Joy was the only person who seemed to care about her. When they were kids, she gave the doll Madeline to Violet, and said she'd try and write.
I could see, in her twisted way, why she'd be angry at the father but not at Joy.
"Some laughed. He let them. His own heart laughed, and that was enough."
-A Christmas Carol
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I don't mean to be overly complex here, but I would have to imagine that the reason she went after that family had nothing to do with revenge and more to do with the idea that she is a con artist, just like her sister, and just like her mother, shown both in the beginning of this film as well as references that Ivy makes in the first film, and if someone trusts you, kinda like this family seems to trust her, then they are an easy target to take advantage of. You might see how the father can be blamed for some things, but I seriously doubt that, because it sounds like in the original that the mother did that sort of thing all the time, so maybe she went cross country and revenge, or maybe she saw weekness in Joy, not something hard to imagine, she even tries to save Violet at the end of the movie, and the only real revenge taken on anyone is the nanny. Even the boyfriend was not so much a ploy for revenge as he was just a means for her to get her hooks in, and I think that there was some resentment of Joy, especially from how Violet was treated by her snobby tennis friends, and I think that she wanted to expose them, and of course she took it too far. I think there was a part of Violet that wanted people, and especially to restore her youth and faith in men by refusing her, but she assumes that they will not. She is waiting for someone to stop her, kinda like the killer in the Hitcher. I know I like to over anlalyze, but feel free to comment.
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You made some good points.
Watching this film again, I almost think that Violet didn't want revenge 'completely', meaning sometimes she resented Joy and was jealous and sometimes not. The end of the film seemed to point to Violet seemingly wanting Joy and her father all to herself! She got rid of Michael so he wouldn't take Joy away, and she seduced the father in order to try and 'become' his wife and Joy's mother.
She was really crazy, as was evidenced also by her actions with the doll Madeline.
But I think she wanted a family, and was so twisted that that was how she went about it.
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."
I think she just wanted to keep Joy all to herself and then when it fell apart, she went crazy, or crazier.
shareSo she didn't really want to 'hurt' Joy as much as she just wanted to destroy her relationship and keep her home?
She just wanted Joy and her father as her family then?
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."