MovieChat Forums > Everybody's All-American (1988) Discussion > anyone else find it odd that Babs

anyone else find it odd that Babs

posted 9 years ago by mswoc
6 replies | jump to latest

is never shown with any close girlfriends, sister, mother, cousin -- all through early marriage, pregnancy, child-rearing. there's a scene during the credits that she appears to be in some sorority ceremony. but Gavin asks Cake to sit with her at the game, why wouldn't she just sit with the other players' girlfriends?
she's seen sitting with the other player's wives when they brief her about being new to pro-ball (and again at Gavin's retirement), talking to a few other women at the restaurant opening party but socializes with no one but Cake at the summer lake house dance - her birthday
she never got along with Kiley's wife and didn't appear to connect well with Cake's Leslie

and every scene she's in there is never another blonde in sight and the brunettes who are shown tend to be kind of plain or homely - of course she's always supposed to be the most glamorous woman on the screen when she does appear and the movie is about him and his life but in the end her character seemed to have carried the plot more than his - if they were hinting at the surrendered-wife syndrome whose life is comprised of her husband, they succeeded but even women like her back then had gal pals

[–] oneofeight 9 years ago

I too thought it was odd. She didn't appear to care for women at all, the kind of woman who feels superior to other women. See how she reacts when meeting Leslie, pretty much ignores her while fawning over Cake. Even women like her have some female friends or sisters, a mom.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] mswoc 8 years ago

I can't help but wonder if some other scenes were shot but later cut (a couple of scenes in the trailer aren't in the movie) because they weren't needed to carry the plot. The core characters really did carry all the plot points and the theme.

and Cake appeared to be like a surrogate girlfriend - the scene where she pulls him into the ladies room (at the restaurant under Kylie ownership) almost looks like he was a "composited" character that represented the kind of girlfriend she'd confide in

that pro-ball game with the player's wives was odd when they said "most of us were the queen of something" because all those women looked obviously plain, matronly, borderline frumpy - definitely not the glamour-girl of the era, even if they weren't newbies and were covered up for the rain.

and even Prom Queens have bestie-girls in their court. Surely Babs' wedding had a maid-of-honor and bridesmaids. She didn't appear to be reuniting with any old buddies at the closing silver-anniversary college scene, though she had lived there all along. but we never saw either of them interact with their parents or siblings either. Film was on the long side, probably not enough room for any additional characters!

[–] larpine-225-371665 8 years ago

I think Babs character was summed up well,(at least in her youth), when she said she was majoring in "Gavin and me".

I knew girls very much like Babs in high school and college. Their entire lives revolved around their boyfriends, who were either leaders of a sporting team or a class superlative, and they all married shortly after graduation.

These women were quite, kept to themselves and in truth, they have very few friends for they didn't trust them around their boyfriends. Also, they were often chaperoned by the couple's closeted gay friend, for he didn't pose a threat to either.

In my graduating class, none of the marriages made it to the 25 year class reunion and on a footnote, it's comically ironic looking up the "superlatives" today on Facebook, (some thirty plus years after the fact), for most are fifty pounds overweight and either working as corrections officers at the county lockup or servicing air conditioning units.

[–] mswoc 8 years ago

I've also known senior prom queens, head cheerleaders, etc who've had their own little posse who were there for engagement, bridal and baby showers, girls nite out, lunch, shopping, etc. I once had a conversation about this with a professor who taught film and he said it was true, the intent was to keep the focus on Babs as the leading lady with no competition. and Cake served as her surrogate confidant

[–] larpine-225-371665 8 years ago

I'd say that's pretty accurate. We see her losing her footing as the posse is dismantled and her identity is switched to mother and football wife.