Fires within
There is a sort of grid we bring to movies, plays and books when we put on our critic hat. And we all put on a critic hat when we try to explain a movie like The Philadelphia Story. When sitting there in the dark we don't need to explain it. It's just us and the movie and my how we love it.
Anyway, let's get back to the grid. It goes something like this. "There is a character and she has a flaw and she must overcome her flaw to have a happy ending or not overcome it and have a tragedy." And this movie encourages us to understand it that way. We are told, point blank, that Tracy Samantha Lord has a flaw and here it is in the words of CK Dexter-Haven:
Because Tracy Samantha Lord is a first class woman and she is a first class human being and she is that from the beginning. And "class" is the right word here.
A great essay I read on Edith Wharton once talked about the status of words. They all seem more less equal in a list but in a story some words acquire incredible importance and in this movie the word "class" has a whole lot of power and Tracy has it. She seems to have it in two senses: in one sense she is magnificent and we all want to be here and in another sense she is part of a class we know we can't be part of and we want to knock her out of it.
You don't believe me? Well, watch it again, and pay special attention to the drunken scene after the party where Mike and Tracy are alone together. For that is the transformational scene. It is what happens there that enables Tracy to change. It is there that she comes face to face with something about herself that is crucial to her happiness. When you watch it again, ask yourself, is the thing she needs to face her own human frailty? Because I think you will see in that clip that Tracy's real need is for something else altogether.
I don't think it is that at all. I think that what Tracy needs to face is her own womanly magnificence. And it's not just me, the movie itself has two competing lines. You can see them both in the clip linked below. Right up until about 2:44, it's all about human frailty and then everything suddenly shifts and Mike tells Tracy about something in her that is not human frailty at all. Which of the two is it that she really needs to be told? Watch it yourself and tell me.
There is a sort of grid we bring to movies, plays and books when we put on our critic hat. And we all put on a critic hat when we try to explain a movie like The Philadelphia Story. When sitting there in the dark we don't need to explain it. It's just us and the movie and my how we love it.
Anyway, let's get back to the grid. It goes something like this. "There is a character and she has a flaw and she must overcome her flaw to have a happy ending or not overcome it and have a tragedy." And this movie encourages us to understand it that way. We are told, point blank, that Tracy Samantha Lord has a flaw and here it is in the words of CK Dexter-Haven:
You'll never be a first class human being or a first class woman until you've learned to have some regard for human frailty.And one way to explain the movie is to take that at face value. It's no way to watch the movie though. No one sitting alone in the dark and forgetting themselves as this movie and its heroine washes over them sees it that way.
Because Tracy Samantha Lord is a first class woman and she is a first class human being and she is that from the beginning. And "class" is the right word here.
A great essay I read on Edith Wharton once talked about the status of words. They all seem more less equal in a list but in a story some words acquire incredible importance and in this movie the word "class" has a whole lot of power and Tracy has it. She seems to have it in two senses: in one sense she is magnificent and we all want to be here and in another sense she is part of a class we know we can't be part of and we want to knock her out of it.
You don't believe me? Well, watch it again, and pay special attention to the drunken scene after the party where Mike and Tracy are alone together. For that is the transformational scene. It is what happens there that enables Tracy to change. It is there that she comes face to face with something about herself that is crucial to her happiness. When you watch it again, ask yourself, is the thing she needs to face her own human frailty? Because I think you will see in that clip that Tracy's real need is for something else altogether.
I don't think it is that at all. I think that what Tracy needs to face is her own womanly magnificence. And it's not just me, the movie itself has two competing lines. You can see them both in the clip linked below. Right up until about 2:44, it's all about human frailty and then everything suddenly shifts and Mike tells Tracy about something in her that is not human frailty at all. Which of the two is it that she really needs to be told? Watch it yourself and tell me.
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