Right on the cusp. And in so many ways.
At least here in America.
The left-wing, liberal Sixties was all but kaput. And we were just inches away from electing the right wing, conservative Reagan agenda.
But trust me: Only if you actually lived through it could you really understand. And, for some folks, once they began to fully understand that [as John Lennon put it] “the dream is over”, they had to come up with ways to accommodate the “new order”.
Sure, there were still the idealistic parts. But more and more they had to come up with ways in which to intertwine what they felt ought to be with was going to really happen instead.
Of course in Southern California this was all the harder still.
But then that is a very different movie.
Here we have entirely more self-absorbed folks grappling with all of that perennial “personal stuff” that will always be around whatever the particular social and political climate might be. Sex, love, gender roles, parenting. A boy being raised by three women.
In other words, where this gets tricky is that Dorothea was born in the 1920s. So she is already into her forties when the Sixties took off. A whole different kind of cusp for her.
Anyway, some things you can fix, some things you can’t. And, for most of us, we have to go about the business of moderating our ideals and through negotiation and compromise come up with ways in which to make any particular family work with the least amount of dysfunction.
At least in our postmodern world. After all, there was a time [spanning the greater part of human interaction in fact] when communities were considerably more…inflexible. A place for everyone and everyone in his or her place.
Well, by and large.
Here the folks are comfortably ensconced in a white middle class suburban enclave where, among other things, no one ever worries about the bills being paid. It’s as though the rest of world barely exists. It’s all about them.
IMDb
[b]During rehearsals, the cast was encouraged to bring in music they believed their characters listened to. Then, to encourage familiarity among the cast, there would be a dance party where the only rule was that everyone had to dance and it didn’t matter what the song was.
As her character is based on the director’s mother, Annette Bening watched a lot of Mike Mills’ mother’s favorite films, including Stage Door and movies starring Humphrey Bogart; his seminal film Casablanca is edited into the film.[/b]
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_Century_Women
trailer: youtu.be/bxcvng_CpMQ
20TH CENTURY WOMEN [2016]
Written and directed by Mike Mills
[b]Julie [to Jamie]: It was so much easier before you got all horny.
…
William: We are connected to the dirt, 'cause we came from the dirt. The dirt is made of stars. and started out the same way that we are. So…When you put your hands into that… Dirt and feel the Earth Mother…
Abbie [bursting out in laughter]: William…
…
Jamie [voiceover]: My mom was born in 1924. When she was my age, people drove in sad cars to sad houses. With old phones, no money or food. Or televisions. But people were real.
…
Banker: I’m sorry, your son is too young to have an account in his name only. Little guy.
Dorothea: No, he’s a person, he’s not half a person. And he’s not some cute little guy. He has vision, autonomy and privacy. He needs a bank account. Can you do that for us?
…
Jamie: Do you think you’re happy? Like… As happy as you thought you’d be when you were at my age.
Dorothea: Seriously? You don’t ask people question like that.
Jamie: You’re my mom.
Dorothea: Especially your mom. Look. Wondering if you are happy… It’s a great shortcut to just being depressed.
…
Dorothea: What is that?
Abbie: It’s The Raincoats.
Dorothea: Can’t things just be pretty?
Jamie: Pretty music is used to hide how unfair and corrupt society is.
Dorothea: Ah, okay so…they’re not very good, and they know that, right?
Abbie: Yeah, it’s like they’ve got this feeling, and they don’t have any skill, and they don’t want skill, because it’s really interesting what happens when your passion is bigger than the tools you have to deal with it. It creates this energy that’s raw. Isn’t it great?[/b]
Yet another conversation about punk rock.
[b]Dorothea [voiceover]: My son was born in 1964. He grew up with a meaningless war. With protests. With Nixon. With nice cars and nice houses. Computers. Drugs. Boredom. I know him less everyday.
…
Dorothea: He said it was just a game. You breath real hard and another kid pulls on your diaphragm. And you faint. He said you’re supposed to come to a few seconds later. But it took Jamie almost a half an hour to wake up.
…
Dorothea [to Abbie and Julie]: I think History has been tough on men. I mean they can’t be what they were. And they can’t figure out what’s next.
…
Julie [about Jamie]: Don’t you need a man to raise a man?
Dorothea: No, I don’t think so.
…
Jamie: What’s wrong?
Julie: Tim Drammer came inside me.
Jamie: I don’t wanna hear this shit.
…
Dorothea: Well, you can handle bad news or you can’t. You have to start somewhere. Men always feel like they have to fix things for women… But they are not doing anything. But some things just can’t be fixed. Just be there…Somehow, that’s hard for you all.
Jamie: Mom, I’m not “all men”. Okay. I’m just me.
Dorothea: Well, yes and no.
…
Jamie [to Julie]: What do we do for two hours?
…
Julie [to Jamie]: I think being strong is the most important quality. It’s not being vulnerable, it’s not being sensitive. It’s not even—Honestly, it’s not even being happy. It’s about strength and your durability against the other emotions.
…
Jamie: No ring.
Julie: No ring.
…
Julie: Can I have one?
Dorothea: No, they’re really bad for you.
Julie: You smoke all the time.
Dorothea: You know when I started, they weren’t bad for you, they were just stylish, sort of edgy, so… It’s different for me.
…
Dorothea: Abbie.
Abbie: Yes?
Dorothea: Let’s go out tonight. I want to see this modern world.
…
Dorothea [voiceover over a montage of punk rock images]: It’s 1979, I am 55 years old. This is what my son believes in. These people. With this hair. And these clothes. Making these gestures, making these sounds. It’s 1979 and I am 55 years old and in 1999 I’ll die of cancer from smoking…They don’t know this is the end of punk, They don’t know that Reagan’s coming. It’s impossible to imagine that kids will stop dreaming about nuclear war, and have nightmares about the weather. It’s impossible to imagine HIV.
…
Dorothea [tending to the bruises on Jamie’s face]: So what was the fight about?
Jamie: Clitoral stimulation.
…
Abbie [after Dorothea shows her her car with ART FAG spray painted on the door]: Yeah, That’s what Matt called me. For liking the talking heads.
Dorothea [seeing the words BLACK FLAG sprayed on the other doort]: And what is Black Flag?
Abbie: It’s a hardcore band. So…The people who love Black Flag, hate the Talking Heads.
Dorothea: What?!
Abbie: The punk scene is very divisive.
…
Abbie [to Jamie]: Whatever you think your life is going to be like, just know, it’s not gonna be anything like that.
…
Woman in club: How old are you?
Abbie [whispering in Jamie’s ear]: Age is a bourgeois construct.
Janue [to the woman]: Age is a bourgeois construct.
Woman: Good answer.
…
Dorothea: What does that mean… Art Fag? I mean, what is…? If you would’ve thought about it from more like a sociological perspective. Where does that come from? Art fag. What is that?
William: Abbie understands it.
Dorothea: Abbie does not understand it, she’s just a part of it.
…
Abbie: I gave him beer, and then I taught him how to verbally seduce women. Then we drove drunk, but I stopped that, and then he kissed Trish, and then we walked home.
Dorothea: Ah.
Abbie: You’re not mad? You’re mad.
Dorothea: You get to see him out in the world, as a person. I never will.
…
Jamie: What’s it like? For girls.
Julie: What? Sex?
Jamie: Orgasms.
Julie: Do you really wanna know what it’s like?
Jamie: Yeah.
Julie: I don’t have them.
…
Julie: Half the time I regret it.
Jamie: Then why do you do it?
Julie: Because half the time I dont regret it.
…
Jamie [reading aloud from It Hurts To Be Alive And Obsolete: The Aging Woman by Zoe Moss: “Interested in others. And I think, intelligent. All I ask is to get to know people and to have them interested in knowing me. I doubt whether I would marry again and live that close to another individual, but I remain invisible. Don’t pretend for a minute as you look at me, that I am not as alive as you are, and I do not suffer from the category to which you are forcing me. I think, stripped down, I look more attractive than my ex-husband but I am sexually and socially obsolete and he is not. I have a capacity now for taking people as they are, which I lacked at 20. I reach orgasm in half the time and I know how to please, yet I do not even dare show a man that I find him attractive. If I do, he may react as if I have insulted him. I’m supposed to fulfill my small functions and vanish.”
…
Dorothea: I appreciate that you trying to help, I do…I just think you are taking it too far. And this stuff, with you know, the women’s movement I respect, but it’s just…It’s complicated, and I think it’s too much for him.
Abbie: I don’t know what it is that you’re talking about.
Dorothea: Okay, he is 15 years old boy…
Abbie: I know…
Dorothea: You are giving him hard core feminism…
Abbie: But he really loves it and it’s really…it’s helping him.
Dorothea: Helping him what?
Abbie: It’s helping him become a man.
Dorothea: This is the boy you were talking about. Learning about a female orgasms… is helping him be a man?
Abbie: Well what man do you know that cares anything about that? It’s a miracle!
Dorothea: He’s a high school kid. Okay? It’s too much, I’m telling you.
Abbie: I think he seems really okay with it.
Dorothea: You know you don’t actually know what you’re doing with him? Okay? Just…
[she walks away]
…
Jimmy Carter [on televison]: There is a growing disrespect for government…for schools, the news media. And all the institutions. This is not a message of happiness or reassurance. But it is the truth and it is a warning. It is a crisis of confidence. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of unity and purpose for our nation. Too many of us now, tend to worship self indulgence and consumption. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We always believed that we were part of a great movement. Of humanity itself…Involved in the search for freedom. We are at a turning point in our history. The path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest…down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom. It is a certain route to failure. Thank you and good night.[/b]
Cue the Reagan era?
[b]Abbie [at a dinner with lots of people]: Ugh, stop it, I’m menstruating.
Dorothea: Abbie, you know what? You’re menstruating, okay. But do you have to say it, Ok? Do we really need to know everything that’s going on with you?
Abbie: What? I am menstruating. What is that a big deal?
Dorothea: We don’t need to hear about that, thank you.
Abbie [turning to Jamie]: If you ever wanna have an adult relationship with a woman…Like if you wanna have sex with a woman’s vagina, you need to be comfortable with the fact that the vagina menstruates… I’m just saying… Menstruation, it’s not a big problem. So, start saying now… Menstruation.
Jamie: Now?
Abbie: Yes, menstruation.
Jamie [meekly]: Menstruation.
Dorothea: Jamie, no… You don’t have to.
Abbie: You’re saying it like you’re scared, don’t say it like you’re scared. Say it like it’s normal. Menstruation.
Jamie: Menstruation…Menstruation.
Abbie: Not bad.
…
Julie: The first time that I got my period, I was watching One Flew OAver the Cuckoo’s Nest, with some guy. And…yeah I just told him that I had to leave. So I went to the market and I bought a box of tampons. I read the instructions on the box and I put one in. And I never told my mom about it, but she never asks. So it didn’t matter. I never saw the end of the Cuckoo’s Nest.
William: Jack Nicholson got a lobotomy…and so the big Indian guy, smothered him with the pillow…so that he could be, you know, be free.
…
Jamie: Mom, I’m dealing with everything, right now. You are dealing with nothing.
…
Jamie: What’s wrong?
Julie: Nothing.
Jamie: Tell me.
Julie: I think that I’m too close to you…to have sex with you. It’s confusing…
Jamie: I can help you get over that.
Julie: I don’t wanna get over that.
Jamie: Yes you do.
Julie: You’re being like the other guys.
Jamie: I don’t want to just, have sex with you, I want you…
Julie: But it’s your version of me. It’s not me. It’d be a lot better if you just wanted sex. You’re exactly like the other guys…[/b]