Language, Gender and Garden State

[adrianeaglrck]

W T F 

[MrBelaid123]

WOMEN TALK TO MUCH

[GeekStar3]

@MrBelaid123 Fuck you, if she was my girlfriend, I would be the happiest man in the world

[ArtOfMe021]

I don't think Natalie's character is "real." She has no motivations of her own. She exists to provide inspiration for the male main character. There's nothing mature or deep about her at all. She exists as a fantasy "dream girl" who has no place in reality. All the pretty quirkiness without the flaws and desires that real women, real people, have.

[DontGoQuietly]

What? How can you call Portman's smile creepy?! Everyone I've watched the movie with said they thought it was gorgeous.

[mistershinobi]

She's the classic Manic Pixie Dream Girl (changes the lead character's life with high spirit and energy) and he has more lithium than blood in his system! Plus, he hates discussing his acting career because it is not as great as everybody from his small town thinks, he doesn't want to hear stuff about a TV movie he made because it's his only one so far, that means he's not successful.

It has NOTHING to go with gender/power issues as Portman's character is one of the best ever written for women.

[mistershinobi]

Portman said it herself in the behind the scenes feaurette: "Male directors usually have this weird idea of what their dream girl should be, 'Yeah, she's sexy, she knows about cars, she likes to take her clothes off often' and that's not real. Zach wrote a real female character."

Don't you love how Natalie's description (recorded in 2003) is the exact word-by-word description of Megan Fox in Transformers? So funny :)

NO. It's not about GENDER and POWER! You're reading *way* too much into it.

[alexfanx]

@mistershinobi Except Megan Fox isn't sexy.

[rojamey]

I think the way he avoids the conversation has more to do with the setting. I don't think it has anything to do with gender or power. It's a medical office. It's not a place where people go to meet new people and people generally expect to be left alone. Notice the way he dodged the question about "What are you here for?" and sent the question right back at her. She of course lied (because like him she expected privacy when it came to her medical problems).

[krissy4nik]

He isn't interested in discussing his acting career because he feels he has failed at it and his role was embarassing also he in an introvert

[marktheman045]

Natalie Portman Is AMAZING!!!!!!

[FarthestManFromHome]

This is my favorite movie. But I wonder: as an engineer, I have no idea what the "lnguistics and gender" point to be made here is. But whatever it is, it's likely invalid if based solely on this scene, as this scene occurs at a point in the movie when Largeman (Braff) is drugged out of his mind, so severly that it is having physical side-effects. This conversation says nothing about communication between genders, but between females and males-hopped-up-on-goofballs.

[jumper86]

Not to mention it's a movie?

[Dzakku]

lol awesome

[SimonZeno]

Needs moar pooper.

[viciousLUA]

braff is a good actor, he plays an apathetic man so thats why you cant tell but he's great. i mean hello? havent you ever watched Scrubs?

[HughJadd]

"Creepy smile"????? Excuse me! That's a *beautiful* smile! Especially with "New Slang" in the background...

[thoughtaboutit2]

A lot of intervening factors aren't considered in this analysis at all which compromises the conclusions. The characters have different personality types, Natalie Portman's character is very extroverted and Braff's is introverted. Introversion continuum runs across the female-male lines, so your conclusions could derive just as much from personality traits as from gender norms.

[krusher1977]

That Corky kid is retarded and so am I?

[kagome251]

I kind of agree. Portman is an all around kind of actor. She can play many roles and be seen in different roles.

Braff is my most favorite actor of all time, but he's more of a certain type of actor in my eyes and only people who like the types of roles he plays can see that and why he sucha great actor.

I don't know. Just my opinion. Kind of confusing.

[subcultured2]

zach braff cant act...natalie kicks his ass during scenes like this. she just overwhelm him. the worst was the airport scene. His face looked so stupid when he was saying goodbye.

[Maino88]

That's the most fucking stupid thing I've ever heard.

Yes...there were some clips of him towards the end of the movie that looked a bit cheesy...but he's a really fucking good actor.

You clearly know shit about acting. Infact, you probably know very little about anything. With comments like "natalie kicks his ass during scenes like this".

You tool.

[MattM4]

Braff is a good actor, but I agree Portman was amazing in this film, she played her character to perfection.

[FarthestManFromHome]

This is my favorite movie of all time, and no offense, I've got nothing for Portman. I could take her or leave her. Even though Braff does a good job as the incarnation of the post-college nobody that I am, I only like him because he's as awkward and dorky as I am. It's the story, not the actors, that make this film...with the exception of saarsgard, who is cash money

[TRUST8ME]

I dont get it, where it the theory who is this a study of gender....

[lltytgbr]

THE SHINZ!

[TheSoundOfHush]

HAHAH!