Jimmy is dislikable?
My question: I get rebellion of the mods,and wanting your own style and group identity. Why is Jimmy so whiney, traitorous, two faced and unlikable?
Is it to show Jimmy is no better tnan those he despises?
"Why is Jimmy so whiney, traitorous, two faced and unlikable?"
Its the point of the film, it is supposed to be a character study on a teen-adult, Jimmy looks at the materialistic "mod" culture as his guidance in life, he has high social ambitions and a stigmatic view stemmed from his youthful perspective:
Relationships - Jimmy goes for Steph who is out of his league, rather then settling with Monkey, who is perceived to be fairly mediocre in a social standing, despite having more in common with her and probably happy enough to settle with her.
Friendships - Kevin seems to be a character he can connect with and trust, however, he ostracises Kevin since he isn't a mod, despite being in agreement with him on finding his own identity. Instead he stands by his best friend, Dave, who ends up using Jimmy to get to Steph.
Work - Jimmy decides to quit his job, he doesn't like it and doesn't feel it is right for him at the time, he just wants to live his young life rather then enter adulthood.
Jimmy is supposed to be a flawed character, but one that can be related to for his behaviour at this stage in his life, particularly if the viewer has at some point had the social life Jimmy has. He's flawed, his naive attitude can sometimes lead him to make dumb decisions with his life, but this is at a stage where he doesn't really know what to do and is often mislead by the "cool" decision, rather then what would be the flat out obvious for a more mature person who doesn't have the emotional attachment to the characters in the film.
The ending is supposed to signify the end of the mod era in Jimmy's life, he can probably take away the fun he has had from this time, but I think its apparent when he is sitting in the cafe in Brighton that he has realised the various mistakes he has made, but its a life lesson for him and its part of growing up; we learn from these mistakes. Thematically, Jimmy has been searching for his identity throughout the film, and he finds it come the end.
Yup. Good synopsis of the character.
Gentlemen, England will be playing 4-4-f---ing-2
nicely summarised. In the Work category, I'd also say that Jimmy, with all his energy/hyperactiveness and intolerance for the "c**ts" (his words) he had to deal with in the office, would have been better suited to the manual labour jobs that his male friends are seen doing, but wearing a suit all day and being in an advertising agency was again the "cool" decision - the job was a good status symbol even if it wasn't right for him.
share