They both went crazy after the will reading, and Walt did cash in on his dad's success, but neither of them were as bad most of the rest of the family. Ransom was a deadbeat and obviously evil, Joni was stealing, and Richard was cheating. But Linda and Walt didnt really do wrong. And Walt had a point, they could have been making way more money if they allowed adaptations.
shareIn the movie Harlan later says he should've pushed Walt to write his own stories, so I feel like him taking Walt out of the will was his way of pushing him to do better things.
As for Linda, maybe Harlan through she didn't need anything from the will since she made her own business from the ground up.
It's probably more that Harlan knew Marta needed it more than anyone else in the family did since everybody else had been profiting off his money for a long time.
You are correct, but they were white and wealthy and therefore they deserved to be cast out with everyone else.
That's the message I got, anyway.
Not just cast out, they had to accept their wealth being handed to an illegal immigrant - as per Rian Johnson’s politics.
shareShe wasn't an illegal immigrant. Only her mom was. Which is why Harlan killed himself. So that nobody would know that Marta thought she had given him the wrong med dose and so the police after doing investigating would not find out her mom was an illegal immigrant.
shareWow, you're really hung up on the "illegal immigrant" or "anchor baby" crap aren't you? Why is it you can't see any other way to classify the Marta character? Why could Marta have not immigrated legally to the USA? Why pigeonhole her as an illegal or anchor baby?
shareYeah it’s not ‘crap’, her mother is an illegal immigrant so it’s very possible that she is as well, or that she’s an anchor baby, as she is referred to in the film.
In any case the point is that Johnson wants the audience to celebrate the illegal immigrant/anchor baby claiming the wealth of the rich white family - such is his racism. I hope you’re also disgusted by his racism.
If you recall from the movie, Harlen was concerned about the mother's immigration status, not Marta's. This implies that Marta was a legal resident or US citizen. Since the rest of the family thought Marta was from various countries, it is possible that she was an immigrant living in the USA legally as an alien or a citizen. But keep on talking up the illegal/anchor baby argument; it looks good on you. :)
The only person in the movie who suggested that Marta was an anchor baby was the nazi kid.
He's obviously a real life version of Walt's son in the movie!
shareLinda and Walt both clearly lied to Marta on a regular basis. They condescended to her. That's not monstrous, but it speaks to a dearth of good character.
Linda is proud of her self-made woman stuff, which is BS. She clearly used Harlan's money to jump-start. She was narcissistic, I thought. No, she wasn't evil, but she was scheming and arrogant. She was also obviously pretty independently wealthy by the time of the film, so she wasn't going to be hurt fiscally. She was only proved to be selfish by her reaction.
Walt was a bully. He intimidates Marta in the hallway. He's physically bearing down on her. Also, he's clearly making excuses for a son who is disaffected and becoming spiteful and vapid. Walt needed a kick in the pants.
But Harlan also knew, I think, that he wasn't actually cutting anybody off. Marta was a good person. I'm betting that she kept Meg's schooling funded 100%, either sold the publishing to Walt or kept him on in his job (maybe even letting him work out adaptations, or encouraging Walt to write his own novel), and likely found a way to help Linda (I'm guessing by assisting with divorce proceedings). Heck, she might have even given Ransom some small amount of cash if he didn't turn out like he did.
They weren't completely heartless. The family did agree to take care of Marta financially, before the reading of the will.
I do think goes a long way toward your theory that Marta likely took care of them after the events of the film.
Meg grabs Walt, pulls him to Marta.
MEG
Did you tell Marta yet? What we all
talked about?
WALT
No, not yet, is now a good
time?
MEG
Yes a very good time. Right
now.
WALT
Marta. We've talked it over, and
(wait)
Have you been smoking grass?
MEG
No.
WALT
We talked it over and the whole
family, we want to take care of you.
MARTA
What does that mean?
MEG
We all think you deserve something.
WALT
Financially, we want to help you out.
You were never anything but good to
dad. Because of that, you can count
on us.
* copy/paste from scriptslug dot com
Yeah. They weren't "the worst", although they weren't super-nice either. Even with that exchange, it came across as really condescending somehow. Even when being nice they still weren't nice. But, yes, I doubt Marta left the family to twist in the wind.
Of course, I'm not sure how much she would have to help them. Even if she cut them all out, they'd be okay. Linda had established herself. It was off of her father's fortune, but she had a business, yeah? She'd be fine. Walt, too. Even if he was fired from managing his father's publishing, he'd get another job in the publishing business somewhere. It might not be as lucrative as his bestseller dad, but it would be something.
We agree here. They seemed to be good hearted so long as they had the upper hand. But after the will, their true colors began to show.
shareThey were definitely condescending. They left Marta out of the funeral. Two different people tell her that they wanted her to come but they were out-voted. What reason could the family have for leaving her out of the funeral? They tell her she is one of the family, but they leave her out of the funeral.
shareYeah, I don't think they hated Marta, I just think they thought of her as "the help". Consciously, I think they lied to themselves and told themselves how much she meant to them, she's one of the family, etc. But deep down they didn't feel that way.
I figure they all just forgot to invite her. It slipped their minds. If Marta were in real trouble, they'd help her, but they wouldn't go out of their way to check in on her or anything like that. So that "I was outvoted" thing was because they felt guilty for forgetting her and wanted to let her know she was included, and they just didn't want to say, "I feel awful, but we forgot to invite you."
I know they weren't as bad, but Linda was arrogant and used her dad's money to jump start her business, but she wasn't fully aware of Richard's affair, Walt was spoiled, cashing in on his father's success, the truth is if you want to work in your family's business, you should do other job/career opportunities on the outside to gain some experience, can't be living off the family money forever. Ransome was a dick, maybe it's because of his parents' arrogance and conservatism. The one that came across decent was Meg, and I think Martha used Harlan inheritance to help Meg and Joni with their financial situations. Walt might have started his own publishing business when he would pull himself together.
share