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The antecedent for Megan derives, not from the filmic universe of John Hughes(nobody in a John Hughes film would spray paint such derogatory language and iconography on somebody's window), but from Michael Lehmann's cult-classic "Heathers". Recall the Heather who tells Veronica in the cafeteria, "They all want me as a friend or a f***;" that's Megan, who is Heather-like in her distaste for the weak and the unpopular. But maybe she's just acting out for the camera. Maybe she's not half-bad. Maybe. Maybe not. In the film's most telling moment, when "American Teen" tries to round out Megan's queen bitch persona with a personal tale of familial woe, the real Megan, the introspective Megan that's supposed to redeem the public Megan, refers to her mentally-impaired sister who committed suicide as being "inferior" to the rest of the Krizmanich clan, Fighting Irish alumnists all. Even her soft side is a little callous. While a lot of character motivation in "American Teen" seems predicated by an awareness of the camera, an unguarded moment such as this, suggests that the filmmaker caught the essence of her young subjects.
Jake, the self-described band geek, spills his guts out, repeatedly, regarding the ladies with their apathetic stance towards his carriage and temperament in the classrooms, in the hallways, or anywhere there's a girl to signify his invisibility and incompetence as a high school Romeo. More than the other students, Jake benefits the most by having a film crew following him around. He's savvy enough, and calculating enough, to utilize the camera as a social tool for picking up girls, willing to overlook his acne-ravaged face in exchange for the promise of instant exposure and ensuing celebritydom. The camera follow Jake on the prowl. Cheerleaders are left to the jocks, but the unattractive girls are left to their unattractive courters, as well. Until his skin clears up, this is where guys like Jake are resigned to in the school's caste system. But the first girl he approaches is no "dog"; she definitely belongs in the second-tier of high school girls. He asks her out. She says, "Yes". In miniature, the audience can see how average or below-average looking guys overachieve and date beyond their means, an attribute and perk of being famous or almost famous. Call it the Rik Ocasek phenomena.
As Warsaw's basketball team is mired in a seven-game losing streak, all fingers point to Colin, the Tigers' starting center, who gets lambasted by his coach for reducing his teammates to hardwood bystanders as a result of his selfish play. The pressure to impress the college recruiters in the stands is blamed for his poor decision-making; a more likely culprit, however, might very well be the presence of his Sundance-minded entourage. In the sports movie genre, the subject shoots the ball; he doesn't deliver bounce passes to the open man, he doesn't set screens. Since Colin's life resembles a movie in the interim, he acts like a movie star and shoots the ball, shooting is pro-active. Incredibly, by some alchemy of filmic osmosis, the inspirational sports movie imitates real-life and Colin actually sinks the winning shot at the buzzer of an important game. Just like it was scripted, the climax of a story arc. Elvis goes wild.
And last, but not least, there's Hannah, a girl who could be Veronica to Megan's Heather, if she harnessed the love inside her towards Warsaw(in "Heathers", Veronica wanted to make her school a nice place), instead of saving it for later, for somewhere worthwhile. Soon after the jock sees the misfit play guitar at a talent show, the two disparate students hook up. Hannah meets Mitch's friends at the queen bee's house, but it's readily apparent from the start, that she doesn't want no part of the Megans. The aspiring film director made Mitch a better person and she'd probably improve Megan and her friends by making her acquaintance, as well. For starters, Hannah, were she present, would be the voice of reason and stop the e-mail containing the topless girl, Megan's friend, from further circulation. Since "American Teen" has no Veronica, no moral compass, that responsibility belongs to the filmmaker.
But the filmmaker is a Heather.
The filmmaker's decision not to intervene on the topless girl's behalf, as she grows more infamous, computer by computer, cell-phone by cell-phone, amounts to participating in character assassination. Her non-actions are analogous to the film crew's cold-blooded objectivity in the faux-documentary "C'est arrive pres de chez vous", in which the reporter(Remy Belvaux), and the cameraman(Andre Bonzel), do nothing as Ben(Benoit Poelvoorde), their subject, a serial killer, murders innocent Belgians for art's sake.
For somebody at the age of consent to exercise discretion when a minor is being subjected to such a public humiliation for the sake of dramatic effect seems unconsciousable.
score 6/10
fablesofthereconstru-1 8 September 2008
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1943455/ |
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28-2-2021 11:11:08