What is it that makes the hotter, smarter younger sister so much more sophisticated, precocious, intelligent and adorable than the older lead in movies? Maybe it's because she's free of the normalizing effect of mature sexuality. The younger girl compensates for her lack of sexuality by satirizing it, exaggerating her girlish longing in the style of the soaps her older sister watches, posing in adult fashions she's gleaned from the magazines. She doesn't need to mind the rules of the code; she's still a nymph at play who could hurl herself into the arms of the hero without worry he would abuse her trust, at least that was how it was until the 1980s when Satanic panic, daycare scandals and America's Most Wanted relegated all precocious childhood behavior, and any and all older man-younger girl friendships--no matter how platonic--to the bin marked "incestuous evil."
Of course the Humbert Humberts are out there, but not every guy is so misguided that he mistakes any sign of affection as a sexual come-on. I'm no angel, but I know how to cultivate and help rather than hurt, yet society labels me a monster... a fiend. But one day I will build a race of Atomic Supermen and... wait, what? Oh yeah, anyway to celebrate the beauty and quick wit of the little sisters of cinema, I present "The Hotter Younger Sister Thing" - my follow-up to 2007-8's series, Great Dads of the 70's.
DIANA LYNN AS EMMY KOCKENLOCKER in MIRACLE Of MORGAN'S CREEK (1944, dir. Preston Sturges)
Preston Sturges always seemed to do better with his minor characters than his leads, who were often moronic guys in the grasp of more intelligent forces. In Miracle, we have perhaps the most shrill of leading couples -- the overplaying schnook Eddie Bracken and the brassy, moralistic to a fault Betty Hutton. Luckily William Demarest is in the picture as Betty's two-fisted loudmouth papa, and Diana Lyn her canny, witty extraordinarily cool little sister, Emmy. A real pal to the much more dimwitted Hutton, the thin and demure Diana schemes, plans, plays barrel house boogie-woogie on Christmas Eve and regularly jumps on papa's back to keep him from slugging Bracken.
This would all be kind of tragic in anyone else's hands but Demarest's, who in one scene actually shoves his younger daughter so hard she falls back onto the porch steps. In a movie made today, poor Emmy would have broken a collar bone, been rushed to the hospital, and child custody services would have thrown dad into the slammer. Instead she just shrugs it off and jumps back into the fray.
What's interesting too is the lack of moody underscoring that this guy is an abusive dad (if this was made today there'd be ominous music cues every time he glowered) Before he makes up for all his anger management problems with a heartbreaking scene of support for a distraught Hutton, Demarest fumes and shouts and bullies his daughters, neither of whom bat an eyelash or take any of it seriously, except to worry he'll hurt Bracken, who breaks just like a little girl (as opposed to Lyn, who is unbreakable).
Notice how Demarest complains about Diana's piano playing, but never tells her to stop. He doesn't expect his gruffness to be taken seriously either. He overreacts to non-issues but when the shit hits the fan, he reacts like a champ, and his younger daughter is his perfect foil all the way -- aiding abetting, infuriating. Love and irritation go hand in hand in this real dysfunctional family, where each element finds its own brave niche to thrive in while dealing with the insanity of the other members. Forced to raise two daughters without a mom in the house, Demarest does it the only way he knows how, as a blustery cop, and The amazing Diana Lyn rides him like a law-breaking anarchist every step of the way. The dads of today who try to be "friends" with their kids should take a lesson from Demarest, and the Wrestler for that matter, and learn to enjoy expressing their familial love via dramatically staged combat. Sometimes they need a shoulder to cry on, but some times they also need an ogre to scream at. The dad who can play the ogre when needed, but still have a light heart--in short he enjoys his "ogre" role rather than succumb to ogreish temperament--he sir, is a man for me.
Monday, January 26, 2009
The Hotter Younger Sister Thing - Part One: Diana Lyn in MIRACLE AT MORGAN'S CREEK
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19 comments:
Huh, MoMC was on this weekend and I was actually thinking the same thing...there's that great scene where Lynn and Hutton are on the latter's bed discussing the attempted engagement to Bracken's putz and they climax in a flurry of over-warmed feminine tears. Lynn and Demarest MAKE some of these scenes. I agree about the couple being shrill, too, but I think that's part of the point; the joy of Sturges is that he's sublimely complex while traipsing into shlocky caricature (see also Akim Tamaroff, Rex Harrison, etc). Manny Farber once noted that there's this poetic collapse between artifice and reality in Sturges when you realize the actors are just as "in over their head" as their characters...
Anyway, I hope to see Virginia Weidler represented in this series somewhere, although it would be a bit creepy to tag Dinah Lord as "hot" (maybe that she seems "worth waiting for" is less perversely phrased? probably not. Oh well, I await your supermen, Erich...).
Well, hot doesn't necc. mean one needs to do anything about it except admire. This is especially true, I think, for us writers and artists who can sublimate. Sublimate, you get inspired by beauty and so you write about it - not just beauty, but that precocious worldly savvy, the sense of fun and high spirits that becomes lost with the first real boyfriend they get (I was always relegated to the best friend, awww)
And as for Virginia Weidler, yes! Her chemistry with Cary Grant in Phila Story is a fine example of what I'm talking about.
On the extreme other side would be Carmen "she tried to sit in my lap when I was standing up" Sternwood in the Big Sleep.
And what about the younger sisters in Hitchcock films? Pat Hitchcock in Strangers on a Train - not "hot" exactly, but definitely more interesting than her older sister played by Ruth Roman. And Pat Hitchcock's predecessor, the younger sister with glasses in Shadow of a Doubt (who could easily grow up to be Pat Hitchcock).
Ok, *whew* I was worried that dropping VIRGINina Weidler's name would provoke disapprovingly furrowed eyebrows, but I should have known better...her character in the Phil Story is totally a chick I'd take out for an avuncular outing to the ice cream parlor, so to speak...
And yeah, I forgot the Big Sleep...oh man...
the best Hitchcock sister is Diane Baker in MARNIE!
You're right about Diane Baker in MARNIE, Erich.
MRRROWW!
it helps that I always wanted a little sister, but never got one... my therapist says that's why I'm so easily dazzled by the mysteries of the feminine. If you grow up around a sister, it all gets de-mystified, she said. I was betting Tarantino didn't have a sister either when writing my Death Proof piece--since it would explain his fascination with female small talk, but it turns out he apparently has two--TWO! They must have shut him out of their slumber parties a lot...otherwise my therapist is crazy
Wow, this is uncanny, eerie, or something. I JUST watched this movie this morning - even put out a post indirectly inspired by it (it's a quiz thing, check it out) and I was thinking along the exact same lines.
Anyway, Jon we need not worry because imdb tells us she turned 18 in 1944 when the film came out - which means she was no less than 17 when it was shot, which is more or less the same thing, right? Right?
This is the second time you've done this Erich - the first was when you posted on Voight's infamous wink in Anaconda at the same time I was writing my own reflections on the subject. Though this time I suppose we can just blame TCM for the cosmic significance?
And great commentary on the abusive father, too. There's same mad Oedpial thing (or the reverse, I guess, or perhaps the double-reverse?) going in this movie for sure.
MovieMan: Indeed, but my hesitation was over Virginia Wielder, who turned 13 when the Philly Story came out. It's ok, though. I, like Erich, have a therapist...
Somebody needs to start a thread about little sisters who AREN'T hot but ARE amazing sort of mini-adults with more insight (and style) than their big sisters. For example, Jo Ann Marlowe in Mildred Pierce (sister of Ann Blyth) and A Scandal in Paris (Signe Hasso).
I'm just this far away from the furrowed eyebrows, Joseph "Jon" Lanthier. Weidler in PS is too young for the "avuncular outing to the ice cream parlour, so to speak". Sorry, "creepy" does come to mind. Diane Baker as Lil Mainwaring in Marnie is a different matter though. I believe Baker was well into her 20s when she played the role and her character is old enough to be legal as well as morally ready for romance, so to speak. But while you're considering who is "worth waiting for" does anyone care for Baker in, say, Silence of the Lambs? For while this post is about The Hotter Younger Sister Thing (and I did enjoy your post, Erich)let us remember they do grow up (Weidler didn't make any pics as a grown up so her "hot" illusion - if that's how you see it - is well maintained). I think Hank E. Panque has a very good idea and would like to read those posts. And I look forward to further installments on this subject too.
Vargas: well, the "so to speak" line was a poor attempt at humor, but as I said before I don't think the admiration is really akin to physical attraction. I evoked the image of the uncle because it's traditionally harmless and a rather intriguing bond (I think the whole aunt/uncle relationship often gets marginalized when there's some very interesting stuff occurring developmentally). Then again there are too many evil uncles in literature, let alone real life. That having been said I have worked with children before (both my mother and my wife are early childhood educators) and I think that cute, intelligent, spunky, sarcastic boys and girls are simply more fun to be around. I actually had the pleasure of watching WALL-E with a 12 year old girl and an 8 year old boy and it really enlivened the experience to observe their reactions (and yes! we had ice cream afterwards!). Anyway, my apologies for the creepiness...
Hmmm could "hot" have been the wrong word for this series? I use hot all the time, as in "hot scarf!" or "that's a hot bag" or "that was so hot the way you punched that guy out" -- but yes - there is a very thick, THICK line between spunky adorable tykes like Weidler and gamins like Baker...
And I for one DO think Baker's still hot in LAMBS, as you will soon see in my next entry.
I'm sure if someone made a movie of LOLITA with a girl actually as young as she is in the book, we'd all be very turned off. The creepy factor is something we need to recognize -- but not be cowed by if our love is platonic and true.
Speaking of which, when are they ever going to release HOUNDDOG?
Thanks for your explanation, Jon. Creepiness gone! And, Erich, I understand those uses for "hot" but agree wtih you that it may be the wrong word for a series that takes into account the attractiveness (innocent though it may be) of female children. It is a provocative title for a series though. Just so long as no one gets too weirded out by it...the realities are such that one has to be careful. I await the Diane Baker post! And yeah when o when - Hounddog?
To be fair to Erich, it was my fault for dragging the "hot" blog post into the pre-teen gutter, and I apologize, since as Erich points out there's a thick line there -- I was just trying to dig into the whole "younger sister" motif at a broader level, since we all seem to agree that the younger ones can much more interesting characters in some respects, be they 20 or 14 or 6 or whatever the case may be.
Incidentally, I just told my wife about this discussion and my "ice cream parlor" comment. Her reply? "Jon, that's totally creepy." As Vargas points out, the unfortunate realities of the situation are that predators often cloak their intentions in "platonic and true" expressions. It sucks, though, because aside from causing harm they're also ruining it for the rest of us. Anyway...please, blog on, and I too am curious for the Diane Baker notes.
Ha! You're so very perceptive, Jon. And so is your wife! I also like your observations on aunts and uncles. These are valuable people in a child's life...just so long as they're not like Uncle Charlie in Shadow of a Doubt. Hey, in light of the discussion it's somewhat amusing that my thumbnail is a trike...or not. Anyways (as they're fond of saying in Deaadwood), my last blog post lists Dinah Lord (as portrayed by Ms Weidler) as one of my fave female characters in cinema and I'm glad we've straightened out just how and why we appreciate these younger female sibs.
I'd like to add two more interesting sisters to this little bunch. One is Rachel Minor. In the film version of James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia, she played Hilary Swank's wised-up kid sister. It was in the one truly great scene from this not so successful film--she was both magnetic and sinister. I was disappointed she didn't get more of a payoff. The other younger sister, probably the first one I ever noticed, was Susan Strasberg in the film version of Picnic. In her first scene she secretly smokes a cigarette while The Ballad Of The Sad Cafe! I kept wondering why we had to keep going back to blank Kim Novak, who, though full figured and sensuously smudgy, wasn't much competition. As to the subject of the creepiness of underage desires, I've grown so tired of the milked out hysteria over it that I simply have no sympathy for those "what about the children types" at all. Unless you've got video tapes showing the violation I don't want to hear any more of whining over it.
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