MovieChat Forums > Junebug (2005) Discussion > Johnny and George - how can two brothers...

Johnny and George - how can two brothers be THAT different

posted 11 years ago by Redart27
6 replies | jump to latest

I can believe that one can be smarter and go out into the world, gain experience and sophistication. However, George had nothing in common with his moronic brother. I would have believed it if the younger brother showed some signs of intelligence but for what ever reasons did not get the breaks the older one got (maybe he got bogged down helping his folks or a pregnant girlfriend.) Johnny was 203% ignorant, backwoods, lazy loser. The parents seem incapable of having ever been the parents of George too.

[–] ppllkk 11 years ago

Uly_5 wrote:

George had nothing in common with his moronic brother.

Think about what it must of been like growing up with a very talented older brother and that mother. It's really rather obvious.

If you really need a clue, why did Cain hate Abel so much that he killed him?

[–] Goofy_Elfman 10 years ago

I think it's easy to be dismissive of Johnny but there's so much going on here. It's obvious that Johnny's always lived in his brother's shadow and jealousy is powerful enough to sever whatever bond they might have had in the past. He's angry and he doesn't know how to deal with it. He may be ignorant in certain respects, mainly socially, but he's not a complete idiot. Many scenes show that he wants to connect, but he habitually gets in the way of himself. At the end, though, we see him trying and it's a sweet little moment of growth.

[–] ppllkk 10 years ago

Goofy_Elfman wrote:

It's obvious that Johnny's always lived in his brother's shadow

I believe that his mother emphasized the differences by constantly reminding Johnny of how unsuccessful he was at everything compared to George.Someone said that the first rule of parenting is it you have to love all your children equally. I believe Peg did not do that in this family.David-CG's very useful Scripts for Firefox: http://userscripts.org/users/67626

[–] Goofy_Elfman 10 years ago

I don't know if I'd place all of the blame on Peg either though. Who knows how Peg herself was brought up. I don't think she was a bad mother, she just had some blind spots. It's obvious she favored George, but we don't know that she maliciously emphasized the differences between the two... that's just inference. I'm sure it was just a complex combination of dynamics in the house that made all of these individuals the way they are.

I think there's been a rape up there!

[–] ppllkk 10 years ago

Goofy_Elfman wrote:

I don't think she was a bad mother

I think that Peg was a horror of a mother, but that is obviously just my opinion.

but we don't know that she maliciously emphasized the differences between the two...

I don't think that Peg did anything maliciously, but I think she did constantly compare Johnny to George to Johnny's disadvantage. That is just the sort of person that she is.

that's just inference.

Yes, it is an inference, based on the results. Johnny hates being around his home — see how happy he is at work — he has a miserable relationship with his mother, and he hates his brother. Notice Johnny's reaction when George comforted Ashley, something that Johnny should've done but was unable to do. Again, his brother succeeded and Johnny failed.Eugene loves his wife, but he hides from her the basement. George spends most of his time at home avoiding being around his mother. He has not been home in three years, and I believe he's not going to go back except for a funeral. I know there are other things going on, but I believe a part of it is his mother's character.When neither of your children can stand you, it is a very bad sign. Don't be confused by the fact that George is not explicit about how he feels about his mother. I believe he realized that at a young age that the only way to deal with his mother was to hide his feelings and go along with her. And he has been hiding his feelings ever since then.George had the talents to give Peg what she wanted; Johnny did not.David-CG's very useful Scripts for Firefox: http://userscripts.org/users/67626

[–] jname96 10 years ago

Are you that naive???

People can be INCREDIBLY different from their siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc... lol.

Also, as others have stated: there's plenty of clues here and there, that belie Johnny's "ignorance" and/or antagonism. Two that come to mind, for me, are:

-Johnny was instantly in a good mood, while at his workplace. He was freed from the oppression of his parents and even his wife (only cuz she represented duty and obligation with the upcoming baby, which weighed him down--not cuz he hated them, no.)
-When Madeline goes over "Huckleberry Finn" with Johnny, he tries to talk about how he was supposed to go on a big trip to Washington D.C. during his senior year? He was insinuating that he missed out on his chance to be more... obviously. He even said something like: "It wasn't supposed to be like this.." but of course, it didn't come out as articulately as he intended.