Movies; Tales of Culture

Will clean this up later. There are many movies to help one think through conversations of present culture. (Thank you Larry and your class on Depression Era films.) This one hit re the current hullabaloo re Epstein files. Men of wealth, propositions to young women = sex, power, capitalism. 1960s modernism fantasies re relationships. Difference? There might not be one, but this movie did attempt to teach a lesson to be decent. But only if you’re rich/powerful and the prey is perfect. A lesson taught to each party; both genders.

I’ve been wrestling with my conscience all morning, and I lost.

That’s an upset.

Her mother’s a school teacher, her father’s a drugist, her brother’s an Eagle Scout, she used to sing in the church choir. To take a girl like that to Bermuda is a desecration to everything the Minutemen fought for at Concord.

You asked her to go away with you?

Yeah.

And you’re not going to take her?

No.

What a terrible thing to do to me.

To you?

Built this image of a man — cold, ruthless, predatory — and you go and do a decent thing like this. Destroyed that image.

[Implication that he had ‘done’ that before. But to a woman without the stellar background. Lesson taught to the audience: fine behavior (exaulted? admired) because he is powerful, charming, wealthy; she has to be pure/exceptional for him to ‘be human’ do the right thing.

“Well he did it. Rasputin talked her into it.”

“I belted her.” (Ethnic fellow.)