MovieChat Forums > American Honey (2016) Discussion > My two theories about the ending

My two theories about the ending

posted 8 years ago by ankivakt
30 replies | jump to latest

1. Jake gives her the turtle but so no one else sees which makes Star realize that this secrecy could go on forever. Through out the movie we've seen here set different animals free. After having set the turtle free she walks out in the water then when she swings up she's saved herself like she saved the bees and the turtle. And when she does that it's quite, we don't hear any songs or talking like we have throughout the movie - she's left all that behind for a new beginning.

2. This was my initial take when the end credits began but I kind of abandoned that theory for some reason. Jake gives her the turtle as a gift representing freedom. He knows she'll go down to the water and let it out and while she does that they leave him. That's why it's quite and the bonfire seems to have gone out when she surfaces from the water. He's stuck there with the group and with Krystal but he doesn't want that for her, so they leave her. Because why would Krystal keep her around? Maybe she gave Jake an ultimatum that either Star goes or he does.

what do you think?

[–] supadude2004 8 years ago

Firstly, you do realise that to discuss the ending of a movie without using either the spoilers tag or putting "spoilers" into the title of your thread is a no-no.

*Spoilers potentially follow*.

Secondly, as for the thread itself, remember that she releases or takes pity on animals throughout the movie, even a wasp - partly suggesting that she is more sensitive to their needs and/or hardened to the ways of human life. This poster sees the ending differently to how you do.

It's more likely that once the film-makers had two and a half hours of footage covered, it was nigh time to start winding things up, and given that the movie was compelling from start to finish anyway, with every scene being very watchable, there was actually no great need for some extraordinarily profound climax to it. Rather, she takes to the water, something she was always scared to do, before that point, as some of we viewers recall that she cannot swim, denoting a new found sense of freedom and self expression for our protagonist. The film simply ends with her discovering such a renewed sense of confidence in herself, Jake didn't matter after all, and so the water could be read as a sort of cleansing and rebirth, or as just a brief dip in the pool; her being 'at one' with nature, where she ultimately finds true belonging - more so than she ever did with humans.

Overall, it's really quite a brilliantly bleak, neo-dystopian sort of movie - one where everyone is close to each other in one sense, yet couldn't give two f**^^ for each other in another - given that they scam others in unison; all being expendable underlings, when measured by the ramshackle business empire of the single purest sociopath of them all, Crystal, simply to survive each day.

HTH ;-)

-
Sandwiched between The Principle of Mediocrity & Rare Earth Theory, you should see The Fermi Paradox

[–] JJandS 8 years ago

I like your assessment. Jake was a wolf in sheep clothing, she knew this from the beginning which is why she called him out on their first training because she saw a wealthy family and the mother was ignoring her daughter's inappropriate behavior while listening to a liar. He always persuaded her to believe the things he was doing was to help her.

The one thing I loved about the film is that I was expecting some sexual assault from some of her decisions. It would have been easy to do, so I am glad to finally see men portrayed not as being weird predators toward women in need of a ride.

[–] scorch429 8 years ago

I feel like a guy's perspective is very different from a girl's perspective of this movie.
I believe it's a movie more meant for young girls to watch, but they also miss an important aspect of the movie, where a guy does not.

From a girl's perspective, she is either uncertain of their relationship or dismisses it by the time the credits roll.

From a guy's perspective, we've all been there and acted like Shia's character acts, at one point or another in our life. I believe guys watching this movie realize that Shia is in love with Star, probably from the first minute they met, but absolutely by the end of the movie. The scene which most solidifies this is the one where he askes her repeatedly if she "slept with him" (the oil rig guy) This is a true sign that he cares about her and no other girl. All us guys have been there. Throwing the tantrum, not believing the answer, and eventually giving her space.

Does any female that watched this movie understand that as well? That he truely does love her?

[–] armand-mihaies 8 years ago

@sorch429 Yea that's pretty spot on , even though im still unsure about the ending as it's so open-ended :) but a deffo rewatch.

[–] supadude2004 8 years ago

But Jake's not in love with Star; his character is that of a sociopath, and so doesn't know, nor couldn't possibly even know nor realise the meaning of the term. Rather, he was 'in lust' with her throughout the movie.

-
Sandwiched between The Principle of Mediocrity & Rare Earth Theory, you should see The Fermi Paradox

[–] greg-goremykin 8 years ago

You're making some huge assumptions about Jake being a sociopath. He might just be living a hard-scramble life, you have no idea what the character went through before the time-line of the film. Your assessment of him as a sociopath is way off the mark, there is simply not enough evidence to support that.

p.s. It's perfectly acceptable to have a title like "my take on the ending of the film" without having "spoiler" in the title. If someone is stupid enough to open a thread with a title like that and not expect a spoiler, then they deserve to get the film spoiled for them. Don't be such a douchbag.

[–] Acid_Reflex 8 years ago

Jake is clearly a sociopath which is someone that understands right from wrong and can control themselves with a lot of effort but chooses not to do so and then regrets the consequences later. I would say Krystal was probably a sociopath too but we didn't see enough of her in action to know for sure. She was definitely a chicken hawk.

No matter how you want to view Jake, in love, in lust, whatever... He was bad news for Star as he put his needs before hers and proved he always would. I would say he was in obsessive lust which always leads to a codependent abusive relationship.

This is coming from a guy.

Movie was good but ending left me feeling a but hanging so I gave it an 8 instead of a 9

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
--Mark Twain

[–] daddie0 8 years ago

No matter how you want to view Jake, in love, in lust, whatever... He was bad news for Star as he put his needs before hers and proved he always would.

How so? Can you give examples?

[–] Falconeer 8 years ago

Are you kidding? You think him throwing a tantrum over the thought of her being with another guy, is proof that he "loves" her? It's just male ego. He doesn't want another guy getting what he's been getting. He's jealous. That's all. Jealousy isn't a sign of love, it's a sign of insecurity. Because deep inside, Jake knows that Star will soon outgrow him, and be much more successful in life than his loser ass. He was really never good enough for her, and deep down, i think he realized that.

Fabio Testi is GOD

[–] scorch429 8 years ago

You MUST be a woman.

[–] Falconeer 8 years ago

Nope; just a guy who has seen and experienced a lot in his life. I have seen this scenario played out many times; girls like that usually outgrow guys like Jake, and guys like Jake usually don't grow at all.

Fabio Testi is GOD

[–] Geddles 8 years ago

I'd like to give Falconeer's opinion, throughout this thread, a big thumbs up. From a male's perspective, I gathered that as well.

[–] TheWatcher315 8 years ago

^^^this

[–] movieSNOB1 8 years ago

I too thought it was pretty obvious that he had real feelings for her. I also like that those feelings are somewhat shrouded by the person he is, or has to be living that lifestyle. They have to protect themselves, be scrappy, and a bit withdrawn. It would make no sense for them to "fall in love" using all the stereotypical Hollywood tropes that are supposed to indicate "real" love. I appreciate that there affection for each other was romantic but also utilitarian. By the end of the movie there'd be no reason for Jake to still be selling the life to Star.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ines_silva 8 years ago

i think from a girl's perspective you can also gather that much. i wouldn't even go as far as speaking of concrete moments, for me it was the little moments, the looks, the smiles, the giggles and the little games were enough. I think the actors had good chemistry and really pulled that through. i wouldn't say it is true love since they hardly knew each other, but i believed they had both deep feelings about one another. Also, i don't agree with she being too good for him or going to surpass him. I don't think we have enough information of Jake to understand his path, but i had the feeling that they had different reasons to be in this gang. I think the main difference beteween them is that Star is younger and her spirit reflects that, her motivation, her being so fierce to fight. On the other hand, i feel like Jake somehow is more hurt by life and disappoint and therefore values a comfortable place like the gang more than Star. That's why he talks to her about his dream, but you don't REALLY buy it. Not like you bought Star's dream. You believe he has a dream,but you don't see him focused everyday to pursue it. But for Star, being in the gang is already part of pursuing her dream,because she had just escaped and evolved to a new situation in life.

[–] [email protected] (1355) 5 years ago

Yes because he was crying when he asked her about the oil rig guy...

[–] thory-1 8 years ago

>Firstly, you do realise that to discuss the ending of a movie without using either the spoilers tag or putting "spoilers" into the title of your thread is a no-no.

LOL his title was 'my two theories about the ending' i'm pretty sure anyone with half a brain understands that spoilers are coming.

[–] isteinberg1824 8 years ago

lmao this ^

[–] heartcartography 8 years ago

Me too ^

I agree with the OP re: the ending.

She always gave presents away and the turtle was a present. She did not like to see creatures oppressed and liberated it like she had the bee in the pool or the bee in the house.

I didn't think Jake had only lust towards her and agree that his feelings ran more deeply. As already stated, his reaction to her being with the rig pig, his hitting the window of the van when on the bike, his showing her his secret stash...

Ultimately, he was not able to or did not want to disconnect from that life. It provided power (soliciting girls to join), challenge (how to get people to buy), and goods (boots, cash, attention from Krystal...).

Whether she left that night or two months down the road, she knows what's up and I also think the dimming of light and sound when she resurfaces indicates that. She would rather use her body then lie to people or be disingenuous, she uses money to buy groceries for kids and runs interference (kissing Cory when he is going to keep kicking that week's "Loser"). Contrary to what Krystal says, she IS special.

[–] Ruby_Bale_Desplat 8 years ago

^ these are exactly my thoughts 

[–] Tokyo1013 8 years ago

thory-1 - Yeah. Guess some folks feel they need to be a pseudo-admin. Makes 'em feel importante. I came to the discussion because I saw it was about the ending...

[–] !!!deleted!!! (23568926) 8 years ago

Jake never once commits to Star, says he loves her, or anything. They hang out, flirt, and have sex, then she projects onto that. So suddenly he's a "bad person" for not living up to what he never even committed to in the first place! How handy, for some to feel morally superior...

[–] Tokyo1013 8 years ago

bcharrison09 - Not sure where you are coming from. I was just commenting on the thread title... that was all..... Did we cross streams?

[–] !!!deleted!!! (23568926) 8 years ago

Ah, I wasn't after you at all---some of the previous posters were crapping on Jake as a sociopath for the crime of being young and wild. I replied at the end, and I guess it was to you. Not intended.

[–] Tokyo1013 8 years ago

Good to know...and agree with you also.....bout Jake...

[–] fer_sm90 8 years ago

Since the beginning in which Star takes the kids to their real mother in order to go she striked me as not any kid. Any other of the characters would've just leave them there, but she didn't. She was very sensitive and simpathetic towards the ones she thought were unable to protect themselves, such as animals and children. She seemed to desire being part of something but her experience showed her that she wasn't like those other kids and at the end she finally gained the confidence she needed to go where she wanted to go.

And Jake, i felt terrible for him. He was in love with Star. i thought that he was very sad because he thought he wasn't going anywhere in life, he knew people just fine.He wanted to get out, but he wouldn't, he knew that he wouldn't.So she did the only thing he could, and let her go.

Sad story :(

[–] ekrem-662-949749 8 years ago

Firstly, let’s talk about specialty of Star for Jake. First time, we saw that Jake earning less money when Star begin to work with him. Another thing, we watch that Jake showing treasure which steal from homes to Star, so that you can say he does it to everyone but who stupid could show money to member of group who always together. One more thing, if he knows the secret of Star about animals or people, he can see beauty of her. Also, this movie is a movie of woman director/screenwriter so no strong woman director does not star loser character that is fooled by handsome, clever man. I mean I want to say, this movie is not a hoky-poky Brazilian series that has a lot of wheeler-dealing, this movie is simply romantic dram

As for my theory about ending, ending scene is in the forest that has a lot of big trees and lake and we are remembering their dreams about future. First, Star’s dream “I wanna have my own place, and my own trailer. You know, somewhere with lots of trees, like real big ones. And lots of kids.” And Jake’s dream “I've been collecting this for two years. Well, that's not the dream, but that buys the dream. L just wanna get, like, my own spot somewhere in the woods and just *beep* Just stay small, you know. Like a little duplex or something. Like the 40 acres and a mule, you know? Just some piece of land in the woods somewhere. Someday.” As I said above, this is a woman’s movie so love is important in life and purpose of movie is enkindling love and ending want to say “married, happy with children” Also, Star is removing the condo of Jake when we watch second lovemaking that this is taking away us to Star’s dream. Another thing is last song as “American Honey”, this song has a lyric from Jake to Star as “I gotta get back to her somehow To American honey“

No longer, I can talk about movie actually this is mediocre movie but seeing conspiracy theorists make me write comments about normal romantic movie. However, this does not make me crazy, the main annoying thing is that this movie win jury prize in Cannes presumably French never see reality of life. I don’t want to see individual approach to important issues in the movie or to learn screenwriter's deep feelings to see issue. I want to see common pain and joy and I want that movie is spoken about its art and esthetics

Finally, sorry for my English I’m just a Turkish bear.

[–] [email protected] (1355) 5 years ago

I think you express yourself well.

[–] wiiztec (258) 3 years ago

I think Krystal saying she kicked Jake from the group was just a test to see if Star was only in it for him or if she was actually serious about the job