Trust film

"Family is like a gun – you point it in the wrong direction, you're going to kill somebody"

-Matthew to Maria's mother


While Matthew is talking about the death of her husband to Maria’s Mother he is also saying this in a much more general sense versus just this specific situation. While in her mind she probably thinks he is talking about the one instance he is really inferring to both how his dad treats him and how she treats her daughter. He is implying that by a family doing the wrong things they can actually backfire and make lives worse than better. He is saying that only if they do the wrong thing can it have a negative impact and is largely speaking of suicide as he himself carries a grenade with him. Because his father, his family, is abusive so he only makes Matthew's life worse versus better as a family should. He does not mean that this is the case with all families, it is up to the family whether to point the “gun” in the right or wrong direction.

Does Meursault have Emotions or is He a Sociopath??

A sociopath is a person with a personality disorder that manifests itself as extreme anxiety and a lack of conscience. Throughout The Stranger, Meursault consistently shows little emotion towards the things around him. In the most recent chapters when Meursault goes to prison for murder, he does not seem to feel emotion about it and just wants to pass the time in whatever way he can. Even though he has a serious girlfriend, when she comes to visit, he is happy to see her, but after she is gone, rarely thinks about her. This shows that even though he has these relationships he only sees life as something that he has to get through. Furthermore, unlike the other prisoners, he is able to get used to prison life and almost doesn't understand how bad it is supposed to be. He does not feel extreme misery towards everything and instead thinks that everything is basically normal. He doesn't miss the people in his life outside of prison and seems to leave everything behind, rarely thinking about them. Relating to the definition of sociopath, Meursault has not shown any sadness about being in prison and does not even begin to feel guilt about the murder that he committed. A sociopath shares similar thoughts, almost seeing the world as a black and white place where nothing truly matters.

Trust

In the movie Trust Maria’s mom is overbearing, manipulative, and awful to Maria. However, Maria endures her mother’s wrath because Maria feels guilty and some what responsible for her mother’s behavior since her mom blames her father’s death on Maria. Because of this I saw a correlation between Maria and her mom to Beloved and Sethe.

Beloved is manipulative, impudent, and drains the life out of Sethe. Sethe deals with Beloved too because Beloved keeps reminding Sethe that she abandoned her and well she also killed her. Sethe feels guilty and sorry, so much so she continues to live with Beloved, letting her reign over her life.

Maria is Sethe and Maria’s mom is Beloved. Unhealthy relationships can be found anywhere. Everyone may have them and only once you realize and have that “ah ha” moment you can see that you may also have one.

Trust Issues

Trust was a fantastic movie, despite the lack of funding. The story is about a man named Matthew and women named Maria, both from different strokes, that come together to fix each other. Even though in the end Matthew gets arrested, they do fix each other. In the beginning, Maria drops out of college and find out she has a kid. She loses her boyfriend and her father dies of a heart attack, which causes her mom to kick her out of the house. Matthew lives and gets abused by his dad. He works at a computer plant and is a very heavy drinker. When they first meet each other, they automaticaly trust each other. So much so that Maria ends up sleeping at Matthews house. In the climax of the movie, Both Maria and Matthew trust each other enough to want to get married. They keep trusting each other and helping each other to get through life. Which leads to Matthew going to jail and Maria being left alone to wait.

"He’s dangerous because he’s sincere"

In both the novel The Stranger and the movie Trust existentialism is a central theme. Characters from both stories struggle with the significance life and come to the conclusion that life is meaningless. Additionally both characters struggle with fitting into societal norms, which is especially seen in their need to be truthful and disregard for how that truth affect others.

In The Stranger Meursault refuses to lie, he does not see the point in doing it to save people's feelings or to save himself. This leads to him hurting Marie, one of the few people he seems to care about, "A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn't mean anything but that I didn't this so. She looked sad" (35). Meursault's inability to lie is his fatal fall, as it dehumanizes him during his trial where he is unable to demonstrate compassion for his mother. More so, however, Meursault's fault is truly fatal because it distances him from society. It others him.

Similarly in Trust Maria explains, "He's dangerous because he's sincere" about Matthew. This quote demonstrates how since Matthew does not fear telling the truth he is dangerous, like Meursault. This is because when one is willing to tell the truth, they are also willing to reveal certain truths about life that many are too scared to hear, let alone speak of. It is this fear that alienates both Matthew and Meursault, and leads to their prosecutions. Additionally it is because of this fear that Meursault proclaims, "I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my executing and that they greet me with cries of hate" (123), as he knows if people hate him, it is only because they fear that what he says is true.

A Cougar in a Lion's Den

After finishing a novel such as The Stranger by Albert Camus, I feel I have seen what it is like to truly be an outcast from society. While The Stranger does illustrate falling outside stereotypes of that time, the film Trust by Hal Hartley depicts the consequences of what it is like to be a woman who defeats the stereotypical gender roles and lifestyle that society promotes. 

As Maria, the protagonist gets pregnant, she quickly becomes a social pariah and is forced to move away from her parents. She goes to venture throughout the world, but lives a life of neglect from her peers, as they see she is different.

 After Maria's father died, her mother struggled to maintain sanity. She was bound to her husband, and felt lost without a man by her side. Unlike her mother, Maria chooses to venture outside the stereotypical gender roles at the time and, though not thrive, but live as a social being. After struggling financially, Maria stumbles upon Matthew, a man whose father has been living successfully independently for a while now. Matthew, being a fully grown man living at home, is frowned upon and seen as a disgrace for his style of living by his father, and the rest of society. The power couple (Matthew and Maria), though do not follow the usual lifestyles that society has set in place, stand strong in illuminating their unique way of living. 

This can especially be seen in the scene where Maria and Matthew are looking for the husband of the woman who stole the baby. Once Maria and her partner in crime narrow down their options to simply one group of men who arrive on a bus at a certain time, they find trouble distinguishing between working men as they all look the same. This scene emphasized the difference between the common working man and the two outcasts. This film, similar to The Stranger, is relevant at anytime. There will always be outcasts within a society, and to be one is to be unique in your own way. 

What if the Grenade Had Not Gone Off?

The movie "Trust", by Hal Harley, often shows Matthew, one of the protagonists contemplating suicide. Matthew's weapon of choice is a grenade brought back from the Vietnam war by his abusive father. Throughout the story there is this assumption that the grenade is fully functional and that functionality is actually vital to the story. After watching the grenade fail to explode immediately once Matthew pulls the pin I could not stop wondering how different the film would have been had the grenade not been functional.

This idea took me to two different views of the film. One in which the audience knows the entire time that the grenade does not work, and one in which the audience finds out at the same time as Matthew that the grenade doesn't work in the final scenes of the film. For clarification, the grenade does in fact work and ends up causing Matthew to be arrested for detonating it in his former workplace, a computer factory.

In my first alternate movie reality I imagined the movie as a comedy in which all of the long scenes where Matthew holds the grenade as some sort of cop out or escape from society as almost comedic. It would show his futility against the system that America has created and would completely change the dynamic of the story.

More importantly though I imagined the second scenario. One where I had no idea what would happen when Matthew finally pulled the pin at the computer factory. What would happen as literally nothing happened and he was faced with the reality that his life was changed forever and for such a aimless cause. Then I realized that it already was. The factory may have exploded but years from then, few people would even think of Matthews crazy act of rebellion against the system. Matthew would effectively prove that society doesn't care if your an individual. Matthew might be placed in a prison but the vast majority of society will forget about him, and business will still be conducted and people will still shy away from their individuality. I liked the movie a lot and I also enjoyed the real ending but thinking about the alternate one diminished all that I thought Matthew had accomplished.

The truth Is, I Did Not Really Like Trust

I wasn't huge on Trust. I thought that it was okay. The fact that I missed the beginning could have very well affected my opinion. When I was watching it, however, I felt uncomfortable. This may have been because of the acting. I realize that the acting was purposeful and thus highlighted a deeper meaning but, if anything, it distracted me. I think that the acting hampered me from connecting the movie to reality because it made the story seem almost superficial. The plot itself didn't help the acting. While the characters were experiencing jarring experiences, they seemed to lack emotions. I know that their reluctance towards emotions connects to the existentialism in the movie but the fact that nearly all characters acted like this made the existentialist theme overtly forced.

The camera shots also somewhat irked me because at several points in the movie, someone was talking but the camera never actually faced them. Instead, it stayed on another character's face for much longer than it needed to be. The lack of footage on the speaker, again, distracted me but also took away a crucial part of the movie -- the speaker's body language.

I don't inherently dislike anything about the movie but I am also not particularly in love with any part either. I did, however, like Maria's and Matthew's backgrounds. Their similar backgrounds helped create a certain intimacy between which added to the overall appeal of the movie. While their age difference hindered this appeal, it in some ways also helped. It helped because, at least I think, it gave the character's choices more stake and helped reveal Matthew's immaturity and Maria's maturity which together created an equilibrium. Also, it made their love seem forbidden which, connecting to existentialism, made the two outsiders, whose love was immutable despite its societal challengers (such as Maria's mother, Matthew's father, or the townspeople).

In summation, the plot itself was pretty good but many of the directorial techniques were not my favorite.

DQ: Did certain techniques such as the acting or montage of the film increase or decrease how much you enjoyed the movie?

Open Endings

With the exception of dramatic cliffhangers and harrowing documentaries, it's hard to find a film today that doesn't include some sort of idealist ending. Whether these be true "happy endings" or simply endings that provide some sense of closure, they tend to wrap up story arcs in an unrealistic way. Even The Stranger closes with a moment of profound acceptance and self-awareness on Meursault's part that makes the novel feel complete, despite his impending death. While a protagonist coming to terms with his/her own death can certainly be emotionally raw for the viewer, so many films have done it well (Leon: The Professional in particular) that the concept is now cliche.

What I found intriguing about Trust is that despite Matthew's comically predictable suicide plot, the movie lacks the sense of closure I've come to expect. Sure we see Maria staring longingly at the police car as Matthew is taken away, but there's no cheesy subtext that they'll someday reunite once he's freed. The baby is gone, their marriage has been seemingly acknowledged as a sham, and Matthew's gone to prison over nothing. His dramatic grenade stunt didn't give him the dramatic exit he was looking for, and yet Maria's saving him didn't magically fix everything either. Real life doesn't neatly wrap itself up when a particular story has been told through, just as the characters in Trust don't end the film with any sense of content or finality.

The only thing implied by the films ending is that perhaps Maria has matured finally, symbolized by her glasses and plain dress in lieu of her old, superficial style. That being said her father is still dead, her mother is still hugely manipulative, and her relationship is over. It's silly to think everything will be perfect for Maria now, but it gives the film's events purpose in the context of her development. I like to view Trust not as an individual story but instead as only a piece of Maria's turbulent life. By ending the movie as he did, Hal Hartley was able to give it a sense of something bigger that one would never expect from a low budget indie drama.

A Working Definition of Trust

When I look up "trust" on google, I only see financial websites popping up. I thought it might be a good idea to look over some and try to analyze the financial definitions and connect them to the real world (emotionally, not financially like they already are):
Revocable Trusts: A trust that can be changed by a person throughout their life time, whether it be completely altered or revoked entirely.
Real world (emotional) application: Don't our own personal truths change and alter due to our memory and beliefs? Possibly, this financial term could be another way to describe the fact that people consistently change their own beliefs and truths to match their own actions, and possibly that is why the truth is "revocable".
Charitable Trusts: A trust that is attributed to a charity or the public in general.
Real world (emotional) application: Sometimes, we decide to trust people not simply because we know them well, but because we think that they can handle the weight of us depending on them. Charitable trust could be choosing to rely on someone who has let you down before.
Constructive Trusts: A trust that is implied and established by a court.
Real world (emotional) application: An implied trust...could be someone that society has nailed into your brain as someone you should be dependent upon. Like a parent, or a sibling, or a spouse. Isn't that a pretty short list? Isn't that creating an internal struggle for the trustee, if they don't have a trustworthy "constructed" group of people?
Totten Trusts: A trust that is a gift from the trustee to someone else, and can only be received after the trustee's death, or when the person the gift was given to has fulfilled some action that the trustee requested.
Real world (emotional) application: Conditional trust is something we see a lot. Particularly with parents trying to discipline their children. "Do this, and you will receive this from me." Sound familiar? Is this the proper way to go about gaining trust, though? In my experience of being a child trying to receive something, and even today as an 18 year old, no one is intrinsically motivated to gain trust. They may want something else out of the situation or transaction, if you may.

So what are your working definitions of trust?

Trust makes me :( then :) then :(

Maria and Matthew need each other to help one another escape their toxic situation, as it seems we are helpless in regards to self awareness and self care.

Maria's mom wants her to live with her forever and do tenuous chores daily; Not to mention the CONSTANT emotional ABUSE. Maria accepts this fate and continues to endure her awful mom.

Now Matthew is also trapped in an abusive home with a belligerent dad. He is abused physically and emotionally as he meticulously is forced to do pointless domestic chores.

When Maria and Matthew are with one another they see that one another deserves better, a realization that they tragically don't see for themselves. Maria saves Matthew from his degrading life and Matthew encourages her to leave hers.

How come Maria can't see that she deserves better than how her mom treats her and how come Matthew can't see the same? If it weren't for them meeting they would be miserably stuck in their personally tailored hell. So i'm sad because of their lives, happy because they help one another, and sad that it was dependent on one another.

This is compellingly applicable to our reality. We see a struggling friend and fervently try and help them out of a toxic situation whilst we are choking on our own words and actions as we are blind to see that we also need to get out of a similar predicament.

Love to Trust or Trust to Love?

In Hal Hartley's film Trust, Maria Coughlin has just been dumped after telling her high school sweetheart that she is pregnant with his child. The boyfriend revokes all previous statements of love and support he has given to her, and screams at her to get away, as he has to focus on getting a football scholarship for college. Because of his sudden abandonment and empty promises, Maria's quest to find trust and love carries her throughout the rest of the film. A common criticism of young love is how naive and suffocating it can be. Maria exemplifies the typical unsophisticated and malleable young person, who then goes on to think they understand the world simply because of this experience. The issue I take with this movie and primarily this character, is how she uses this past relationship in order to find the exact opposite of it in her next, rather than taking the time to reflect and learn. Her immediate reaction to her break up, is to find what she now thinks is real love, someone to trust. However, in my opinion, trust does not have to be present in order to love someone. Part of what love is, which is a popularized opinion, is that to love another is to risk your own well being to feel validated and supported in return. Maria's naive and protective response to her initial break up pushes her into a relationship with a stranger, who, one could argue, is the first person in her life to worry about her health and happiness. She requires this boyfriend, Mathew, to promise her that love requires trust, admiration, and respect. This forceful and insecure route to feel she is in love pushes her to get into unsafe situations solely on the basis of her wanting to feel what she didn't get out of the first relationship. I believe people can love each other without trusting, especially if we are to differentiate love and being in love. Being in love is a far more selfish and individualistic philosophy on love; which if anything, is where Maria and Mathew are at.

The Development of Maria

In Hal Hartley's 1990 film, Trust the changes of the main characters, specifically Maria, over the course of the movie are drastic and notable. Maria Coughlin and Matthew Slaughter are by far the most important characters of the movie, everyone else simply furthers their development as their lives become intertwined. Both social outcasts and frowned upon by society.

Maria opens the movie putting on purple lipstick while asking her father for five dollars, which he promptly declines and a few minutes later he dies of a heart attack. Maria's mother then kicks her out and her boyfriend breaks up with her. Maria's life looks dismal, she is a pregnant, high school dropout with no future or hopes of ever succeeding. Everything Maria held in her life, her boyfriend, her status, her family were suddenly all gone.

Then in walks Matthew, the quirky electronics genius with an abusive father and a restless spirit and attitude that never allows him to stay in the same job for more than a couple months. Matthew allows Maria to stay with him and his father for a night and her irresponsibility is immediately obvious through the mess she leaves in the kitchen and simply ignores.

The first turning point for Maria is after her clothes, which are neon and skimpy are ruined and she puts on Matthew's mother's old blue simple dress. Without her intensely curled hair, intense makeup, and outrageous clothes, Maria already seems to be a completely different person.

Matthew's room hold a seemingly endless supply of books, many on topics Maria never ever heard about before. She begins to read some and her transformation into a more than just a shell of a person becomes more solidified as she begins to ask questions, about herself and the world.

Maria and Matthew eventually become a couple, and have a connection neither of them had ever felt before. Together they discuss love and what it means to them. To Maria is its respect, admiration and trust, hence the name of the film. Even though Maria and Matthew become engaged they never marry and the life they had planned never pans out the way the thought. Also, Maria has an abortion after seeing Matthew in bed with her sister Peg, though it was a set up by her mother who wanted to get rid of Matthew.

The movie ends with Matthew being driven away in a police car after pulling the pin out of a grenade in the factory where he used to work. Maria finds him and when the grenade does not detonate, Maria takes it and throws the grenade to attempt to set it off. Even though it eventually explodes, no one is hurt and Matthew is arrested. Maria stands in the street watching him being driven off, looking and being nothing like she was at the beginning. Her hair in a ponytail, glasses, a plain blue dress. Her letterman jacket the only remains of her past.

What Is Trust?

"Dad, give me five dollars"

The opening line of the film Trust is delivered in a monotone way by Adrienne Shelly, as she applies her purple lipstick and stares blankly into her compact mirror. This shot establishes all that there is to know about the character, Maria -- a pregnant high school drop out who is a perfect case study for youthful entitlement and vanity.

The film's other main character, Matthew, is a moody electronics repairman who gets tossed around by his abusive father. It's a clear vision from that start that both the characters inhabit a heightened version of the world around us. But as the film goes on, slowly the personas beneath Matthew and Maria are revealed, the feeling of disillusionment they experience seems to come from a place of intense emotional pain. The film's attitude toward marriage and parenting is somewhat of a different take on it than many films. Ultimately the film puts the idea of marriage as something that is artificial and a detrimental institution. From the characters of Peg to Matthew's father, we see that marriage never sticks, it never makes either happy.

As for Maria and Matthew, we see them start on the path to marriage with him proposing to Maria and planning on running away to get married with her unborn child. But that slowly comes to a halt with the end of the movie as we see Maria betray the premise of the film, that trust, admiration and respect are better than love, by having the abortion. She finds Matthew with Peg in bed, though we don't see any emotion from her, the next scene is Maria at the abortion clinic which we can infer that she has felt betrayed by Matthew and therefore she no longer trusts him, she no longer has the trust, admiration, and respect for Matthew. In a way I see this standstill on their path to marriage as a way to save both Maria and Matthew from the heartbreak and disappointment that seems to follow any marriage in the movie. Maybe, just maybe, Hartley wanted to preserve the only good and honest thing in the movie by not playing out the ending to Maria and Matthew's story.

Respect+Admiration+Trust= Love

When you ask people what love is they usually can't describe it. They say something along the lines of, "You have to experience it to know what it feels like," or "It's not something you put into words." In the film Trust, the character of Maria believes that love can be defined, and that there is a simple formula for it--respect, admiration, and trust. In this film, Hal Hartley explores many socially constructed systems, some of which being love and marriage.

None of the characters in the entire movie had happy marriages. Maria's mom was freed when her husband died, Matthew's dad lived alone, the woman at the bus stop was so bored of her marriage that she stole a baby, and Peg is divorced and has kids. Marriage is portrayed as just something that people do, and then they always end up being unhappy because of their choice. Maria asks her sister, if she misses her kids and hates her husband, and Peg answers yes to both questions. Maria then asks if she would get married again, and Peg replies "of course." Like many of the characters in the film, marriage ruined them, but they would still do it again. This is a clear commentary on the downfalls of the societal construction of marriage. If it makes people unhappy, then why do they do it? There is no reason other than it is what society expects people to do.

The one relationship that I have not yet mentioned is that of Maria and Matthew. Though they do not end up getting married, they do get engaged and discuss the concept of love. Matthew accepts Maria's equation for love and asks her to marry him. However, on their path to get married, the viewer sees them prematurely slipping into the consequences that come along with marriage. Most notably, there is a scene where Maria comes home and see Matthew sitting on the couch watching TV. She says to him, " Your job is making you boring and mean," and he replies, "My job is making me a respectable member of society." They are on their way to marriage, jobs, and other systems people have to buy into to be considered "respectable members of society,"and because of this, Matthew is already becoming boring and loosing the characteristics that make him special to Maria. This exchange is an example of the ways that socially constructed systems change people in a negative way and stop them from living happy lives.

From Maria's formulaic view of love to the overwhelming portrayal of characters unhappy with marriage, Hal Hartley's Trust causes the viewer to question the ideas of love and marriage. Could Maria and Matthew ever be happily married? Do they love each other? Could they ever be together without changing each other or letting society change them?

Sincerely, Dangerously, Trustworthy.

In the 1990's film Trust, the characters of Maria Coughlin and Matthew Slaughter develop a perplexing and complex relationship. They both start from the lowest points in their lives. They are two people who don't bear characteristics to be included or excepted by society.

They are outcasts, at different points in their life, that find each other and become of value to one another. Maria and Matthew find comfort and stability from their obscure lives when together. All of this is because they view each other in the same light, which is different from social norms.

This is seen specifically when writer and directer Hal Hartley places Maria and Nurse Paine in the diner together. Because Nurse Paine holds importance to Maria ever since the her going to the clinic, she strikes up a conversation. While talking about how she's not sure she wants to get married, she describes Matthew from a deeper perspective.

Maria: "He's dangerous but sincere."

Nurse Paine: "Sincerely dangerous."

Maria: "No, he's dangerous because he's sincere." 

When Maria says this she displays how she knows he is different from the rest. While others view Matthew as rage filled, bitter and resentful, Maria recognizes him as candid and real. This is exactly what they both needed, someone who will no just overlook the other, and brush them to the side. Maria admits that she is unnerved by him, but only because she has never experienced someone who authentically shows concern and responsiveness towards her. Their bond is heartfelt and trustworthy.

Trust and "Apple Mac 1984": Finding Thematic Common Ground

In the 20th century, Theatre of the Absurd emerged as a style of theatre with a particular focus on the ideas of existentialism and absurdism. Trust, is a movie with clear connections to the Theatre of the Absurd and The Stranger.  Similar themes exist between not only Trust and The Stranger and the Theatre of the Absurd, but also between Trust and the iconic "Apple Mac 1984" commercial.  The "Apple Mac 1984" commercial depicts the lives of mindless, homogenous drones, brainwashed by an all-seeing tyrant until a girl with a sledgehammer liberates the drones from the tyrant’s speech. The meaning of the commercial is clear: the individual must not accept the principles of any established authority as incontrovertibly true. Similarly, the film Trust conveys the idea that because humans live in a chaotic and meaningless universe, they should shake the bonds of society to live life in any way they want. This theme is clearly asserted in Trust when Maria approaches the husband of the woman who kidnapped the baby. Both Trust and the "Apple Mac 1984" commercial emphasize forging one's own identity and not accepting what is thrust on you by society. 

Trust Me, I Will Catch You

Recently in my English class, we watched the movie Trust from 1990.
The best part of the movie, in my opinion, is when Matthew tries to find a job that will suit him. He is very intelligent and capable man but he cannot emotionally work with a television. He hates TVs. After he meets Maria he decides to take the job of fixing TVs because he wants to have a family with Maria, therefore, he must be responsible and bring money to the family. After a while of forcing himself working on something, he despises he noticeably changes.

Maria: Can you stop watching TV for a minute?
Matthew: No.
Maria: Why?
Matthew: Because. I had a bad day at work. I had to subvert my principles and kowtow to an idiot. Television makes these daily sacrifices possible. Deadens the inner core of my being.

Many people do have bad days at work because of unfair treatment. The company he works for can definitely use his brain and improve their production but instead, he's forced to do the mindless work of putting the parts together. He became so numb from his jobs that he watches the TV he despises so much to forget the bad day at his job.

Maria: Your job is making you boring and mean.
Matthew: My job is making me a respectable member of society.

Even right now many people work on the jobs they despise because of the society expectation or the money needs. People are ruined by the jobs they do not enjoy. Matthew making the same sacrifice for someone he respects and admires, Maria.
There is a lot of examples from our daily lives that we do not notice or refuse to accept. That is why the movie is weird and disturbing to watch.

Trust in Babies

The film trust explores a young woman's transition to womanhood, and how much sooner it happens for women than it does for men. Every single woman in the film has some kind relationship with babies, and the relationship for most started when the women where teenagers. For several of the characters, they were pregnant when they where teens, oftentimes by obligation, and therefore forced to start their adult life before they had even finished their teenage years. The film almost seems to view pregnancy as a right of passage for women to understand just how difficult it is for them to experience a long, uninterrupted adolescence. Maria's sister's friend and Maria's mother both used the pregnancy to get what they wanted, so pregnancy ended up giving them some sort of agency, although it was a shadow of the freedom they had before they where pregnant. Maria's sister becomes trapped, her children are taken away from her by divorce, and she misses them, but she also gains freedom by not having them around. The woman who stole the baby at the convenience store is a victim in a whole different kind of way. She believes a baby will make her happy, and not being able to have one allows society to hold her hostage, as she believes she will never be happy until she has a child.

A Nabokovian Way of Watching a Movie

Recently, we have been watching the movie Trust. Unfortunately, I was out the first day and so I was originally rather confused. However, as time as gone on and I have watched more of the film I have actually come to enjoy my lack of character development.

The early part of the movie sets up much of the internal strife between characters. However, lacking any of this knowledge I have been able to view the film more objectively and without bias. This very Nabokovian way of experiencing literature has been a unique and challenging experience for me. I cannot empathize with the characters and am thus forced to look at them objectively and try to understand who they are and what they represent.

This new perspective has been an interesting and fulfilling experience that going forward I will try to emulate but with whole story.