it must have been a metaphor for everything that was going on in the movie.

At first when Tracy's character tastes it (sees the would-be husband) he is suprised as it was not what he expected.
He then gives it another taste (akin to his conversation and thought process about the marriage thing), and then finally decides that even though it was not what he intended he finds it to be alright anyway, similar to how he decides that he is fine with them getting married in the end.

[–] aleach26 8 years ago

Interesting idea.

I also like how Spencer Tracy ad-libbed mispronouncing Oregon Boysenberry as Boozenberry for comic relief - apparently he mispronounced it differently in various takes but Boozenberry was director Stanley Kramer's favourite...

[–] dabukaba 8 years ago

That was exactly my same take on the significance of the ice cream scene.

Also, during that same scene at the drive-in restaurant, once the music from the outdoor speakers switches (from rock & roll music) to playing slow romantic music, and Katherine Hepburn starts talking about how she remembers when they (she and her husband) "first starting seeing each other" that "everything seemed like such a struggle at first" so they had to help each other all the time but that "in some ways that was the very best time of all, when everything was a struggle." Spencer Tracy has a contemplative look on his face, as if suddenly relating that to their daughter's situation. So sitting at the car hop together after getting away [and right after Spencer Tracy had been beyond stressed asking his wife: "Can we get away? Can we drive somewhere or something?"] reminds them of their first dates. (Also all the others in the scene are YOUNG people in the diner and its parking lot hanging out.)

I really like that this scene is, unlike the rest of the movie (which is excellent, too, of course), one where everything isn't spelled out for the viewer, as it makes one read between the lines and has symbolism.