I understand that the older girls were kind of beeyatchi, but why was Brooklyn or Elis or whatever her name was mean to her? She just dumped her at the party and called her horrid or something. It made me care less for Elis after that and I wanted something bad to happen to her.
shareTrue. Ellis showed her mean, discriminating side there.
I mean, sure--that girl was strange and not attractive, but no reason to be mistreated.
You mean to imply, horrors, that Eilis wasn't "perfect"? That she actually could have some less than desirable traits?
Show me a real person who doesn't.
..*.. TxMike ..*..
In movies you have to show the heroine as flawless. You know, like Ripley. I'm pretty sure that in real life Ripley would've said "To hell with Newt! I'm getting out of here!"
shareBesides, that wasn't an imperfection. That was just a bitchy move on her part.
shareEllis showed her mean, discriminating side there.
I'm curious too, and the other respondents pretty much just said, "because Eilis isn't perfect"
Do the characters not like the girl because she says obvious things such as there are more movies in New York than in Cavan? Is it because she's upfront about her interest in dances, movies, and finding a fella? Is it because she has 1980s hair in the 1950s? Is it because she has an Ulster accent (pronounces Cavan like Keeyavin)?
Any of the reasons seem pretty lame, I don't know why they were mean.
I am one that responded that "she isn't perfect." But now I will expand. First off I don't think they were "mean" to the other girl. It is clear that she has an annoying demeanor and it would have been very natural in the 1950s (I suppose even today) for the others to want to get away from her. At the dinner table in the boarding house they were pretty well trapped, but out for a social evening they had the freedom to ditch her.
No, they weren't being mean to her, just making choices of who they wanted to socialize with. They were acting like young people act. If the annoying girl would work on her issues she would have more friends.
I don't understand why some are trying to make such a big deal of that very small aspect of the overall story.
..*.. TxMike ..*..
They were mean. They lied about having other plans and then showed up at the dance where she saw them and knew that they lied. (This was also mean to Eilis: if the blonde girl was so bad, then why should they burden her onto the 2nd newest girl by herself?) They said a flippant response to the girl's movie comment. Eilis ditched her then called her awful behind her back. They didn't try to help the girl or be friendly to her, even though she's a young immigrant an ocean away from her family. That's mean. They could have given her some New York fashion tips, taken her to the dance, introduced her to some guys they already knew but weren't really interested in, and then gotten away from her if they really had to. She wouldn't have cost them much social capital, the guys would still ask the good looking ones to dance.
It is clear that she has an annoying demeanor
Examples?
If the annoying girl would work on her issues
What issues?
You haven't expanded, you've just lectured on youth socialization, which we all understood already.
Well, she was a drag, obsessing about there being not enough men at the dance. She was a drip. However, I believe the director and filmmakers mistakenly thought she was a worse drip than she was, and so the other girls did come across as unnecessarily mean to her.
shareI agree that they weren't mean. They just found Dolores annoying. Eilis was a quiet girl, who rarely spoke and I don't think ever cursed. Why would she be attracted to Dolores shrieking 'Those betches!' I thought she was a riot, but that doesn't make her everyone's cup of tea. Just because they live with each other doesn't mean they have to endure each other's company outside the boarding house. Surerly, the op gets what it's like to have an annoying sibling/roommate/person that you just want to be free from for a few hours. Additionally, I will say that in the book, it was actually much worse. They were actually really mean to Dolores, because she had a lower social status. In the movie, they changed it so that the girls avoided her too but only because she was the shrill new girl. It's not nice, but it sure isn't mean, and it's something everyone does at one point or another. And this is coming from someone who was 'the avoided' not 'the avoider'. I think it helps the person grow socially.
But I definitely thought Dolores was interesting. Oddly, I like Ellis am a bit of introvert, but I think I'm the type that's just attracted to weird, loud personalities. My mom is like Ellis, the type to steer clear of people who sometimes act socially inappropriate or not to her liking or idea of how a person should act. She's kind of close minded, which is in character, considering she'd never lived anywhere outside of her town before.
Wildcattin'...Wildcattin'. Pow! I'm gonna go.
I think Eillis was being fairly kind in taking the girl along to the dance, but her nasty comments about the others girls from the boardinghouse were over the line and that put Eillis off. We're so used to hearing the term "bitch" these days that most people in the audience likely didn't think much about it. However, in those days it would have been a shockingly vulgar term. The fact that the girl said Mrs. Keogh had said it showed she was a liar without any sense of how to make friends.
shareBecause she was a little oick...
oick - an uncouth or obnoxious person.
The Players of The Game are the scum of the earth.
I liked that way that none of the characters in this movie showed charity. They were all honest and didn't hide their feelings, whether the feelings were good or bad. But they never did mean things behind people's backs either.
Eilis clearly said that she's sure Dorothy wouldn't mind being left behind "if Eilis went home with a boy". So she wasn't just leaving her behind to be mean. She was giving everyone, including herself, an excuse to feel comfortable. And it turns out that it wasn't just an excuse for her. She did want to walk home with Tony.
Writing this, I realized the meaning of all that irresponsible behavior Eilis showed during her last days in Ireland. I guess it's all about the sweetness and bitterness of being honest.
In the novel, Eilis tried her best to be as nice to Dolores as possible, even she had her limits like with the scene that the movie showed. However, after ditching her at the dance, she was still nice to her afterwards, which was not shown in the movie.
share