This is probably a stupid question but what did Tracy gain from getting the teacher fired? Other than being able to phot
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zsutton42 — 11 years ago(February 01, 2015 03:55 AM)
It was just that the teacher took advantage of how alienated she was by telling her what she wanted to hear so that he could get what he wanted sexually. She fell rey to an obvious trap, a trap made obvious by the insincerity of the narration, which Payne uses to highlight the hypocrisy of the characters. However, it was very convenient for her that the teacher was fired quietly so that their affair couldn't ruin her campaign, and I'm sure both Tracy and her mother knew this and used this. While Tracy was taken advantage of, it doesn't mean that we can't be frustrated at her naivety and how after this guy's life is ruined she goes on with a stainless reputation. Every character in the movie is a hypocrite.
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M_Exchange — 11 years ago(March 01, 2015 01:23 AM)
I disagree with a lot of you guys who think that it was a calculated move on her part.
She says near the end, "I wonder what happened to him. I wonder if he ever finished his novel."
She had real feelings for him, but they didn't stretch as far as his feelings for her.
As far as her mother discovering the note, I think that it's probable that it was a rare slip by Tracy- she left it out in the open or something. I don't even think that this incident was calculated. -
stevekaczynski — 9 years ago(October 23, 2016 01:21 AM)
Not an easy question to answer. There is a lot of unreliable narration in this film, so it is hard to be sure who was the instigator, though as she is a minor Novotny would be considered legally responsible, not Tracy.
"Chicken soup - with a beep straw." -
transmentalist — 9 years ago(January 10, 2017 10:58 AM)
Not an easy question to answer. There is a lot of unreliable narration in this film, so it is hard to be sure who was the instigator, though as she is a minor Novotny would be considered legally responsible, not Tracy.
Oh I don't think there's ANY ambiguity about it Dave was the seducer.
The way he was flattering her over pizza played like classic predatory "grooming."
Even if Tracy had made the first "move" by kissing him, it'd only be after he set the stage.
I view him as both legally AND morally responsible, in other words, and I see Dave as the instigator.
But then again I may be biased - my wife's high school friend's husband did something similar. At age 45 he spent a LOT of time with a 14-yr old before school, "teaching" her stuff that eventually included "teaching" her about sex.
I actually liked the guy, but I could easily see how he could've steered their relationship the way Dave seems to do in this movie.
Anyway, he's still in jail. -
stevekaczynski — 9 years ago(January 10, 2017 11:47 AM)
So Novotny in the film was luckier.
I think unreliable narration and the sense that a lot of the characters are deceiving others and themselves confuses the issue.
Tracy seems to have got into a groove of seeking to manipulate older men, culminating in getting to be an assistant to a Congressman
when McAllister sees her at the end and throws a drink at the car
. In the real-life case you allude to, though, was the 14-year-old the hyperactive, ambitious "I want to run everything" character that Tracy is in the film? Because that, along with other aspects of the film, does complicate judgments.
Incidentally, this is one of the reasons I like this film and it provides material for discussion. I think it was among the best US films of the end of the 20th century.
"Chicken soup - with a beep straw."