MovieChat Forums > Daydream Nation (2010) Discussion > shaming

shaming

posted 11 years ago by Redsunbeam
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For a while it seems like this movie had an anti-slut-shaming message. Caroline has this whole speech about how sex and non-monogamy aren't inherently wrong. Fast-forward an hour...

She ends up begging Thurston's forgiveness for "screwing up" by "cheating on" him. Er, what? They only hooked up once while she was dating Barry, and they didn't talk about whether they were dating other people. Caroline and Thurston were not a couple until after she'd stopped seeing Barry, if ever. Why is her past seen as a slight against Thurston? Basically, she's apologizing for having had sex before, and we're supposed to think she SHOULD apologize. :/

[–] leah_zero 11 years ago

I agree that it's seemingly contradictory, but I think the real problem was that Caroline was using Thurston emotionally, toying with him when she KNEW he was in love with her, and using that as a cover so she could see Barry. It's not so much the sex, I think, as the lying and emotional manipulation.

I do think it should've been made clearer, because Caroline having sex with Barry wasn't hurtful to Thurston--it was her toying with Thurston's emotions that hurt him.