MovieChat Forums > Rose Red (2002) Discussion > Here's one thing I don't quite get about...

Here's one thing I don't quite get about Rose Red...


Joyce Reardon states several times that she's looking for some proof of the paranormal, however small (a "twitch"), and that this proof will pretty much make her career. Ok, fair enough. She gets that proof, uh, about a half hour after they get to the house (the first appearance of the glowing ghost of April) which is caught on video (fuzzy, but still - that was pretty damned indisputable phenomenon, fuzzy or no). Ok, they could have just gone ahead and left then. Later, we get a spectral party caught on video (38 people in the room, but only about 5 were actually living!) and Annie and Steve dancing/levitating. Seems to me that any of these incidents would have been enough for them to pack it up and go - along with countless others that I'm forgetting. So, I guess what I'm asking is, what proof would actually have been enough for Joyce, if not these things? I'm guessing that nothing would have ever been enough, as she was well and truly obsessed - but tell me what you think. :)

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The house like to take "posession" of its occupants and mess with the psychologically. Thats what it did with Ellen Rimbauer.
The story closely parallels "the Haunting" where the house took "possession" of Elenore.
Joyce seemed to have a "connection" with Annie who essentially kept the rest of the people prisoners, in the house. The house continued to divide and separate the people and claim its victims. Annie was the one that untimately had the power to destroy the house enough to free the people, but Joyce was so possessed that she would not/could not leave and her spirit remained in the house along with its past vistims.

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Imagine this. If you loved dinosaurs and moved to a property that looked like it might have some bones buried on it, and kept saying, 'Just let me find a dinosaur. Maybe just a tooth.' Then one day, you find a skull. You notice that there might be more bones there. Would you stop? I wouldn't. She was hoping for just a twitch, but when she got an entire convulsion, I think that she would not consider leaving, even if the house wasn't altering her judgement.

Also, if she went to publish her findings and said that she left when there was at least another entire day available for investigation, her colleagues would be incredulous and would doubt her dedication.




Sbzgfqmtx rules.

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Joyce was crazy. She didn't really want proof. She wanted to just use the people to get what she wanted. I'm still trying to figure out who she is because she has to be involved in that house somehow. I don't know how yet. Maybe the book explains it? I don't know but I do know that it wasn't "proof" she wanted. It was her own satisfaction.

Sidika&Samuel(;

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Not to mention look how much $$$ she paid everyone. I know I damn well would've stayed and gotten full use of these paid psychics as well, rather than just get "the twitch" and leave.

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She was lying to herself - she wanted the adolation that came with amazing people with her work. Look how annoyed she got whenever he started telling his family's story before she could, or whenever things took the attention away from her as the font of knowledge - she really didn't like it when Nick shows more knowledge then her and people listened more to him then to her.
Joyce deliberately took Annie into a known, dangerous environment WANTING her to wake it up. She never cared for the people she endangered - only for her reputation. If Joyce had been psychic, Rose Red would have had a field day - all that power coupled with the ambition!

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Besides being obsessed, I think Joyce was always on the verge of insanity. The second she stepped into the house she went over the edge. You could hear it and see it in the way she snapped at harmless comments. Joyce was really a wicked bitch. She could care less that all of the psychics were being "eaten" and their energy was taken to supply the house. I think it was justice that she was eventually taken too.

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I think that was her last resort plan, was to get anything at all. But her overall plan (mentioned in the beginning) was to spend the entire Memorial Day weekend in the house. They got the proof on the first day within a few hours, yes, but Joyce was planning on writing a book about her visit, and it wouldn't have made sense for her, academically, to leave only after getting one apparition.

Basically, if she got a "twitch", great. If she got more, even better.

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"Rescue the damsel in distress; kill the bad guy; save the world."
--Rick O'Connell

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