MovieChat Forums > Guys and Dolls (2007) Discussion > Inspiration for 'Lars and the Real Girl'...

Inspiration for 'Lars and the Real Girl'?

posted 16 years ago by mrjoanofarc
1 reply | jump to latest

At least, that's what I think. :P

By the first half of the movie, though, I didn't think the movie had covered any more ground than this documentary did. But by the end, the movie actually did take the doll idea further-- the end of this documentary shows a few men perfectly happy with their dolls, either as a replacement or, in one case, addition to a girlfriend.

The movie takes that idea further by letting that idea be known to the community around them-- everybody knows about it, since the character parades around town with his doll-- and they're all perfectly alright with it. It's completely unrealistic, but they're saying when such a "secret" is made public, when what a doll-user possibly would be most afraid of, public opinion, is no longer an issue... that leaves one to sit and evaluate what makes him/her truly happy. And would someone be truly happy with a human substitute?

The answer is, of course, nothing can replace a human soul. But a question the documentary poses (which the movie doesn't cover as much) is, what if someone really considers themselves un-date-able, and what if they're right? What if some people truly can't find a companion of any kind to love? What do they do?

Lars in "Lars and the Real Girl" simply had a mental/behavioral barrier he had to overcome through a psychological clinging-and-letting-go process with his doll. He was good-looking and girls liked him, but he felt completely alienated around them. But as soon as he got over those feelings, he could start a "real" relationship.

These doll owners... most have had real relationships, and they still choose the dolls over that.

It's a pretty interesting case study.

[–] fast_fierce_and_funny 10 years ago

But a question the documentary poses (which the movie doesn't cover as much) is, what if someone really considers themselves un-date-able, and what if they're right?

I'm not so sure about the "undateable" part. :/

What I mean is: the clip I heard (this was played on a radio station) had three interviewees: the guy who lived at home with his parent, Everard (the IT guy, and Gordon, the factory worker. None of the three guys I heard said anything about how they felt "undateable." Everard said he felt (and perhaps actually was) alienated from those around him (naturally, that includes women, too). The guy who lived at home seemed to like his doll better than real women because real women can be unpredictable (same as any other member of the human race). Finally, Gordon seemed to have gotten burned a few times and simply sounded as though he was fed up with the whole idea of dating and possibly getting burned yet again.

So while I didn't see the whole thing, I would be very, very surprised if any of the interviewees declared themselves to be "undateable," though you could be entirely correct on this.

I should think it far more likely, instead, that they a) had great difficulty meeting women (and weren't willing to work at it) or b) have given up on dating because, let's face it, human relationships are messy, you have to be at least somewhat patient with people as no one is perfect, and sometimes people simply run out of patience and adopt the path of least resistence (in this case, buying an ~$8,000 doll that does whatever you want it to do because, well, it's a doll and not a person).