the thing about unreliable narrators is that for them to be successful, you have to show the audience their unreliability.
I'm wondering about that. I'm thinking of course of Humbert Humbert, and trying to recall if he's ever demonstrated to be unreliable. He's certainly unstable, but one of the elements of Lolita is that though the narrative is framed, that frame is still inside HH's pov, so there never is a POV outside of HH to lend any sense to whether he's truly unreliable or not. To my mind, that's the nature of unreliability--you just don't know. You can't know.
I think too in relation to the definition of masculinity in the movie, what is absent is equally as present as what is present and the gaps/lacks constitute a statement of femininity and masculinity that can't be ignored (which is to say that I agree that because the statement isn't overt doesn't mean it isn't there).
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2006-11-15 06:26 pm (UTC)I'm wondering about that. I'm thinking of course of Humbert Humbert, and trying to recall if he's ever demonstrated to be unreliable. He's certainly unstable, but one of the elements of Lolita is that though the narrative is framed, that frame is still inside HH's pov, so there never is a POV outside of HH to lend any sense to whether he's truly unreliable or not. To my mind, that's the nature of unreliability--you just don't know. You can't know.
I think too in relation to the definition of masculinity in the movie, what is absent is equally as present as what is present and the gaps/lacks constitute a statement of femininity and masculinity that can't be ignored (which is to say that I agree that because the statement isn't overt doesn't mean it isn't there).
Di