What is the point of this movie??

[deleted]

I know this doesn't answer your question but perhaps your father should get his money back from that school.

theme(s)
alienation in families
culture clash
marriage of convenience (pregnancy)
marriages of passion (george & madelaine)
"you can't go home again" - regret


I could go on & on and I didn't even go to film school.

*SPOILERS BELOW*!!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory_superiority

What I got from it is that if you're going to meet your own extended family, then it's not wise to be detached and observe events from a distance; you have to make an effort and try to fit in the whole time that you're there. If you don't do that, and you stay aloof, then they'll forever be distrustful of you and question your motives... Madeleine was quite patronising to that artist guy to get what she wanted, but it didn't work on her inlaws, because despite living a different life to her, they picked up on her insincerity straight away... They either knew she was different to them, or like Ashley, didn't care.

Accepting family members isn't a choice, you're thrust into that situation, and it makes sense to try and adapt to it for the whole time that you're sharing someone else's company.






"I've been turned down more times than the beds at the Holiday Inn; I still try"

I'm not sure there is a point (or points). Here are excerpts from a few reviews that rang true to me:

"A simple country mouse-city mouse tale and given it cosmic implications. It is the story of everyone who grew up in the boonies and then gone on to make it big in the big city. It beautifully portrays the embarrassment you feel about taking a worldly spouse back to your small hometown and its pettiness; the small-mindedness and envy of the siblings who never left town or made good; the reinvention of one's self when one moves to a big metropolis like Chicago. I did NOT feel the Bible Belt North Carolinians were stereotyped, as some viewers have remarked; I felt they were all portrayed as real people who simply had a tough time articulating their feelings, and who were just SIMPLE people...church-goers, family people who have no complexity of emotions or doubts, like city people are wont to have."

"Rather than spelling out exactly what we're supposed to be thinking and feeling at every moment, the filmmakers respect the audience's ability to infer meaning from the mood and tone. Some films do not need to tie in every little plot detail in order to make for a more true to life form. Not all families discuss their problems or their angst openly. Most of the time you have to decipher them through little nuanced non-verbal symbols."

Back to my own take: I don't believe you need to be from the big city or the South to empathize with or relate to these characters or this story. My brother and I are in so many ways similar to George and Johnny, and my wife and sister are much like Madeleine and Ashley. Much of our lives include the same types of caring and concern (and lack of) as potrayed in this movie. Our inter-relations are what they are; sometimes happy, sometimes sad, often humorous (in retrospect and to others). I'm pressed to come up with a point to our relationships some (most?) times.

Why should EVERYTHING we watch have a point? Can't we just enjoy a movie for its interesting story, or in this case its characters, and other values the art of film brings with?

Yes we can.

One day I am going to grow wings.

I hope the OPs father didnt spend too much on that thar filum skewel

I thought that way this film was so insistent about its themes was its weakest part. I think it is better to let audiences figure it out themselves than to keep talking about outsiders and finding the humanity in another. WE GET IT. (Or most of us do.)

I'm surprised your father went to film school, yet didn't understand the basic meaning of the movie. I guess there are film schools and then there are film schools.

Anyway, try starting with the title of the movie. They aren't chosen at random. It's called Junebug. What is a Junebug? An insect that has a very short appearance in the world, and a very limited purpose. It shows up in June for a few days at most, is interested only in flitting about finding a mate, and then procreating. It lays it's eggs/larvae which are born the next year, and they repeat the same very limited function.

Well how does this relate to the movie?

1 - There is actually a short scene in the movie that shows the Junebugs (largish, black, moth-like insects) flying about over the lawn outside George's parents house.

2 - George and Madeline are just like the Junebugs. You probably noticed that they show some relatively graphic sex-scenes between the two. In fact, it almost seems that is all they do together, doesn't it? Remind of the above description of junebugs?

3 - It starts off that George and Madeline are a "together" couple, married for only 6 months. They seem to relate to each other in a more complete and sane, thinking way than George's North Carolina family and relatives and friends etc.

4 - George's family initially seem like repressed wierdos who are out of touch with themselves and each other.

5 - As the movie progresses, we start to see that in fact the opposite is true. We learn that George and Madeline don't know much if anything about each others true character. Madeline doesn't know that George is; a wonderful singer (Calling Me Softly hymn in the church) - we see the amazement on her face as she sees and hears her husband sing lead tenor as part of a trio. She doesn't know that he likes his sandwiches with loads of mayonnaise, that he likes to play traveling/word games in the car, that he cheats when he plays. Both of them smoke cigarettes, but keep it a secret from each other. George's brother makes a pass at Madeline, but she never tells him about it. George doesn't realize that Madeline is affected deeply by his family - in the hospital sequence he calls her and says, "Family is important", but in fact she actually understands this and is very upset by the sister-in-law's miscarriage. George just doesn't know anything about his wife's true feelings.

6 - All we see George and Madeline do together throughout the movie is have sex, procreate. George's family and friends are the ones who truly know each other for who they really are. They have a commitment to each other, regardless of circumstances, through good and bad. They accept and love the confused brother, Eugene understands and loves his wife (George's Mom) despite the hard shell she wears on the outside. He says that underneath there is a softness that Madeline doesn't recognize. Even the painter's money-grubbing sister cries and consoles Madeline for the death of her brother-in-law's child. Even she understands what everyone is truly feeling better than George and Madeline do.

The underlying theme here is that it is they (G and M) that are the Junebugs. Appearing in N.C. for a very brief visit, not primarily to visit their relatives, but for Madeline to sign up a new painter for her all-consuming career as a gallery owner. They aren't changed as people, despite seeing all they do in N.C.

During the end scene, in the car, G and M are leaving after "junebugging" for a few days with his family. He says he's glad "to be out of there", she's returning to her art gallery. Basically, they haven't been affected by what has gone on around them, again, just like junebugs who don't notice anything about the surrounding life, they have a myopic view of the world that includes finding a partner and procreating with the same.

Junebug is a wonderfully understated examination of human relationships, especially of how some people seem to just "flit" through life without being concerned for others at all.

There are many, many more scenes in the movie that portray this theme, but I hope that I've given you an idea of what the director/screenwriter etc are trying to convey. In retrospect, I'm hard pushed to think of one, single, unnecessary portion of Junebug. It all has meaning, providing one understands the precept.

Happy flitting!

Dave