I will fall over in delight if Miss Catherine pops up after whatever happens to Robin happens and smugly says AND THAT'S WHY YOU DON'T STEAL PROM DRESSES OUT OF OLD LADIES' ATTICS, like that runner in Arrested Development.
I think probably the most difficult part of relating to this for me as a teen/tween would have been the sheer chutzpah and acid-etched nerve it would take to not only ask to borrow something ELSE when an elder had already offered a loan of something spectacular once, but to actually keep pushing and begging when they said no - pushing until they got ANGRY. The level of entitlement to that is kind of breathtaking. For me, the reactions/responses FEEL the most fictional, more fictional than a cursed dress or whatnot, because do we know ANYONE IRL who would be like either Cringey Beau or Pushy Girl??? It's definitely not a literary convention that would be seen as believable now. It's a strong 80's trope, the spoiled, self-centered teen; kind of a literary Baywatch.
Meanwhile, the plot of the horror movie has just stitched itself right up as the Grand Dame drops a fifty ton conversation ender into vacation small talk. "An institution for the criminally insane. Buh-bye now..." Heh.
YES. I think you really zeroed in on what's going on for me—the structure of the plotting is working for me, but the characterization is hilariously just NOT. Which might be why I've developed the theory that the dress has, like, A Magical Hold on her, because otherwise, what the ever-loving hell??
Then again, in straight-forward slasher movies—not the ones that are doing meta-commentary about the subgenre, I mean—a lot of times the cannon-fodder characters are deliberately written as awful, I think because that way the audience doesn't have to think of them as actual human beings getting done in? They're cartoons. So maybe Robin isn't going to be with us for much longer? (I don't think that's right, though, because there have been few "later, thinking back, Robin wondered if this was the moment she made her plan..." lines.)
...it's extremely possible that I am entirely overthinking all of this. But therein lies the fun, heh.
Miss Catherine is a boss. She totally knows that Robin stole the dress and has given her fair warning.
Agreed with Tanita; no actual person even in the 80s would push this far. I was there!
I will fall over in delight if Miss Catherine pops up after whatever happens to Robin happens and smugly says AND THAT'S WHY YOU DON'T STEAL PROM DRESSES OUT OF OLD LADIES' ATTICS, like that runner in Arrested Development.
YES
i am currently very sad that i can't upload gifs into the comments here
I think probably the most difficult part of relating to this for me as a teen/tween would have been the sheer chutzpah and acid-etched nerve it would take to not only ask to borrow something ELSE when an elder had already offered a loan of something spectacular once, but to actually keep pushing and begging when they said no - pushing until they got ANGRY. The level of entitlement to that is kind of breathtaking. For me, the reactions/responses FEEL the most fictional, more fictional than a cursed dress or whatnot, because do we know ANYONE IRL who would be like either Cringey Beau or Pushy Girl??? It's definitely not a literary convention that would be seen as believable now. It's a strong 80's trope, the spoiled, self-centered teen; kind of a literary Baywatch.
Meanwhile, the plot of the horror movie has just stitched itself right up as the Grand Dame drops a fifty ton conversation ender into vacation small talk. "An institution for the criminally insane. Buh-bye now..." Heh.
YES. I think you really zeroed in on what's going on for me—the structure of the plotting is working for me, but the characterization is hilariously just NOT. Which might be why I've developed the theory that the dress has, like, A Magical Hold on her, because otherwise, what the ever-loving hell??
Then again, in straight-forward slasher movies—not the ones that are doing meta-commentary about the subgenre, I mean—a lot of times the cannon-fodder characters are deliberately written as awful, I think because that way the audience doesn't have to think of them as actual human beings getting done in? They're cartoons. So maybe Robin isn't going to be with us for much longer? (I don't think that's right, though, because there have been few "later, thinking back, Robin wondered if this was the moment she made her plan..." lines.)
...it's extremely possible that I am entirely overthinking all of this. But therein lies the fun, heh.