At the beginnng of the movie it was easy to laugh at Neds demeanor. Although he was eccentric and weird, Ned is a character who was thought to be a popular normal guy at the beginning of the film. People seemed to like him and he knew everyone in the neighborhood.We got the feeling something was wrong with him when he started swimming in pools to get home.
Ned seemed to go to a countless number of pool parties all going on at the same time in the film and reaquainted with Julie Hooper who was much younger than him. I thought that Ned Merril was'nt much better than Arnold Friend for trying to put the moves on a girl younger than half his age. I started to see after he stopped by a few houses that Ned was a womanizer and an alcolholic. Julie Hooper was just the first girl he hit on and afterwards he went to Shirleys pool and tried making moves on her against her will. If Ned thought he had a wife and was naming his swim for his wife I thought it was wrong of him to try to put moves on any girl. Not only was it wrong of Ned to make a move on a girl but one was very young and not willing and the other was not willing.
Ned's life began to seem very complicated when his neighbors mentioned him not having any money, they mentioned his daughters laughed at him and he needed a job. At the end of the movie there was an expectation that things would be answered about Ned and his family but it ended with him trying to get into his empty house. After doing some background research I discovered that the reason for Ned's confusion is that he has blocked out the past 2 years or so of his life out. Ned truly believed the front he was putting up and some neighbors were willing to put up with Ned while others were sick of him. Ned had been in his old neighborhood trying to swim his way to his old house. He had deceived himself into thinking that he was stopping by his neighbors to swim the way home but we start to see he doesn't live in the neighborhood when he just learned his neighbor had a pool put in awhile ago. We also see he blocked out his life and something was wrong when his hot dog wagon is at another neighbors and he has no knowledge of this. Ned had been lost for the past 2 years since he lost everything he had and maybe finally figured out what his life was when he made it back to his old home.
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Good point on how Ned named the river off pools after his wife then tried to pick up girls on his way to his house. Thats just kind of lowly and terrible. I believe that he may have blocked out the last two years of his life, but why did he do this?
ReplyDeleteI liked your analysis of Ned's relationship with the women in the film. You highlight his delusional thinking in his relationship with his neighbors and other characters in the film.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job explaining how Ned blocked out his recent life and is still trying to live like he used to when he lived in the neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree on how Ned's image changed as the movie progressed. I personally thought, when Ned was first introduced, that he was this well known man (neighbor) that "everyone" liked and invited over to their homes. Throughout the movie I could tell that my first impression was wrong.
ReplyDeleteI think what best describes Ned's delusion is the fact that he tells the little boy if you believe in something enough then it'll come true. I think thats what happened to Ned because he had such a perfect life and now he doesn't. And he can't handle it as you see the conclusion of the film.
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