XPost: rec.arts.movies.past-films, rec.arts.movies.current-films   
   From: jneibaur@wi.rr.com   
      
   in article 5acdd75a.0401141306.21b8a66e@posting.google.com, volkischlemiel   
   at volkischlemiel@hotmail.com wrote on 1/14/04 3:06 PM:   
      
   > Yeah, but Isaac wants someone he can argue with, someone with whom he   
   > can get passionate. Even in their first meeting when the stuff Mary   
   > says drives him nuts, that frustration makes him feel alive. Tracy's   
   > like a kid or a puppy. Kids and puppies are adorable but not the sort   
   > of thing that qualifies as soulmate or even soulopponent. Tracy is   
   > boring because she is easily molded into what Isaac wants her to be.   
   > But, Isaac knows he's an insecure phony and so the molding effect that   
   > he has on Tracy is positive only in a negative way--by stunting her   
   > own individuality(later, Isaac's encouraging her to be independent is   
   > also a case of self-interest just to get rid of her). It's almost like   
   > the Stepford wife syndrome. Isaac got burned by his first wife, the   
   > lesbitch. So, Isaac chose a totally safe and innocuous creature that   
   > looks up to him, worships him, etc. But, he knows this is b.s.  Tracy   
   > that he has created is a manipulated product of his cowardliness with   
   > women, an extreme reaction to his trauma from the first castrating   
   > marriage.   
      
   While I appreciate your differing perspective, I don't see it the same way.   
   I agree that Isaac is drawn to shrewish bitches, which is why he was with   
   the Meryl Streep character.  And his attraction to Mary is ridiculous   
   because she is a perfectly horrible person on every level.  But he wants to   
   vindicate his previous lack of success with this type, and thus finds   
   himself attracted.  Tracy is too young for him, indeed, but he realizes in   
   the end that he is happiest with someone who is merely an extension of   
   himself - - such is his ego.  He can't do that with any mature woman, much   
   less the "winner of the Zelda Fitzgerald Emotional Maturity Award."   
      
   > I don't think Isaac believes in anything yet what bothers me about the   
   > movie is the mood is soft when it should be unforgiving and harsh. The   
   > ending is cynical yet overly sweet just as the movie is both cleareyed   
   > contemporary and romantically nostalgic.   
      
   That is very "seventies" though.  It was a cynical period during which it   
   became hip to embrace nostalgia.  Remember?   
      
   > I don't think Isaac cares   
   > whether she's corrupted or not, just that she's slipped thru his   
   > fingers. Isaac's idea of corruption is purely egocentric. Someone is   
   > corrupted when his or her interest goes against Isaac's. Sometimes he   
   > doesn't mind others becoming 'corrupted' if it serves his emotional   
   > interest.   
      
   Oh I agree with that completely.  That is his problem.  If she stays, she   
   will remain his lapdog.  If she goes, she will mature and discover her own   
   individuality.   
      
   >Had Tracy decided to remain with Isaac, he might have been   
   > happier in the shortrun but he would have seen her as another gullible   
   > dolt to ditch whenever another Mary comes along. In a way, the irony   
   > is Isaac had corrupted Tracy all along by manipulating her innocence.   
      
   I also agree with this assessment.   
      
      
   > But Allen chose her for exactly that quality. She's like a little girl   
   > in bed holding a teddy bear, suffering from sniffles.   
      
   Yeah, and he massages his own ego by having this fawning younger woman   
   around.  It is said to be based on Allen's real-life relationship with Stacy   
   Nelkin.   
      
   JN   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)