After watching the movie and listening to the discussion in class, I found it interesting how easy it was for viewers (including myself) to be overly critical of the actions of Madeleine and even George at the end of the film. At first, I disliked Madeleine for her decision not to accompany George to the hospital. Throughout the movie, she seems to remain somewhat cold to George's family and their way of life. Madeleine appears primarily concerned with the artist that she is trying to recruit and meeting George's family is somewhat of a secondary priority. All of these things made it difficult to like Madeleine immediately. However, after further thought, I started to consider how anyone would act in Madeleine's situation. She is entering a world that is completely alien to her. George's family would be hard for anyone to accept after meeting them for the first time. Peg's reception of Madeleine is not exactly warm and Johnny's first words to her was a request for cigarettes. George himself has not returned to his family for three years so why after only a few days would Madeleine feel a sudden dedication to the family? After thinking about it, I decided that she behaved similarly to how I would of acted in the given situation. As for George, his relief that he is finally leaving should come as no surprise. He has left a life in Chicago where he has a happy marriage and only his own problems to worry about. Upon returning home, he encounters nothing but problems. His relationship with Madeleine is suffering, he has a fight with his brother, and George is relied upon for emotional support during the tragedy that hits the family. For me, it is no surprise that he wants to return to his life in Chicago.
Another character who I found interesting was Peg. For me, some of her actions are much more baffling than either George or Madeleine. She is a character that I believe was a facilitator for much of the tension in the family. The relationship she maintains with Ashely seems to me to be more tense than I would have expected. Peg often talks down to Ashely and treats her as a nuisance rather than the mother of her grandchildren. I would have thought that Ashely and Peg would have had a better relationship given that they live under the same roof but Peg remains overly cold towards Ashely in my opinion. Peg's reception of Madeleine is also something that I believed created a lot of unspoken tension. Her conversation with Eugene where Peg reveals that she has yet to accept Madeleine as part of the family is an important indicator of her true feelings. She seems unwilling to accept that this woman is now a part of her son's life. When the whole family leaves for the hospital, Peg is the one who fails to invite Madeleine to join them at the hospital with George. While a subtle notion, I believe it says a lot about her feelings towards Madeleine. Also, I found Peg's decision to leave George at the hospital rather than staying herself as very intriguing. I would think that Ashely and Peg would have a closer relationship than George who hasn't seen Ashely in 3 years. Furthermore, I would think that Peg would be more sympathetic since she is a mother and should understand what Ashely is feeling better than George. What did everyone else think about her character? Was anyone else surprised by her lack of feeling towards Ashely?
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I can say that while watching the movie and even after discussions in class I never once felt that Madeline was the bad person, or a sexual deviant. I saw her as an outsider who was very different from the family, and was trying her best to be warm and loving to those she met. I saw her kisses and intense hugs as a result of her international upbringing that is not as conservative and uptight as America's and as a result of her life in Artist's circles. I liked Madeline and thought she did a great job working with George's family especially since most of them were rather mean to her. I really thought that Peg telling Madeline to wait for George to come home before coming to the hospital was her way of boxing Madeline out and making her aware that she was not needed nor wanted. So when Madeline left to go to the artist's home I was happy that she was at least going to do something she wanted.
ReplyDeleteI disliked Peg immensely and found her to be a rude, unwelcoming person. The fact that she saw Madeline as an outsider and never thought to think of her as her daughter in law. It seemed to me that she was trying to make Madeline feel left out for the sole purpose of pushing her away from George and making her leave him. I too found it odd that Peg would leave Ashley at the hospital, considering she is a woman who has had children and should be the most sympathetic and understanding of any who was there. They left her there in favor of going with mean, selfish Johnny.
I really disliked Johnny and found him to be a terrible person. I don't care if his brother overshadowed him. To be honest its not that hard to overshadow and man who does little with his life but smoke, feel sorry for himself, be mean to his pregnant wife who was his high school sweetheart but manages to be nice to the guys at work. I just thought if his parents actually cared about him and his wife they would throw at wrench at him..or smack him at the least.
The only person I managed to like was Ashley but at the same time I just felt so bad for her.
I wonder what anyone has to say about family values in this movie. I personally felt the family values in this moves were terrible. But I would like to her another's opinion...
I agree and think that the family values are a little messed up in "Junebug." I think that the artist is a great way to demonstrate this too. He has a line where he says "My job here is to make the invisible visible." This is a very important line. He helps show the differences between George and Madeline.
ReplyDeleteEven though George has been gone for 3 years, he still shows that he has not lost his southern family values as he spends the entire night at the hospital with Ashley. Madeline, on the other hand, puts work before family and you can tell that it really upsets George. She even says "He's the first reason we came down here." There is a funny blend of family values and lack of family values in Junebug. On one hand, George shows how supportive he can be when he takes care of Ashley. On the other hand, you have to wonder how he can go 3 years without visiting his family and why he doesn't take any action to try and mend his relationship with his brother.
Another divide between Madeline and George's family is religion. Madeline does not go to church with the family on Sunday. There is also a scene where they are saying the blessing at the dinner table and Madeline just leaves her eyes open and looks around the table, suggesting that perhaps she is atheist. In southern culture, religion is very important. George's mom even goes as far as to call her a "stranger" and say that she is dangerous because she is "too smart, too old, and too pretty." In other words, Madeline is too sophisticated for a simple southern boy.
There is also an interesting blend of family values in Johnny and Ashley's marriage. Johnny just seems like a pretty terrible husband (though he does make a few efforts, such as the meerkat video recording), but Ashley is a devoted family girl.
It is just very interesting to see the family dynamics emerge in Junebug. Does anyone have something to add to what I said?
During the movie, I became so frustrated with Madeline. Meeting your new husband's family is such a big deal and Madeline did not seem to care. Perhaps she is not outgoing, or didn't want to feel included but at times it felt like she didn't even try. When she knocked the bird down in the very beginning of the movie, Ashley took the blame for it. I don't even remember Madeline saying thank you to Ashley or showing any gratitude at all. Madeline wanted to tell the mom that she did it, but it didn't seem like Madeline really cared.
ReplyDeleteI don't know that the movie intended to show the family values being horrible. I think it intended to show the spectrum of family values in general. For example, Ashley was so loving and likable and she is someone who anyone would like to have as a part of their family. Johnny was not the greatest person, but he did try. The meerkat scene is the best example of this and really made my heart go out to him. Also, at the end of the movie, he seemed to be coming around. The mom in the movie is a more likely character than most would expect. A mom of two boys is rarely going to be incredibly welcoming to the woman who just married her son after knowing him for less than 2 months. The mom probably subconsciously blames Madeline for keeping George away for so long.
Although the family relationships in this movie might not be ideal or completely healthy at all times, I think the director wants us to appreciate the differences of families. We don't know what happened after the movie ended, but after George and Johnny fought, it gave me the sense that things were going to get better, especially after Johnny called Ashley and said they were going to try again.
I very much liked the movie. To me the most interesting character was Johnny. We don't get a huge glimpse at his past or why he changed from the loving person he was in high school, but it can be assumed that it had something to do with George's leaving. It is perhaps jealousy because he was able to leave Pfafftown and start a more financially successful life elsewhere while Johnny was stuck at home with his high school girlfriend. Most of his anger problems stem from the frustration of being left at home. I think he was really changing at the end of the movie and would have liked to see more of that possibility.
ReplyDeleteAshley was my favorite character. She was sweet and bubbly, but maybe a little too self demeaning. She was the highlight of the film and the most redeeming character in the film.
I found no problems with Madeleine. I thought she did appear to try to be very open with the family. She wasn't upset with any of the country things she found out about George, but just seemed to want to get to know all aspects of him. I thought the tension was all Peg's fault. She uninvited Madeleine from riding to the hospital with them, and I did not blame Madeleine. She was all prepared to go. I liked the father.
I thought this gave a good picture of what really happens when an "outsider" comes in to a small country town when everyone knows everyone. I live very close to Pfafftown, and I see places like this very close to where i live.
I agree with Eileen. I do not think Madeleine was cold towards the family at all. If anything I think she found them to be complex and interesting people and was somewhat charmed by the southern family lifestyle. I think she even tried to reach out to them. For one, she allowed Ashley to paint her fingernails and play beauty parlor with her, and never seemed annoyed by Ashley's endless bubbly babbling. Also, when she saw that Johnny was really upset she tried to console him. She even seems really excited that she found Eugene's screwdriver at the end of the movie. I was sympathetic with Madeleine for most of the movie. The only part of the movie where she really frustrated me was when she did not go to the hospital. Even though I thought Peg discouraged her from going and really made her feel isolated and out of place, I wish she had not let that get to her and had tried harder to go. Ashley had been truly welcoming and loving towards Madeleine and it's the least Madeleine could have done for her. At the end, though, I think she felt really guilty for not being there when she was on the back porch crying and smoking a cigarette, allowing Eugene to hold her hand. I think the family had an important impact on Madeleine and I do not think she is the same person she was at the beginning of the movie.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting debate. As I've mentioned in class, I felt like it would have been easy to judge Madeleine harshly, but I was unable to do so. Her habits were very different from those of her new in-laws, and perhaps she could have been more aware of that, but her intentions seemed to me to spring from a place of emotion and goodwill and affection. The question is, what is the place of the outsider? Should Madeleine have been more retiring, allowed George's family to set the tone of their interactions? The outsider question can be applied to the artist figure as well; it's not called "outsider art" for nothing...
ReplyDeleteI agreed with what we discussed about Junebug in class- what makes it interesting and dynamic is the fact that the characters are always much more complex than they seem. It would be easy to characterize Madeleine as uncaring towards the family because she is an outsider, but as Junebug progresses we see a more complex version of her as she starts to realize the importance of family and traditional Southern values.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that this film carries some of the themes with other books we have discussed in class. With regards to being an outsider, I think of someone such as Mrs. Sen from Interpreter of Maladies, or some of Yunior's family in Drown. The different customs in different situations are cause for confusion and in some cases, miscommunications. While Madeleine may try to make a good impression on George's family, as Peg says it, "she's still strange." That was an important scene in my opinion, as it showed two different points of view about the "outsider." Peg was quick to point out that she was still an outsider, while Eugene was more accepting and pointed out that she was family. I think that the character of Eugene was someone who was very interesting, even though he did not discuss him very much. He seemed to be a balance and a relatively level head with regards to the whole family, and was able to transition between keeping his Southern values while still attempting to welcome Madeleine in.
Well, I would first like to preface by saying that I loved this movie! I had never seen it before, but it was very entertaining and thought-provoking. I was confused about how I felt about Madeline at times, but I agree that she was not rude or selfish. George seems like a hypocrite (he is a difficult character) because he hasn't even come home to visit his family, but now plays the big family man card. Does he puts on the act for Madeline or for his family? Or is it an act? I think that George is one of the most difficult characters to analyze because his intentions are unclear.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I felt as if I was the only who hadn't seen the movie, when ever Tessa mentioned in class that we were going to watch it and I do not like comedy's that much; so i kind of went into this movie not really expecting much. But during and afterwards I was thoroughly surprised at how much I actually enjoyed the movie. I especially loved how some parts of the movie reminded me of my home town. From the diverse group of characters to the neighbor standing in her yard waving, not to mention the scenery.
ReplyDeleteThe character that stood out the most to me was definitely George. I think in class there were a lot of opinions about the complexity of his character how he seemed to be a different person at home and away. I agree he was different, but in a way he kind of reminds me of most people who come from small towns, including me. It is a hard shift from small town with really nothing to do to a big city with endless possibilities. As soon as I go back home, I get extremely bored besides seeing my friends, there really are not a lot of things to do.
I don't think George changed in the since that he was a completely different person, I just think that in the city he had more opportunities to branch out, so he kept growing and maturing; he was no longer constricted.