Grammar major sharing her thoughts & papers.

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Posted 2010-08-31 17:20:02 by Moltzan

Who is “The Good Guy”?
Ashley Jo Moltzan

As the indie film “The Good Guy”, which was released on video June 22, 2010, opens up, the narrator, Tommy, is drenched from the rain, locked out of his apartment, lost his wallet and keys, says this night has been the worse night of his life, and needs money. He pleads with a girl, Beth, for help. She finally answers and says she feels sorry for him. Without knowing much about these characters, one may infer that Beth is Tommy's ex-girlfriend and Tommy is now heartbroken. But as the movie continues, it is clear that the good guy, the narrator, may not be who he says he is.

After the movie notifies of a change in time of six weeks earlier. Tommy asks the audience if they have “even been lied to by someone you trusted completely” and had their heart tossed around. He then narrates that he was “totally blindsided” by the whole ordeal, without specifically saying what, although he works with the best liars in his job for Wall-Street. This speech by Tommy led me, and probably most audience members, to relate to him and to keep waiting for something catastrophic to happen to him throughout the movie.

When a co-worker unexpectedly quits, Tommy gives Daniel, a computer technician, a promotion. Daniel does not fit in with his co-workers; he does not tell vulgar jokes and is not popular with women. Rather, Daniel is polite, likes to wear his own style of clothing, and enjoys classic works of literature like by Charles Dickens. Because of this, as Tommy becomes Daniel's guide for work, he becomes his guide to life as well.

He tells Daniel that what he wears is a statement for women and that he looks like somebody working at Blockbuster. Tommy takes him clothes shopping to find “sexy” clothes, to Daniel's reluctance. Daniel believes that clothes are arbitrary and should not be a defining factor in meeting someone. Later, Tommy, his two raunchy co-worker friends, and Daniel party together and then go to a bar. While partying among themselves, Tommy tells Daniel that “what women hate is getting lied to by guys who are just trying to sleep with them.” Unlike the others, Daniel does not just want to sleep with girls and actually wants a committed relationship.

While at the bar, Daniel is prodded to flirt with women but he is too shy to talk to random girls at the bar. But he watches Tommy do it with ease to set an example. Tommy has a girlfriend, Beth, but he wants to show Daniel how to meet women. As Tommy talks to a girl, Brooke, she becomes interested in him. Flash forward in time and the narrator, Tommy, says “Things started getting complicated. Brooke lost her purse that night at the bar, her phone, keys, everything. She asked if she could crash on my couch and call a locksmith in the morning.” He then goes on to say that trust is the single most important thing in a relationship but since nothing happened, he decides not to tell Beth.

Meanwhile, Beth is offered a job in San Francisco and hasn't decided if she will stay or go yet. She also officially meets Daniel at a work party dinner that Tommy brings her to. Daniel tells Beth that he loves the book “Pride and Prejudice” and other classics so she invites him to a book club she organized with her girlfriends. Their reading list consists of “Lolita” and “The Good Soldier”. While discussing “Lolita”, Daniel describes the main character as hopelessly in love and “That's what love is, anything else is just a distraction.” The girls, especially Beth, are awed by his sentiment. Later, while discussing “The Good Soldier”, Beth is bothered because the narrator isn't trustworthy but Daniel likes this about the book because in real life, people sometimes aren't who they say they are.

Although Tommy is the narrator of the movie, it doesn't solely focus on Tommy. The audience becomes emotionally attached to Beth and Daniel as well. Although Tom is the narrator and seems like a good guy in the beginning of the movie, one wonders if he really is. The contrast of personalities of Tommy and Daniel leads to comparisons made by the viewer and asking themselves: Who is the good guy of this movie? Trust, fraud, and first impressions are shown to not always be what they seem at first glance. This movie is a romantic drama with a plot twist and a web of deceit, allowing the viewer to keep guessing who the good guy is. As this movie slowly reviews itself, the audience realizes what they thought to be true was not and what they wanted for the characters is actually something else.

Friend of Rick from college.

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Posted 2010-02-25 16:08:03 by James

Recently I have been thinking about politics. I have come to the conclusion that in general the fight between the two parties boils down to the hatred of greed vs the hatred of sloth. myself i tend to side with the hatred of greed more often than not. this threw my brain off on to one of its typical tangents,and i started to ponder on how hate is the biggest driving force for people. its easier to manipulate someone using something they hate than something they love. For instance Christians to attempt to convert people will use the hate of the idea of hell rather than the love of the idea of heaven. I think that this may be the cause of my chronic unmotivated state. the argument i can smell forming in you head is that ""but James love has given me plenty of motivation" to that I ask is it really the love that motivates you or the fear of losing that love for fear and pride are just alternate forms of hate?  fear is hate of an idea, pride is hate of an social construct. for instance pride in ones country is just another way of saying we are better which is another way of saying they suck which is another way of saying we hate them. back to the original subject of politics the reason I find greed to be so loathes some when compared to sloth is that sloth is mostly inwardly destructive where as greed is mostly outwardly destructive. i personally believe that we should have the right to do to ourselves whatever we want as long as it has no negative consequences to others. i can smell another argument forming in your brain "but James think of your loved ones". putting myself in the Dr. Manhattan mindset that of the ultimate observer, emotional distress is for the most part inconsequential and temporary in the grand scheme of things the freedom of self determination trumps the minor impact of the social distress caused by ones actions in the long run. now i know that point is debatable but that is a topic for another blog.