Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Blog #2: The Big Sleep
Every now and then I get a brief handle on the plot (even after seeing this movie several times), but that lack of clarity doesn't seem to matter. I keep wanting to watch Marlowe. But why? So, one question we would like to hear from you about concerns motivation. What seems to drive Marlowe? Give a little attention to this as well: how does Marlowe compare with Roberts from Detour? Finally, extend the comparison a bit further and offer some thoughts about how men and women interact in this film. How does this compare with Detour?
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The way I see Marlowe is him being very driven or motivatied to solve things as a detective. He mentions that he was fired from being a police detective to explain why he has chosen to be a private detective. Maybe because he was fired he felt that he still needed to be a detective. Overall Marlowe was smooth, smart, and slippery. He was patient and mysterious. Which made me want to learn more about him. Comparing Marlowe against Roberts was easy. They are both mysterious, but unlike Roberts, Marlowe is thoughtful and thinks things through. While Roberts acts on impulse and isn't all that smart. The women roles in each movie greatly differ from eachother. In Detour the women are sly, scary, and somewhat scary. On the other hand the women in The Big Sleep come off as weak and willing to melt in Marlowe's arms, for example, the first scene where one of the daughters collapses into Marlowe's arms. Other woman are portrayed as powerful and intimidating. Detour is dark, vague, short, and simple. While The Big Sleep is confusing, detailed, and long.
ReplyDeleteI felt that Marlowe had several different motivations in the film. The first, and most obvious was that he worked as a private detective and bringing the case to a close results in him getting paid. The second of his motivations was his sense of duty. He felt that he was obligated to continue investigating another hunch because he felt the case hadn’t been truly closed yet. The third motivation seemed to me to be the same as many of literature’s other great detectives. Marlowe continues to work through the case mainly because of his curiosity.
ReplyDeleteMarlowe is a much more likable character than Roberts. He certainly isn’t an optimist, but his wit, intelligence, and ability to act when he needs to allows him to resonate with the audience more than Roberts could.
I felt that women played different roles in the two films. Vera was a conniving, greedy person, scheming and verbally harassing Roberts throughout the entirety of the film. In The Big Sleep, the women are much softer on Marlowe, though still competent, like the bookstore woman that caught onto Marlowe’s ruse.
Marlowe seems to thoroughly enjoy what he does. He is dedicated to his work as we see when countless times he puts his life at risk. Marlowe seems to have a determination to finish what he started and reach the bottom of things most likely for the sake of his own curiosity. Marlowe was much more likable than Roberts. Roberts was reckless, and not the brightest tool in the shed. While, Marlowe was smart, careful, and smooth. One huge difference between the characters is the different ways they responded to pressure or rough situations. Roberts caved to the pressure and made bad decisions and Marlowe was thoughtful in every occurrence. In “ Detour ”, women were portrayed stronger, and more independent. In “ The Big Sleep ” they were much more sexualized and many of them swooned over Marlowe.
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In my opinion, Marlowe is driven mainly by his desire to impress his previously co-workers at the District Attorney's office. It is clear, towards the end, when Marlowe is speaking with the district attorney about how he went about solving the case, that he is showing off. I feel that money has a very small influence on Marlowe.
ReplyDeleteI like Marlowe as a main character much more than than Roberts because Marlowe always has a sense of direction. Marlowe seems to be in control of every situation he is confronted with, whereas Roberts stumbles through each situation and is constantly pushed around and overpowered by others.
The personalities of the female characters in The Big Sleep differ greatly. Some are very competent, while others are portrayed as helpless and sexual. Women never seem to have control of situations in The Big Sleep, but in Detour, the main female character is control for the majority of the film.
-Henry
The way that Marlowe differs from Roberts is he is much more in control of his life. While Roberts is healed captive against his will Marlowe is able to take advantage of other people. The reason that he can be so manipulative is because no one know his motive. While it is clear that Roberts just wants to see Sue Marlowe is much more mysterious. Because of this Marlowe is much more in control.
ReplyDeleteOne huge difference between the two movies are the gender roles are different. In Detour Roberts is weaker and Vera is stronger, where as in The Big Sleep the women are the weaker of the genders and Marlowe is much stronger.
Genuine curiosity about the truth behind the mysteries seems to drive Marlowe. This shows clearly when he continues to investigate Regan's disappearance even after he has done what he was hired for, which was resolving Carmen's gambling debts to Geiger, and solved Geiger's murder in addition. He feels he has a duty to uncover the full stories, even the parts he wasn't hired to solve. He also seems to enjoy the mental challenge of solving mysteries and playing conversational games with people to extract what they know. He occasionally shows off bits of his ability to others, such as when he tells the female bookseller how he tricked the other bookseller across the street, but gaining the admiration of others isn't his main motivation. Marlowe is obviously more intelligent, calmer and more rational in stressful situations, and more in control of his life than Roberts, but they both distrust the police. Because he believes the police can't solve the case as well as he can, Marlowe only confides in the authorities once he solves the two murders. Even then, he only tells them a limited version of his knowledge. Under pressure, Marlowe prefers to make decisions and act alone, while Roberts takes even Vera's advice and constantly thinks about Sue. In The Big Sleep, the women are generally more deferent to the men and more quickly attracted to Marlowe. Carmen throws herself into Marlowe's arms, Vivian kisses him, and the lady in the antique bookstore gives him her number almost immediately. In Detour, the women hold more power over the main character and behave much more harshly towards him.
ReplyDeleteI see Marlowe’s motivation in the film as wanting to participate in as many things as possible and to impress others on the way. He seemed very dedicated to his job and took quite pride when he would succeed. Whenever he encountered somebody holding a gun to his face, he’d snatch it from his or her hands, gaining some sort of confidence. Marlowe and Robert’s are very different. Marlowe is a smart smarter person who doesn’t impulsively do the first thing that pops to the top of his head, but further analysis his choices. Robert’s would make a choice that would get him the easy way out of a situation. On the other hand, Marlowe would throw himself into rough situations and deal them with confidence.
ReplyDeleteThe women in Detour played a very different role in comparison to The Big Sleep. In the Detour, Vera was demanding giving her a bit more control over Roberts, especially towards the end of the film. However, her personality wasn’t very likable. In The Big Sleep, the women play a much weaker role and lack power.
As an enormous BBC Sherlock fan, I couldn’t help noticing similarities between Holmes and Marlowe, not necessarily in their personalities (Marlowe’s much more sociable than Cumberbatch’s character), but in their drive: the two seem innately attracted to problem solving, particularly problems related to crime and murder, but neither is actually a member of the police force--both are lone detectives. Thus, it’s obvious that crime solving is not just a job for either of them--it’s a way of living. This suggests a deeper, almost instinctive, drive to work out the knots of a case--something about the challenge that the two are drawn to. I think Marlowe’s motivation is his natural curiosity and inability to suppress his inborn need for complicated scenarios to crack.
ReplyDeleteI see nearly nothing similar between Roberts and Marlowe--they are even on opposite sides of the law, one a detective, the other a murderer (though unintentionally). Not only that, but their mannerisms (Marlowe’s smooth, sleek control; Roberts’ rash, frightened helplessness) and, most telling, their approaches to problem solving (Marlowe’s attraction to complexity, and Roberts’ obvious fear of the unexplainable). I see nothing but differences between the two.
I think the female characters in The Big Sleep vaguely mirror those in Detour: one is the classic woman, in need of a man (Sue and Carmen); the other is powerful and secretive (Vera and Vivian). However, I don’t think the character of any of these women is black and white: Sue seizes control when she goes to Hollywood against her beau’s wishes; Carmen’s signature phrase “you’re cute” disguises her (as described by the characters in the film) cunning nature and is used to distract from what she knows (such as who killed Geiger); Vera’s character to me suggests that she was once quite powerless, leading her to crave control; and Vivian, for all her sly remarks and careful composure, is still represented as the victim, in need of a male savior. I think both films feature females whose interesting mix of damsel-in-distress and layered protagonist contribute greatly to the intrigue of the plot.
ReplyDeleteMarlowe appears to really enjoy what he does for a living, and the thrill that comes with it. I immediately noticed that, unlike Roberts, he was willing to take quick, thorough, and helpful action like when he chased down the gunman. I think that Marlowe is heavily driven by women as well, and the female role in this movie is powerful and important. For Roberts, Sue was his main goal and his obvious drive, while for Marlowe there are a few women that he has interest in. In Detour, Vera takes control of Robert in a way, and Marlowe also deals with powerful women trying to get him to do what they want. Another thing I noticed is that Both Marlowe and Roberts are stoic in a way, but Marlowe seems to show some more excited position emotions, and this makes sense given Robert's circumstance.
Marlowe seems to be driven solely by his desire to be a good detective and to stick it to his former colleagues at the DA's office. It was very easy to see the pleasure he took in solving the murders but refusing to give the office any information about his clients that they want. He's very good at what he does and I feel he takes pleasure in outsmarting people or just proving to himself that he is smarter than those around him. An example is when he tricked the bookstore worker of the antique bookstore. He never called her on it but the self satisfaction he took from it was enough. I felt his interaction with women was more of what I exapect when I think of a Noir film. The women seem easily charmed and desirable. My he motives of his client's daughter are unknown. What is known is that she is attracted to Marlowe. It feels like he has power over these women while Vera had control over Robert
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ReplyDeleteMarlowe needs something to do - something involved, but fast paced. He needs to occupy himself in an interesting way, hence his career choice. Within the movie he's constantly pushing for more information, but he never seems particularly concerned with how he gets it, or what he does with it - with the exception of utilizing it to get even more information. He wants to be recognized as intelligent and able, but that ends up being a perk of doing what he already wants to do. He does want some measure of justice, I believe, but it is not what drives him - nor why we watch him with such focus. We root for Marlowe, not because of his charisma or his sense of right and wrong, but because we are selfish - we are curious, and we wish him to continue simply because we want to see what happens next.
Marlowe certainly knows what he's doing better than Roberts. Roberts is panicky and not remarkably bright, not to mention his reluctance to harm anyone, where Marlowe goes in guns blazing and attitude up front; Marlowe knows what he's doing, and does it.
The men and women in these films are not the popular stereotypes of the time, being the rough group that they were, but in The Big Sleep as soon as you put a man and a woman close enough together they melted right into their "traditional" roles. The roles in Detour were a bit different - Vera maintained her ambitious, dominant personality throughout the film, and Roberts maintained his well-meaning, frightened one.
I believe that Marlowe is driven by his want to discover the truth. He lives in a world where the police are corrupt. Not once in the movie do we see a policeman actually investigating the murder scenes. His way of uncovering the truth may not be legal, but it works.
ReplyDeleteMarlowe is similar to Roberts in the way that they both react almost helplessly when in the company of a woman. It seems like women almost run this world (which we do in actuality) but from behind the scenes. It seems set up this way purposefully because of the women having taken over the workforce while the men were at war.
The women are no longer helpless, but do have to dumb themselves down, and the men seem to be the daft ones now, all the while coming across as macho. Very twisted..
I think that Marlowe is driven by self-satisfaction and information. Thought the movie, you can see that he always wants to know more about what is going on. Even when he kissed Vivian in the car, he went straight back to work to gather more information. He says that he is working for his client, but I think he just uses that as an excuse to hide his real reason to drive him on. I think that Marlowe is similar to Roberts in some ways, but very different. They seem alike in the way that both of them let women be their downfall. In The Detour, Roberts pursues after his only love and happiness in life, which gets him in trouble. Also, he lets the girl that he killed bully him and boss him around. He ultimately ends up accidentally killing her, but he hadn't I think that he would've gone to jail anyway because of posing as the dads son that she will have made him do. I think that the women in The Big Sleep are portrayed more as powerful than in The Detour. Ultimately, I think both the women in both movies are still portrayed as helpless, stereotypical women because of how they always fall to the needs of The Man
ReplyDeleteMarlowe's motivation seems to be solving the mystery, singlehandedly . His motivation seems to change when Ms. Rutledge falls in love with him. That is when he starts to care for her and her family's safety, especially her. Marlowe and Roberts are very different characters to me. Roberts seems to be more unlucky and will be bossed around easily. Marlowe would seem more likely to own up to his decisions and get himself out of trouble. Marlowe also probably wouldn't take instructions from Vera like Roberts did. In "The Big Sleep" women easily fall for Marlowe but in "Detour" they seem more realistic.
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