MovieChat Forums > Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (2000) Discussion > What was the point of the daughter?

What was the point of the daughter?

posted 17 years ago by AtheistRevolution
15 replies | jump to latest

Did she take over the business at the end?

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] sfnprincess81 17 years ago

I thought that she DID take over the family; since she told Louis to kill Ghost Dog at the end.

[–] fallenangel13000 17 years ago

she is a contrast to the little girl with teh books. they each continue the warrior ways of their dead "fathers"

[–] SquirePM 16 years ago

Louis gets back into the car at the end and says something like, "Let's get out of here." The car doesn't move. After a few seconds he says something like, "C'mon. let's get moving." Finally little Louise Vargo tells the driver to leave, and away they go. OF COURSE she's the new boss!

Pat Squire

[–] thewholebrevitything 16 years ago

"I thought that she DID take over the family; since she told Louis to kill Ghost Dog at the end."

She did ? I must have missed that. Damn.

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[–] jwpeel-1 15 years ago

I JUST watched the movie and I don't remember that ever happening in the movie. I don't think she ever ordered the death of Ghost Dog. And I think that the two females in the film are there to tell you that men are the violent ones unless it becomes necessary to kill. Remember, the gun was empty and the girl knew that when she picked it up.

[–] jimcenzo 15 years ago

I think it was pretty obvious the gangster´s daughter was the new Don the way she acted, and she did order the hit of Ghost Dog. She couldn´t possibly let the assassin who murdered her father to live, that´s bad rep.

And I don´t think the little girl did know the gun was empty, since the Haitian guy was the only one who saw GD to unload it and he shouted it in french. So the girl picked the gun up, aimed and pulled the trigger with intention to kill. She seems calm while aiming and when we see Louie tripping we see it through the girls perspective, in which the gun stays steady. Wouldn´t the girl freak out for a second when she sees Louie to tremble, unless she intended to kill? Don´t know if the steady gun is relevant but I do believe she did intended to kill. In the last scene where she reads the book it seems like she´d be the successor of GD, but that would make the RZA-scene bit confusing.

The 2nd last quote was something about passing times, how change is inevitable. The shait mafia got new boss, a female one which certainly is a huge change in mobculture. Maybe same one applies to GD, a female successor? He did leave his guns to the Haitian tho. And what´s up with RZA then? I got confused.

I think I´ll read the two books which where so vital to the story...

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] spurc 15 years ago

The point of the daughter? Her appearance at the end of the film reveals that she was in on the plot (hatched by the gangster who unintentionally saved young Ghost Dog) to kill Ghost Dog.

"FUNNY HOW SECRETS TRAVEL..."

[–] thewholebrevitything 15 years ago

Saw it again recently and I dont think she had anything to do with Ghostdogs death. She seemed a bit sullen and not at all upset at his demise.

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[–] navigatelife1 15 years ago

I was watching this movie with my friend and we were both complaining about the fact that apart from "Kill Bill", women are almost never represented in gangster movies in general and when they are represented their part is basically restricted to that of a 'decorative plant' (girlfriend, prostitute, sister etc. that is not involved in the facts.
Louise Vargo wasn't very promising from the beginning: didn't seem to have any connection to the family "business" and didn't seem to have a clue about what was going on whatsoever, watching cartoons all day long, idle, barely saying a word. Like a puppet.
I, too, thought that at the end of the movie Louise eventually took over the "business". And, we assume, that since Pearline was shown reading the book about the ways of Samurai, she might be Ghost Dog's successor as well. Which means that basically the women were the ones left in charge of the situation. And this was performed in a very discreet way by Jarmusch; not by using women for the lead roles but by using them in low-profile characters who weren't revealed fully until the very end. I think that the part where this change is foreseen is right before the end where Louis, the injured guy & Louise are driving to the hospital and are stopped by a policewoman whom the guy finally shoots dead and then Louis protests saying something like "Hey you shot a woman (...) You can't shoot a chick" and the other guy replies something like "They want equality, don't they? I SHOT HER TO MAKE HER EQUAL".

[–] Dr_Edison 15 years ago

I think the purpose of RZA's scene was to show a solidarity between "warriors." Ghostdog and RZA are two men on different paths, but both are on THEIR OWN paths and they respect each other for it.

Come to the board for Jon Vitti!
http://imdb.com/name/nm0900140/board/threads/

[–] thewholebrevitything 15 years ago

I think the line is

"they want to be equal ? that made her equal."

But yeah I agree with your point here.

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[–] VbyV 14 years ago

I agree with you about RZA's scene.

[–] subase 14 years ago

I think it's pretty clear that Louise read the Hagakure or at least understood Ghost Dog was a modern day samurai. Since she was the master of Ghost Dog's master she simply set a trap through his master that resulted in his death.

Her character through the film is of passive aggression. She doesn't do anything and as such isn't subservient to anyone. The fact that she hanged around with all the leaders of the organization and did not reduce herself to being an enforcer or lower level manager, meant that when all the top leaders died, she was seen as the new head. This goes doubly so when she managed to kill Ghost Dog, she had the brains to figure everything out.