I didn't want to give a thumbnail description of the movie's action because I would have to say it as a about a man who buys a sex doll as a companion. And that woud be misleading, right? But the movie is about a man who buys a sex doll as a companion. Which leads me to ask a couple of questions:
1. Lars says of Bianca, "That's why God made her -- to help people." Is Bianca a divine creation? Does she help people? Or is she pornographic?
2.. We started the Short Term with a boy who had visions of saints. Is Lars delusional or visionary?
3. What might be a better way to describe what this movie seems to be about (even though we aren't quite done with the whole film)?
1. I think that in the movie Bianca is a creation of God and Lars. His psychologist said that some people create delusions to express feelings, so Bianca is used to get problems out of Lars. The doll also brings Lars closer to Karin, Gus and Marg.
ReplyDelete2. I think that Lars is delusional. I will admit that at some points in the movie I thought that he knew Bianca was a doll and was just trying to talk to Gus and Karin. I think that the reason I can't say he is a visionary is because his community is trying to help him instead of the other way around.
3. I would say that this movie is about a shy man that develops a delusion and buys a sex doll. His illness unites the community and brings his family closer.
1. As far as we know the usual design for Bianca is as a sex doll. That however does not mean she is not a divine creation. It is merely a matter of perspective. So far we see no intent for her to be used as pornographic material, the only thing she has done is helped out this poor guy, making him more social and interactive with other people. So yes, you could consider her a divine creation because she is helping people.
ReplyDelete2. The boy in Millions was not crazy. He simply had visions of saints who helped him. The same could be said about Lars. He may be seeing something that no one else can, but that does not necessarily make him crazy. He is also being helped by his "vision" of this lady. It is pretty clear that he is weird and awkward, even before he meets Bianca. So there is not too much reason to think he is crazy, the only difference in him since he met her is that he is much more social and open. Perphaps someone else will see Bianca the way he does by the end like what happened in Millions. You could say that some people already do, just to a less extent
3. "Lars and the Real Girl" is about a shy, awkward man finding love and companionship in a life size plastic woman. This creates a community of love and protection around this weird relationship while those closest to it debate on what to do.
1. Bianca certainly helps people, or at least she helps Lars. Thanks to this delusion, he is able to function. He's learning to go out and be social and work with people. This is also bringing his personal problems, like being unable to touch people, to the surface so that others can help him through it. Also, Bianca is not inherently pornographic. It's about how she is viewed. Lars benefits from an emotional connection, even if it's in his brain, and she gives him an object to ascribe that emotional connection to. Though Bianca has a vagina, so does every woman on the planet, and that doesn't make women inherently pornographic. Because Lars views her as more than an object, I would say that Bianca is not pornographic.
ReplyDelete2. He is delusional. That delusion helps him get through the day, and may even help him be able to connect to people on a deeper level than he has before. Regardless of whether he ever moves past this, it allows him to move at all.
3. This movie is about how being different isn't being bad. Lars is one of the nicest people in town, and he works a lot differently. We repeatedly see him do little things for others, like picking up a toy for a little kid or helping to carry flowers. Especially when he gives CPR to the bear. He is able to understand where Margo is coming from and do this little, but nice thing, while another guy hanged it. That some other guy also focuses totally on the sexual side of Bianca and presumably other women. Lars demonstrates that oddities don't define one's character.
I think Bianca really does help people. She definitely helps Lars by allowing him to open up to people and begin an actual life. Before Bianca was sent to him, he was cramped in his home all day, only going out to go to work and church. In a way, Bianca gives him hope and the chance to try new stuff. Also, Bianca helps the people of the town because at first they see Lars as crazy, but once they help pretend Bianca is real, their minds open up.
ReplyDeleteRight now, I feel that Lars is delusional, but I also feel that later in the movie, for some reason, he will be visionary. Previously, I thought the real life sex doll was a joke and he was just acting, but maybe, he is really seeing something for the future.
I think this movie is about a man suffering from a mental illness. He orders a doll, whom he considers a human, to talk to and open up to becuase maybe humans are just to hard to express feelings towards. This movie is about misconception hat being unordinary is a bad thing.
Lars and The Real Girl
ReplyDeleteJoanie Dorfman
1. I don't believe Bianca is a divine creation, as God or any deity for that matter has been sparingly referenced, even less so than in Places in the Heart. But I'd do think she helps people, at least in the beginning. She gives Lars a way to interact with other people and make real connections. Introducing his "girlfriend" to his brother and sister-in-law was the first time he was shown making any effort to interact with them. Afterwards he talks to colleagues, shares personal information with his doctor, and even goes to parties. It even helps the community as they too or drawn together by "Bianca" in an attempt to help Lars. Bianca even "volunteers" at a hospital. However, here helping effect only lasts so long before it starts to tear Lars apart from people again.
2. Again, given the lack of religious references, I think that he couldn't be considered a "visionary" like Damian could be. Unlike in Millions, there is no doubt that Bianca isn't real and that Lars is delusional. However, in both cases, their "visions", whether they are real or delusions, help both characters overcome emotion struggles and reconnect with their families.
3. This film is the story of a man who needs some kind of emotional connection with someone desperately but is too scared of abandonment that he turns to a sex doll for a meaningful relationship, deluding himself into thinking its a real person.
I don't think Bianca was ever intended to be a heavenly figure because when she was actually manufactured she was from a factory that made sex dolls. She does how ever help the people around her. She clearly helps Lars because he now becomes more open with how he feels about people. And I don't think he would have been comfortable talking to the doctor without Bianca in his life. Also as the two of them become more distant, Lars has begun to have an actual connection with Margo.
ReplyDeleteI think he is still delusional because he is making up full conversations and gets mad when other people try to spend time with her. While both the saints and the doll have had positive impacts on their lives, Bianca is actually starting to hurt Lars by not spending time with him and not feeling the same way he does.
I think it is about values because Bianca was created to be a sex doll, but when Lars describes her she is a nice wholesome girl who has felt pain in her life. Instead of being some extremely successful or always looking for a good time, she is a sweet girl who is also religious. We also see this in the reaction of Karin and his brother. The brother wants to just get rid of him and send him to a hospital. While she wants it to be a more easy transition and process of helping him.
1. I think she has helped people. She definitely has had a positive impact on Lars. He has become talkative, responsive, and happier. He seems like he has more of a place in the community with her. Bianca also helps bring the community even closer. For example, two women bond over cutting her hair and have fun doing it. The community helps Bianca, and while doing that they get closer. Bianca helps Lars become more outgoing; he opens up to the doctor treating the doll. I don't think Bianca is a divine being because of the lack of religious phrases and symbols.
ReplyDelete2. I think Lars is delusional. Lars is imagining what he wants to see in the world, which is Bianca. He sees his vision of an ideal world. Bianca has detached him from reality, which makes him seem delusional. He's created this whole other world and life featuring Bianca. I also think the boy in Millions was delusional. Both characters imagine things that help and comfort them.
3. I think this movie is really about bringing a community closer together through a doll. I believe Bianca has really benefited the community and, especially, Lars. The film shows a community coming together to help a delusional man.
1. I think that if God was created by humans, then it is possible that Lars created Bianca. Why he has created her "soul," which only he can communicate with, is still unknown. There are references to childhood trauma and possible depression so I think that Lars created Bianca to work out his emotional problems because he can't talk or touch real people because they make him uncomfortable.
ReplyDelete2. I think this is a vision because the thing that he has invisioned has affected the people in the town as well as himself. Delusions affect an individual, usually in a bad way. Bianca has not affected Lars in a bad way and in fact may have helped him open up to more people.
3. I think this film is about faith vs common belief. What makes something real, is a person beliving (or having faith) that it is there. Our beliefs shape our own personal reality and it Gary's from person to person. In this film, Lars's faith in Bianca is tested by the town that he lives in. It is the common belief that dolls are not real people that lead the rest of the towns people to think of Lars as a nut job. Lars created Bianca and she is now part of his reality, conflict issues when Lars's beliefs and everyone else's beliefs collide.
1. Bianca helps Lars to come out of his shell. As a result of his delusion, he spends more time with his family because Bianca is living in their house. She often creates conversation between Lars and other people, which he had previously avoided. She also provides a reason for Lars to meet with a psychiatrist and may even lead to Lars dating a real girl. Also, arguably most importantly, Bianca is helping Lars overcome his abandonment issues by demonstrating the way the community is willing to go along with his delusion. As far as I can tell, the movie isn't trying to say that Bianca was somehow sent from heaven, but she could end up being the best thing that has ever happened to Lars.
ReplyDelete2.Like the big from Millions, Lars is having whole conversations with Bianca and truly believes she is real. However, in Millions, there were a few instances where the saints did things that couldn't have been from Damian's imagination, suggesting that his faith allowed him to see things others couldn't. So far, Bianca seems to only exist in Lars's mind, so she could be considered an delusion.
3. The movie is about a man who constructs a romantic relationship with a doll in order to deal with his social issues and childhood trauma. Through the doll, Lars ends up bringing the community closer and overcoming some of his own issues. The movie is also trying to make a point that mental disorders aren't necessarily a bad thing.