I think he was like the only person who really cared about her. I don't know why she got so nasty about him with Missy when he called on the phone in that scene.
shareNever mind. I saw the movie again just now and I think why Dawn got mean to Ralphie was cuz he told Dawn that Brandon was a retard. Right after Brandon left Dawn from the club house when she told him about Steve.
shareshe was still taking her anger out on the wrong person though, just like she would do to her little sister.
shareHer sister was a horrible little girl who was spoilt rotten by her dreadful parents. When did she ever dump on her sister?
Don't let anyone ever make you feel like you don't deserve what you want.
One of the things that the movie is about is the top-down and cyclical nature of abuse and pain with kids. Every kid receives abuse from those ahead of them in the pecking order, and then keeps the line going by transmitting it downward. Dawn is low on the totem, but not lowest, so she transmits the abuse--because she can--downward to Ralphie. For all we know there's someone lower than Ralphie, and Ralphie turns around and does the same thing.
Thinking about how Dawn was willing to partake of a behavior cycle that had caused her so much pain 1) is one of the things that keeps you from finding her totally sympathetic 2) is probably the saddest thing in the whole movie
That is what makes the movie so real and sad. A typical Hollywood movie Dawn would have been all nice to the people weaker than her because she wasn't going to cave into the cycle of abuse
shareraisenj^
Wonderful explanation!
~~ Never trust the teller, trust the tale ~ ~ D.H. Lawrence
"One of the things that the movie is about is the top-down and cyclical nature of abuse and pain with kids. Every kid receives abuse from those ahead of them in the pecking order, and then keeps the line going by transmitting it downward. Dawn is low on the totem, but not lowest, so she transmits the abuse--because she can--downward to Ralphie. For all we know there's someone lower than Ralphie, and Ralphie turns around and does the same thing.
Thinking about how Dawn was willing to partake of a behavior cycle that had caused her so much pain 1) is one of the things that keeps you from finding her totally sympathetic 2) is probably the saddest thing in the whole movie"
Very well said. Cruelty begets cruelty.
Without you, today's emotions would be the scurf of yesterday's.
It seemed like misplaced aggression.
share