What do Rollergirl's skates reveal about her character?

Started by wilberfan, May 17, 2017, 05:28:30 PM

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wilberfan

Personal hygiene (and other) jokes aside, what do you think Rollergirl never wanting to remove her skates reveals about her character?   They hold some kind of power for her (literally--in the case of stomping her high school/college tormentor after he gets out of the limo). 

Thoughts?

polkablues

The whole movie is about adrift people trying to figure out who they are and determine their place in the world, and in the case of Rollergirl, she has such an ephemeral sense of self that she has based her entire persona around this accessory. Even the name that she's chosen for herself (or at least accepted as chosen for her) literally defines her by this one thing. It's a crutch, in a sense, in that it allows her (at least for a time) to live a fully unexamined life. As long as she has her roller skates, she's The Girl With The Roller Skates, no need to look deeper. Because she's afraid of what's to be found under the surface.

And of course, her totem being roller skates in particular carries heavy connotations of arrested emotional development, lost innocence, etc. There's an ironic juxtaposition between her advanced sexuality and how childlike she is in all other aspects.

Good luck on your essay!
My house, my rules, my coffee

wilberfan

Very childlike, yes.  Amber has to actually remind her to go pee at the beginning of the film.   I wonder if the movement is an attempt to outrace her demons?

Another aspect of her character I've recently started to think about:  Her omnipresent camera (modified with fingernail polish to be a "Rolaroid").  She doesn't seem to be hiding behind it.  I wonder what it provides her?  (If you look very closely in the background of one scene, you can see there's a Christmas tree decorated, in part, with some of her photos...)   Is it a toy?   Does it give her "something to do" while the "grownups" are talking...?  (She gets very bored in the coffee shop scene as Jack is explaining The Biz to Eddie.)

polkablues

I'm drawn to the second part of your theory. The camera allows her to be an observer rather than a participant. It's another wall she constructs between herself and the world at large.
My house, my rules, my coffee