MovieChat Forums > Vision Quest (1985) Discussion > Louden bothered me a bit.

Louden bothered me a bit.

posted 17 years ago by midnight_wanderer
18 replies | jump to latest

The way he wasn't sure if he was mad about the guy in the hotel room grabbing him & then he forced himself on Carla. Let's not forget the panty sniffing either, like she would be interested in him after catching him doing that. He was a bit off & I didn't understand why I was watching a 80's movie about an underdog & the main character was like a confused pervert but everyone still liked him.

Don't wander into abandoned churches for Czakyr will grab you from underneath the watery grave.

[–] ooohhhmmyyyy 17 years ago

Maybe Louden suffers from Aspergers so he doesn't know the social rules about women. ^_^

http://s10.invisionfree.com/Nova_Infinity/

[–] Paul_Ke 17 years ago

1) Why does it matter if he wasn't sure if he was mad or not about the guy in the hotel grabbing him? An event like that would confuse the hell out of most teenagers, especially in a less savvy time like the 80s.

2) While I agree his grabbing Carla was inappropriate, it wasn't as much an actual attack as much as an angry ourburst intended more to show his frustration with the situation than to actually force sex with her. In other words, I think even if Carla hadn't have knee-ed him in the groin, I highly doubt that Louden would have gone any further. He was just a confused and frustrated teenage boy. I don't believe it was in his character to truly "force himself" on someone.

3) The panty scene was hilarious. He was so fascinated by Carla that her underwear was obviously fascinating as well, and it all culminated in his sniffing them. Obviously not a politically correct thing to do, but hilarious none the same when she caught him in the act.

Yes, Louden is awkward, but I found his awkwardness amusing and even endearing at times. He is very genuine person.

[–] grumpy_otter 15 years ago

I realize your answer is over a year old, Paul, but you basically echoed my thoughts from an above thread.

Reading through all these, I find myself somewhat disturbed by the number of people who don't get it.

[–] trblee 15 years ago

I thought the panty sniffing scene was funny. Especially when she caught him and he tried to play it off by hiding her panties and telling her he was getting a shirt. Hey, what guy wouldn't want to sniff Carla's panties? I know that I would! She was hot!

[–] aburn-1 17 years ago

previous post summed it up pretty well, but i'm surprised this thread even exists. do you know nothing about boys going through puberty? i don't see any of his mannerisms unusual for a teen-age male.

1)he was shocked by the guy's advances in the hotel room. wouldn't most people? and a lot of people in shock don't really know what to do. his deciding to do push-ups was his way of regaining the manhood he temporarily had lost.

2)forcing himself on Carla. again, a boy going through puberty. plus he's working out 4 hours a day or more. he's pumping testosterone and hormones through his system faster than most males his age, and he's a virgin. so he doesn't really know how to act around girls.

3)i'm not a chick (in case you hadn't noticed), but i'm sure some would find the panty sniffing a bit flattering. and i'm sure some would be a little turned on at seeing a boy embarrass himself. but chances are Carla just saw this as a sign of a boy being a boy and just shrugged it off since she is more mature and older. besides, TONS of guys would have done the exact same thing in his position and age, and 99% of us would have at least thought about it.

here's a tip about adolescent males and puberty. they're all horny and confused. some act like complete animals without any class, and others are complete gentlemen. but almost all of them have the exact same thoughts. i think Louden falls pretty much in the middle. maybe you just have to be a guy to understand what he was going through.

[–] midnight_wanderer 17 years ago

I'm a 25 year old male & I never thought like a that. I always knew how to act around a girl. I was shy but nothing like the aywkwardness in this movie.

Don't wander into abandoned churches for Czakyr will grab you from underneath the watery grave.

[–] aburn-1 17 years ago

don't take offense to this, but are you straight? because i don't think a lot of gay males would behave the same way as him and that might explain why you were confused at his behavior.

i'm a 27 year-old straight male and i've never wrestled or sniffed a girl's panties or jumped on top of a girl. and by all accounts i'm a fairly normal guy. and if you're straight, then sex is about the only thing on your mind when going through puberty. i have no idea what gay males think about during puberty, but nothing Louden did was outside of the norm. only his jumping on Carla was a bit excessive, but still in line with a teen-ager's thoughts and feelings. i'm not saying everything he did was socially appropriate, just not unusual or weird.

and if you're not gay, then maybe you're just more classy than this character is. i was a little shy and would never dream of jumping on top of a girl, but i can understand why he did it.

[–] midnight_wanderer 17 years ago

No, I'm straight. I've just always for some reason been very old fashioned & I respect girls & think very highly of them because the way I see it is that for a straight guy, the only thing to live for is to find & spend as much time as possible with a girl you truly care about. I'm just not all about sex. There's more to relationships & life with someone other than just thinking about sex. I think it comes from me never getting dates seeing other guys date someone different every 6 months & not really care about the girl making her look like a trophy or something. I watched from the sidelines & learned from others mistakes & now still have trouble but still have a little hope left. I'm the funny, sensitive best friend that no one really wants to date but I still just keep looking instead of acting on crazy instincts. I was never as immature as others around me. I remember thinking how stupid kids, my age, were back in my school days.

Don't wander into abandoned churches for Czakyr will grab you from underneath the watery grave.

[–] reikun86 16 years ago

Idk. The idea of a guy sniffing my panties is off-putting. I just think of all the boogies and nose-hairs he would leave on my knickers.

[–] GodfatherCW 15 years ago

He's a jock in a conservative town, and a virgin. He mentions to a teacher he's suffering from a constant erection, he writes an article about the feminine anatomy for his school newspaper, and he has a hot 20 something girl living in the basement with him.
We never see or find out what happened to his mother, so growing up without a mother might make him a little more awkward around girls.
He is a weird guy, but that's how the character was written.
My only disappointment in the movie, is that he never finds the answers he's really looking for. Yes, he finds his Pele moment in the sun, and loses his virginity, but that was secondary to his quest to discover who he is, and what his purpose in life is.
I'm going to have to buy the book on amazon, see if that gives me any more answers.

[–] pking-2 14 years ago

He is a bit of a weird guy. He's supposed to be.

He's supposed to represent a weird state that folks go through called growing up.

So, yeah. Not everybody is weird like Louden Swain. But...I think the movie is trying to say that everyone can still identify with Louden Swain and find some purpose...to make it through the challenge of gaining maturity despite the weirdness of the experience and the awkward fits and starts boys can go through when attempting to become men.

I'm not saying everybody tends towards panty-sniffing or forcing themselves stupidly and awkwardly on the girl staying under their roofs...but everybody tends towards something a bit out there as they navigate through adolecence.

If not...then you are the actual unusual one. Not Louden, nor those that are secure enough to laugh at and maybe even identify a bit with him.

Because everybody, likely, is weird in one way or another...just VQ exposes Louden's confusion and asks us to put up with it and eventually, celebrate his voyage through it to the other side.

[–] chriso728762004 16 years ago

The panty sniff wasn't that bad. She would've caught me masturbating to them and I would've ejaculated when she walked in the room. I would've been paralyzed until all of my semen had exited my erect penis.

[–] cflr 16 years ago

Thanks for that disturbing image, buddy.

[–] cincykid07 16 years ago

I know when I was a teen, I was trying to stick everything around. I was humping furniture in my free time. I can see the panty sniffing scene as appropriate. He has never been around a woman before and his world is turned upside down when she moves in with him and his father. Its really a tremendous coming of age story and that scene is hillarious to boot.

[–] reikun86 16 years ago

ahhh!!! We must protect IKEA! Sorry, I just found the line "humping furniture" funny. Wasn't trying to be bitchy. : )

[–] cbatton 16 years ago

LOL. this thread is cracking me up!!

[–] jefgg 11 years ago

I think Louden was supposed to be a little weird, socially awkward and somewhat confused.

What kind of name is Louden?

[–] gabby_bm 11 years ago

I think Louden was supposed to be a little weird, socially awkward and somewhat confused.

Like... a high school student? I think Modine nailed it.

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