Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Claire, Unpleasant? Yes!



The film Proof is truly fascinating. In it a mathematician’s crazy father dies, and her sister comes to town. The mathematician’s name is Catherine. Catherine thinks she may be going crazy as well. While that may be debatable, her sister, Claire, certainly does nothing to help her. Her sister is truly an unpleasant, controlling person, a distinctive antagonist. She has her moments of kind sincerity, as seen in this picture, but these moments are few and far between. Because she isn't always caring, she is unpleasant.
In the film Catherine really needs someone to be there for her. Her sister couldn’t care less. Claire is more interested in making Catherine appear to be normal and sane, than actually helping her deal with the grief she is feeling. When Claire first arrives she goes so far as to make Catherine agree to use shampoo that Claire deems to be the best. No choices whatsoever for Catherine when Claire is around. Claire makes Catherine have breakfast, buys her a dress she deems appropriate, the list goes on and on. Her inability to let people be as they are, to worry about superficial things is another factor. She doesn’t do anything unless it is for herself. She sold Catherine’s house back to the university to force Catherine to move to New York with her, which fails. She wants nothing more than to have the world work the way she deems it should, by her schedule. This is why she is so unpleasant in the film.

1 comment:

  1. Another good post. I especially apreciate the way you pick up the small detail about the shampoo and link it to the larger picture of Claire's controlling nature. (I would add that Claire doesn't really understand why it's the best shampoo, and that Claire understands hair care even better noting that hair is dead and can't be made healthy.)

    A few small quibbles with the writing that should help improve it. First, don't rely on the word "deems"; it's a word people don't use that often so repeated use decreases its effectiveness. Second, a small punctuation change will help emphasize your point:

    Her sister is truly an unpleasant, controlling person -- a distinctive antagonist.

    The dash sets off the new characterization (antagonist) and ensures the reader won't be be fooled into thinking it's the second item in a series.

    One final thought: I think you may be the only one who describes Catherine as a mathemetician. Of course she is, but I think most people would name Robert and Hal as the mathemeticians, which just demonstrates the male-dominated stereotype of mathemeticians that Catherine has to overcome in the first place. Well done for you.

    ReplyDelete