In his mind

[kotte]

We don't know...

but...what's in his that isn't in mine? Seriously

He was in his early 20s when he wrote Sidney. How come he wrote this awesome movie as a kid? I tend to think it's his relationship to his mother. I don't know why...

[Finn]

I never really heard anything about his mother. He obviously had a strong bond with his father (I was the same way growing up).

[aclockworkjj]

thinkin' too much...I think.  have a drink.

watch, explore, the movie is no bore.

contains a whore,
a coffee store,
the first of movie 4.

it is it.  take from it what you get, but I like the questionin' thought....very much.

[Pubrick]

i think it's his relationship to his family in general. hard eight was clearly a father oriented picture, but in boogie nights u start to see a unique and touching martriarchal depiction. lost souls in need of a family, and it has a dream ending of them all living together.

isn't it interesting then that mothers are so absent in magnolia, Stanley and his single father, donnie who was betrayed by his own parents (one can assume his mother sided with his father in pursuit of financial gain like stanley's father), claudia was also abandoned by her mother (she also stuck with her husband despite her strong suspicions), Frank's tragic loss of his mother was also caused by a father's self-absorption. Marcy is a ho as the movie opens (according the police report), and finally Jim Kurring who is special because his mother is never adressed, what is referred to is his wife who died.. it is clear that he is a man-child like Barry Egan, and his relationship to his wife would hav been a similar one to the motherly bond Lena provides in PDL.

hard eight ends with sydney being kind and helpful to his adopted son, everything he does is to balance the burden this kid feels (help his mother out, no father figure, alone), it's a redemption story in the purest sense. redemption through establishment of familial bonds.

the same thing happens in boogie nights, on a grander scale. jack's house is a zion for lost souls, where the queen is Amber. don't be mistaken, the place is patriarchal to the extreme, it's all about dirk's dick after all. but look at the alternative offered to dirk, one where there is a weak father and an overbearing (possibly psychotic) mother. in the end amber suffers silently, and we can't imagine her depth. however we can be sure that this happy ending of sorts is not permanent, we know AIDS was just around the corner, and everyone dies alone.

which is how Magnolia begins, and ends in a way. the individual storylines do not end in a group gangbang, instead each connection made can be traced to the overall hunk of love that connects them all. that which defines us, which is so beyond comprehension it's no wonder we feel alone: the loss of time, life, and love. this is what is given by each character to another (jim kurring becomes donnie's brother, claudia gets a mother, stanley gets sum motherly tenderness out of his dad). in the end i think everyone is still alone, but they hav made a connection.

PDL is like the atomic principle of all previous films, which would explain Barry's unstable nature. the great thing now is, like myself while writing this long post, PTA is looking for ways to not repeat himself. he tackled familial redemption so well already that he sees the only way to go is down, to the threshold of what defines his films and his own past. one lonely guy trying to transcend his roots. this justifies the lena-alien theory, especially because to create a new life for urself u need to find sumthing which, well, creates life. and that's what mothers do, that's the kind of love that barry needs. it's incredibly poignant that the film ends at the exact moment everything is about to change.

i conclude with my belief that it's not exactly a question of what's in his mind, but in his soul.

[AntiDumbFrogQuestion]

P- I'm gonna wax your car.  but before that I have to ask: Jim said his wife DIED? I think she divorced him. But I can't be sure, even though I know I've seen the movie 15 times.
Back to the point which is, that was a great post. It shows you put alot of thought into what the PTA himself truly means with these films.

[Pubrick]

Jim said his wife DIED? I think she divorced him. But I can't be sure, even though I know I've seen the movie 15 times.

i wasn't sure either, i figured no one would call me on it.. it's one of those details u just sort of assume. if anyone knows, feel free to step up. the theory still stands, the point is that she was there.

thanks btw.

[cine]

I like to think that he wife liked to swear.. and because Jim is such a faithful Christian, he didn't like how she spoke and he left her. Then when he fell head over heels for Claudia and she swore in the restaurant, he tried to accept the fact that people will swear and that maybe he can make her a better person or just respect that people do that sometimes. This leads to his speech in her bedroom where she smiles.

That's always been the way I've looked at it...

[kotte]

I like to think that he wife liked to swear.. and because Jim is such a faithful Christian, he didn't like how she spoke and he left her. Then when he fell head over heels for Claudia and she swore in the restaurant, he tried to accept the fact that people will swear and that maybe he can make her a better person or just respect that people do that sometimes. This leads to his speech in her bedroom where she smiles.

That's always been the way I've looked at it...

Sorry to bring this up here but why are religious people against curse words? There are words to express anger just as there are words to express happiness. Why is it so bad if I scream 'crapcunt' when I hit my toe?

[TheVoiceOfNick]

PTA grew in up in the entertainment business... so he had lots of contacts and lots of ways of getting ahead professionally... i'm sure he learned things about the biz we would never learn in 30 years of being fans and reading magazines and newspaper articles...

[cowboykurtis]

Why is it so bad if I scream 'crapcunt' when I hit my toe?

because youre the devil