I hated Brad Pitt for ages after that film. I didn't learn to like him again until Fight Club, and then I really tried not to but failed.
My guess:
It puts women where they want to be mentally. It provides a comfortable head space for them. You have the context of a family, with brothers and a strong bond of love. Women are comfortable with emotionally engaging with these boys, and then later on, they will continue to equate Tristan the jerk with Tristan the sensitive child, and will want to see the sensitive child inside of the adult jerk.
Susannah is a beautiful, elegant, and repressed character, yet she's also made to be willful and intelligent and slightly naughty. This is what many modern women aspire to be. They want to be a good girl who does naughty things but isn't less a lady for it. Susannah gets to have ample emotional trauma to do anything she likes for the duration of the film while remaining sympathetic to most female viewers. Women like identifying with her.
Also, we're told exactly what to think and feel about all the situations and characters, which means you get to have this illusion of depth and meaning without any troublesome ambiguity or thought being required.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-12-24 12:00 am (UTC)My guess:
It puts women where they want to be mentally. It provides a comfortable head space for them. You have the context of a family, with brothers and a strong bond of love. Women are comfortable with emotionally engaging with these boys, and then later on, they will continue to equate Tristan the jerk with Tristan the sensitive child, and will want to see the sensitive child inside of the adult jerk.
Susannah is a beautiful, elegant, and repressed character, yet she's also made to be willful and intelligent and slightly naughty. This is what many modern women aspire to be. They want to be a good girl who does naughty things but isn't less a lady for it. Susannah gets to have ample emotional trauma to do anything she likes for the duration of the film while remaining sympathetic to most female viewers. Women like identifying with her.
Also, we're told exactly what to think and feel about all the situations and characters, which means you get to have this illusion of depth and meaning without any troublesome ambiguity or thought being required.
Does that make any sense?