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pantryslut

Saw Near Dark on Saturday with

borggrrl and

cindymonkey and other folks (and dog, and cats, and fondue).

I then totally geeked out about the multiple possible readings of the story with Steven over lunch the next day. I mean totally, completely, utterly.

It it a clash of culture story? Is it a tragedy? Does it have a happy ending or not?

And what about that missing mother? I am all about absent mothers these days, probably b/c of that parody story I was writing last week. Her mother was also missing, after all.

Which characters evoke your sympathy? I was glad to see

borggrrl comment about Caleb's pushiness at the beginning of the movie.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

daveroguesf.livejournal.com

I was struck by how ambiguous the thing is. We see a number of human tendencies in the vampire clan (their bonds with one another, a strong sense of family despite the very disparate nature of the bunch), and a few vampiric tendencies on the part of the humans (mostly in Caleb - his pushiness at the beginning, yes, but also his transfusing of Mae without her consentwhich was every bit a shock to the system as her infection of Caleb).

It's a much richer and emotionally nuanced film than most contemporary vampire stories, giving you a lot more to think about. Which is probably why it's so fondly remembered (along with it just being a thrilling, entertaining movie).

Great to meet you Saturday!

From:

pantryslut.livejournal.com

I was irritated with how easily pushed around May (Mae?) was. And part of the very geeky rant I gave Steven was about how the movie lets heteropatriarchal normativity reassert itself -- May moves in to be mommy/wife/daughter to Caleb's family, rather than let him move in with her family.

But yes, I think the movie very deliberately sets up a lot of ambiguity around itself. Which makes me happy.

Nice to meet you too!

From: (Anonymous)

>>And part of the very geeky rant I gave Steven was about how the movie lets heteropatriarchal normativity reassert itself -- May moves in to be mommy/wife/daughter to Caleb's family, rather than let him move in with her family.

We don't actually see this happen - Caleb transfuses her and tries to reassure her, but she's clearly freaked out and is resisting Caleb as he pulls her close right up to the closing freeze-frame.

Caleb couldn't move in with her family 'cause he killed them all.

From:

daveroguesf.livejournal.com

That last anonymous message was from me.

From:

pantryslut.livejournal.com

We don't see it happen, but judging from her actions in the rest of the movie, I'm fairly confident that she lets them take her in.

Caleb *did* move in with her family, and *then* he killed them all.