The real concern should be... - Lawn Dogs (1998) Discussion

[–] jessieron 15 years ago

You mean Brett?I was actually a bit surprised how Devon described the incident and the bastard just got away with it.

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[–] cosmic-chick 15 years ago

Yeah sorry, I meant Brett.

I think at first Devon was trying to tell her parents what happened but didn't articulate it well, as 10 y.o. can do, but after their intial response especially that of her father, she realised they didn't want to hear it.

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[–] minimal23 15 years ago

I just rewatched Lawn Dogs and it's pretty much the only film I can watch over and over and still pick up something new from it.

The juxtaposition of Devon describing how Brett touched her and how Trent did was really interesting. It showed how quickly her parents were likely to jump to Brett's defence but suspect the worst of Trent.

Devon seems to understand how her parents can be manipulated into believing what *she* wants them to about people (She was angry at Trent for killing Tracker and wanted someone else to be angry with her) but, like a child, doesn't understand how adults can react.

I'm sure I'm explaining myself terribly - I need some more sleep!

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[–] get_to_the_choppa 15 years ago

"The juxtaposition of Devon describing how Brett touched her and how Trent did was really interesting. It showed how quickly her parents were likely to jump to Brett's defence but suspect the worst of Trent"

in some ways, Devon's parents had ulterior motives toward their reception of what Brett did and what they assumed Trent did. Her father is one of the main characters that emphasises the class divide between Trent and the residents of Camelot Gardens and her mother is suspicious of their "relationship", whereas she is having an affair/fling with Brett and her father seemed to have some sort of relationship (possibly employee of) with Brett's father so they almost forced Devon to change her story, even if they knew what she said at first was true.

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[–] Stargeezer 15 years ago

No, you did quite well, actually. You're explaining yourself pretty good. :)

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[–] prettyh 15 years ago

What did Brett do in that scene?? I was just watching the film for the first time, and the cable at my hotel is spotty, so it cut in and out! Was there something inappropriate going on? I got the weird feeling that Devon was able to push her father around the way she was (gun or not!) because there was something there (and her father saying, "You'll never have a girl like her!" to Trent just added to my raised eyebrow...). What'd I miss?

~ http://prettyh.blogspot.com/ ~

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[–] West_Ham_Fan 15 years ago

He put his hand up her dress.

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[–] max_demian 15 years ago

He put his hand up her dress.

No he didn't. He put his hand up her shirt. (This is what she tells her parents happened - she was wearing a separate skirt.)

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[–] RacingThoughts 14 years ago

Absolutely true. To me, this was the central point the movie was trying to convey. Brett was a "respectable" young man in preppy clothes who lived in a good neighborhood and had a "bright future" ahead of him. Trent was a dirty, sweaty, unskilled laborer who lived in a rusted-out trailer and wasn't going anywhere in life. Devon's parents were determined to see Brett through rose-colored glasses and see Trent as a bad person, despite the fact that the opposite was true.

Brett forced his hand up Devon's shirt, scaring and upsetting her, but her parents were eager to find any excuse they could use to dismiss it as mere play. Did you notice how Devon spat our her food and left the table? She was disgusted by her parents and the bad "food" they were "feeding" her. Later in the movie she voluntarily unbuttoned her shirt for Trent and showed him her scar. The scar that even her own father couldn't bear to look at. Trent accepted it. He accepted HER despite her scar. Then he showed her his own scar, and she accepted him too.

Obviously the scars were meant to be a metaphor as well as literal. They didn't expect each other to be perfect. They loved each other as they were, a new experience for both of them, to feel loved and valued as the people they really are and not who other people expected them to be. I applaud the filmmakers for keeping it innocent and not shooting their own message in the foot by hinting at any inappropriate goings-on between Devon and Trent.

When Devon's father learned that Devon had shown her "ugliness" / "imperfection" to Trent, he decided he had to kill him. He couldn't bear the thought of some other man, especially a "no-good" man like Trent, making his daughter feel good about herself. Yet when clean-cut Brett molested her, Mr. Stockhard was totally okay with it. In my opinion, exploring that very hypocrisy was the foundation the whole movie was built upon.

---
LIFE: It's just a movie.

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[–] dunbar7 14 years ago

Well put, Thoughts! That was the message I got from the film, too. People seem to be too quick to judge one these threads and don't seem to really watch movies like this with an open mind.

"She's, like, a biscuit older than me..."

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[–] DominicJones 12 years ago

Yes! Really well put.
That hypocrisy has fuelled other films of John Duigan's too.

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[–] the_flaming_priest 10 years ago

I was super pissed off when Devon tells her parents about Brett touching her, and her father's first question is "You let him put his hands under your shirt?". LET him?

Almost like asking a rape victim what she was wearing at the time! Disgusting. Shifting the blame to the 10-year-old without any hesitation. That to me was the most f'd up part.

Superb writing, loads of details to find at later viewings. Portrayed hypocrisy very well.

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