MovieChat Forums > Don't Tell Her It's Me (1990) Discussion > GeeGaw or Totem?

GeeGaw or Totem?

posted 18 years ago by freakthemusical2000
11 replies | jump to latest

Can anyone elaborate on the necklace that guttenberg's character lobo referred to as a geegaw(hopefully correct spelling) or totem in the movie, which is the smae one he accidentially dips into his drink. Thanks.

[–] dageorge 18 years ago

GeeGaw, Geekaw, spell it as it sounds to you. It's a southern slang term for tchatzke (another word you can pretty much spell the way you want), thingymabob, knicknack, that kind of thing. Heard it all my life growing up in the south. The geekaw was probably meant to harken back to Lobo's roots in New Zealand, though for anyone not blindly in love with Lobo as Miss Emily Pear was, it is obviously something found in a tacky tropical tourist gift shop, not something a tough biker would wear.

[–] muzilon 16 years ago

As I recall "Lobo" claimed the pendant was supposed to be a traditional New Zealand Maori carving or some such nonsense. It looks *nothing* like real Maori artwork. And let's not get into Steve Guttenberg's attempt at a New Zealand accent...

[–] freakthemusical2000 16 years ago

Really? well I have seen the real maori or at least some made by islanders that are authentic, but the material looks like whale bone but I have never seen the design of the man type pendant and I was wanting to find out if it had a specific name (koru,etc.) or even origin for that matter, even if its not of New Zealand heritage....whatever it is I was just trying to find out so I could get one.

[–] muzilon 16 years ago

Here's some pix of the tiki and other traditional Maori pendants ... as I recall Lobo's trinket bore no resemblance to any of these.

http://www.lawas.co.nz/LINKS/tikipage.htm
http://www.aotearoa.co.nz/bones/pounamu/index.html

But hey, it was a bad movie, I don't suppose the filmmakers were striving for accuracy. :)

[–] onecrazeechick 16 years ago

im watching don't tell her it's me (or the boyfriend school) and i am not impressed with that accent!! we sound nothing like that! if anything it sound like an aussie accent..even some of the music throughout the movie reminds me of aboriginal music (natives to australia).
and as for that pendant.. that is no way maori, not even close.
i like the storyline tho! just wish he could've played the part of a kiwi!

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] nora-hurley 15 years ago

Exactly -- it's supposed to be an appalling accent! The point Lizzie is making to Gretchen/Emily is that girls always go for the exotic bad-boy types. She repackages Gus as one of her over-the-top romance heroes and Gretchen/Emily falls for him in spite of just how silly he is (objectively speaking).

Also, the trinket is supposed to be a cheap, plastic souvenir that any objective, logical person would recognize for what it is (and, remember, Gretchen/Emily has very snootily told Lizzie that a contemporary young woman such as herself would never fall for all that romantic claptrap). Again, Lizzie is proving her point -- Gretchen/Emily buys into the allure of the exotic, the romantic overtones of Lobo/Gus' story, so she suspends her disbelief and convinces herself the piece of junk is what he says it is.

[–] ShadowsGathered 15 years ago

Who's Gretchen?

...Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he doesn't become a monster...

[–] nora-hurley 15 years ago

Gretchen Griner is the name of the Emily Pear character in the original novel, The Boyfriend School, by Sarah Bird.

I like Gretchen better, especially since she's kind of an edgier, less romantic character in the novel (she's also a photographer, not a writer, in the book).

It's a really good novel -- better than the movie. Give it a try!

[–] ShadowsGathered 15 years ago

Thanks for the 411... I'll have to check the book out if I can find it.

The hardest thing in this world... is to live in it.

[–] sverige-icebaby 9 years ago

It's not supposed to be a legit portrayal of a Kiwi - everything about Lobo is way off the mark, especially the Aboriginal music, the plastic 'geegaw', the gumtree remark and using "cobber", which he writes on the mirror. It's supposed to be stupid, that's what makes it funny.
It's a hilarious movie, and all my Maori family members laugh their heads off when we watch it.