[Tetragrammaton]

Originally Posted by TJ Wells

And Tetra, please, just...don't.

If I may quote from one of your favorite films, don't talk like one of them, you're not! Even if you'd like to be.

I will assume that your trepidation about my posting is an indication to your own awareness of the poisonous nature of Jason Reitman. He smugly looks down on people who don't live in a major city or weren't born with the privileges he was (The portrayal of the the sister and her family in Up in the Air, the sneering at the hometown of the main character in Young Adult). This isn't even including the bizarre criticism of abortion in Juno and the shooting of fish in the barrel that was Thank You For Smoking.

Of course, given the poor reception of Young Adult, it seems that perhaps everyone else is seeing through him as well.

[Tetragrammaton]

Originally Posted by jwicklun

Wasn't the point of Young Adult that the main character assumed a position that she was better than everyone else? I'm pretty sure the sneering was intentional.

Of course it was intentional. If things happened accidentally in the film, I would just accuse Reitman of being sloppy.

[Tetragrammaton]

Originally Posted by jwicklun

But I mean the character is supposed to be disliked. I don't think Reitman was sneering down on the town, the towns people themselves were clearly better than her.

There are several instances in the film where he looks down on it in comparison to Minneapolis. The girl who asks the main character to take her there, the constant allusions to chain restaurants, and so on.

[Tetragrammaton]

Originally Posted by jwicklun

The deal with the girl in the end is she is living in a delusion as well. She has warped view that somehow Mavis "got out" of the town, and is living a "successful" city life. She was basically the relapse to Mavis's sociopathic nature, the girl in high school that worshiped Mavis's popularity.

No. The smile by the main character is an indication that she realizes that, even if she couldn't get her man back, she doesn't live in this town anymore and can go back to Minneapolis. The main character is troubled, but we are supposed to sympathize with her.