MovieChat Forums > Flawless (1999) Discussion > Why did Walt Think Tia was a Prostitute?

Why did Walt Think Tia was a Prostitute?

posted 11 years ago by AccidntlTourist
8 replies | jump to latest

I watched this on TV so I may have missed too much, but my impression is that Walt avoided Tia because he thought she was a prostitute?

Of course Walt was actually being taken for a ride by Karen, but his macho pride was such that he wouldn't allow himself to see it.

Did Walt make an assumption (because he is so judgmental)- that he felt Tia looked/dressed like - or whatever ... looked like a prostitute (and that she just wasn't pretty enough for him) and therefore (arrogant jerk that he was) snubbed her?

I know it's not that important, but - in fact - was Tia a prostitute? Or, was she in fact a less than "classy" or pretty woman who was simply there because she loved to dance (and had a crush on Walt)?

Well, that's what I like to think - that Tia was not a hooker and was not there to hustle the older men who came to dance (unlike Karen).

I think Walt had a history of picking the wrong women (pretty women who stroked his ego) and felt sweet Tia was beneath him.

[–] fairy_depp 11 years ago

My impression was that all the girls there were prostitutes (or at least girls there to entice the men to spend their money and go back to the bar to see them and dance). Tia was just more open about it than the other girl and so, being a man, he couldn't see that Tia was the more genuine girl who was actually interested in him. I like to think that he realised that she liked him for him and that they got together after the end of the film. I don't think he was being a snob, he just couldn't see past her job and couldn't believe that she would actually like him.

[–] AccidntlTourist 11 years ago

Thanks for the input FD, but I'm pretty sure it is the first time we see Tia when she is at the dance club and we hear Walt accuse her of being a prostitute. Tia tells Walt she is not. I just think that if Tia were a hooker - she just would have come out and admitted it - and propositioned him. Instead she indicated she just wanted to dance (with that star of the dance club - Mr. Walt - gee what girl wouldn't want that).

I think this was a Tango dance club. It reminds my of the dance hall / club in the Robert Duvall movie Assassination Tango.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283897/

There are people who live and breath the Tango (hence these clubs). If you get a chance to see Assassination Tango (not a great film, imo, but a tribute my Duvall to the Tango) you will see what I mean.

I think that Walt considered himself the John Travolta of the geriatric Tango set; plus Mr.Hero in this insular bit of reality he'd carved out for himself (trying to avoid seeing the way he was getting older; living in a hell-hole and paying for sex - lots of denial).

I'm sure such Tango dance clubs exist in big cities such as the one Walt lived in - and that is what I "think" we were seeing - a group of people who loved the Tango. Of course, as with any dance hall, men and women go there to do more than dance. And, in some cases - hookers show up to hustle; especially the old guys. That's why I think that not "all the girls there were prostitutes". But, I could easily be wrong.

[–] fairy_depp 11 years ago

You could be right, but I really got the impression she was a prostitute... When she came round to see Walt later in the film, he said he didn't have any money to give her and she said something like 'who said anything about money?'. I got the impression that this meant that she was a prostitute but that she was with Walt just because she liked him...

[–] piquebu 11 years ago

It was implied that all the girls in the club were hookers. Even Tia -- after she came to Walt's house to check on him and make moves on him, he assumed the guys had hired her.

There are call girls and there are whorse (essentially the same thing, except men don't see it that way). Karen was a call girl. Tia was a whore -- but as we saw, being "higher class" doesn't make you a better person.

[–] AccidntlTourist 11 years ago

Thanks piquebu.

That's two votes for prostitute, so I guess I'm out-voted.

I guess I'll just have to be wrong with my theory that this was a Tango dance club and that Tia was there primarily to dance, not to hook and that Walt misjudged her from day one.

[–] cthulhulurks 11 years ago

The both women were prostitutes, they just proceeded differently seeking monetary gain...

my vote history:
http://www.imdb.com/user/ur13767631/ratings

[–] moosefeathers 10 years ago

Seemed to me it was a clip joint. All the women were hookers.

Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...

[–] Kragey 8 years ago

It looked like a dance club where pretty women were used to draw men in. This isn't outright prostitution, but the implication is that a lot of the women were looking for money and would treat the men like sugar daddies.

Notice, for instance, that Walt doesn't pay Karen for services rendered. She suggests that she can't afford the rent and needs a little bit of money, and he hands some money over. In his mind, this isn't prostitution, it's a relationship of sorts. Karen clearly doesn't feel the same way, as demonstrated later in the film--she drops him like a hot potato when he can't pay up anymore.

You're a sexual Disneyland.