MovieChat Forums > Enough Said (2013) Discussion > Eva's sense of entitlement

Eva's sense of entitlement

posted 11 years ago by PacificHeights
62 replies | jump to latest

I enjoyed the movie and thought both major characters did a fine job. There was one theme that bothered me a bit for a movie made in 2013.

Eva expected her customer to take her message table up the stairs for her. Why? There is no reason for the service provider to expect the customer to help with her equipment. If he offers to do it, that is one thing, he is being helpful. But, to expect it exhibits entitlement that reeks of hypocracy.

Eva is not physically handicapped. She is a business woman providing a service to paying customers. Is Eva equal or is she not?

[–] crysjumar 10 years ago

Eva is not physically handicapped. She is a business woman providing a service to paying customers. Is Eva equal or is she not?
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paying for it or not, one would expect the guy to be a gentleman and offer. If she wanted to go all "feminist" on him and say I can handle it, then hey...he did offer.

but the reality is that he looked like a bit of a douche WATCHING her struggle with lugging the table up the stairs.

Do You Grok

[–] veganmango 10 years ago

I don't understand why this has to be a gender issue. As a woman, if I saw anyone struggling up those steps with something heavy, I would offer to help, whether I was paying for a service or not.

[–] WarpedRecord 9 years ago

I would certainly offer to help (rather than insisting I help) regardless of the gender, but it wasn't clear to me until the end that he had seen her struggling. Eva mentioned him hearing the car door shut, which doesn't seem like much of a cue to me.

[–] blakkdog 9 years ago

I honestly think you all are over analyzing this bit way too much. I dont think it was meant to be a commentary on manners or chivalry or whatever. I felt it was a prop for the film makers to use. Eve feels much more comfortable being independent and isnt big on relying on people, especially men (probably has been burned more than once in her past and has learned to be this way). You can see that streak in her character. She keeps a bubble around herself for protection. She has doubts about the benevolence of others and that they will effect her negatively. But she gets caught in a dilemma where Alberts ex wife feeds into this tendency of hers and she keeps going back to find more negative things about Albert because it keeps her from slipping toward reliance on him, from truly buying into him and accepting that shes falling for him. When it blows up in her face she finally realizes she does like him and she did actually need him and that she blew it. Telling the client that she needs his help with the table is symbolic of going back to Albert (which she does shortly after that scene) and making it clear that she needs him too. Its a symbolic step that leads to the real step thats so hard for her to take. When she asks the client to help and he acts decently and helps with enormous enthusiasm and actually seems to realize how wrong he had been I think it gave her the awareness to do the same with Albert. So stop analyzing the scene so literally... It was meant to be a means to a transition.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] danasider 8 years ago

Dude, you're a douche. She didn't expect it, because it actually took her that long to even bring it up. She was only speaking her mind to her friend, because in the real world most people who aren't douches would help a lady (or a very weak guy, or an elderly or a friend or whatever) with a heavy bag up a long flight of stairs instead of stare at them. Heck, if Arnold Schwarzenegger was in obvious need of help, I would offer it.

I am paying for the service of a massage, not for them to lug up some heavy equipment to my place up a long flight of stairs. This is not about entitlement or feminism or chivalry. It's called human decency. Nothing wrong with helping someone who seems to be in need of it. I do it all the time, whether I am paying for a service or not.

Now if she expected me to do the massage too, then I would have a problem.

[–] quaasheezy 8 years ago

Good lord, I can't believe this thread is still going, lol. Is this debate about abortion or a romantic comdedy? True to the abortion analogy, I guess people firmly fall on one side of this argument or the other...and I'm no different.

I find it to be an egregious professional violation to expect your customer to do anything other than pay for the service you are providing. I've had large items delivered(refrigerators, mattresses, couches) and never once did the delivery guys say "alright come on out here and help us unload the truck" lol.

Similarly, when I bought my old 200lb tv(xbr910, how i miss thee) from someone on the top floor of an apt complex, I didn't expect them to help me move it as that information was not included. The people who are willing to help will explicitly state so in the ad.

I guess this is just a difference in the way the sexes think. As a man, you always have to be prepared to handle business yourself. You can never go into a situation thinking "oh, someone will be there do this for me".

It does seem that, at times, the fairer sex can approach a situation with the expectation that others will help them complete it. I have a friend who goes out with no money because "I'll just find a guy to buy me drinks". I'm not saying there's anything objectively wrong with this feeling(especially if it's been working for you!), it's just that, as a man, I have an innate reprehensibility towards it.

And, plus I've been googling mobile massages. They all state that there's an extra fee for stairs. So it seems a simple enough solution to just include it in your price, unless you just get off on playing the damsel in distress role.

The funniest thing to me is that this scene is literally the only thing I remember from the film.

[–] leader (1730) 5 years ago

The big joke in that scene is that in real life, massage beds are actually easy, specially because the manufacturers know someone will be carrying them around. I found it surprising when in the movie the guy said "wow, this is heavy" because realistically, no it is not. It is made from light materials specially because people will be lugging that thing all over town.