MovieChat Forums > The Birdcage (1996) Discussion > Understand the 'HATE' for Val, but find ...

Understand the 'HATE' for Val, but find it logical...

posted 12 years ago by ryderdvs
8 replies | jump to latest

20-year-old college students are selfish, narcissistic twits. Even in 1996, when this film came out, I was 20-years-old, and I can recall how self-centered I was. It's even worse now, with these f@cking Millennials - the "technology boom generation", who feel that the entire world revolves around them, and who spend their days updating their Facebook and Twitter pages every four minutes, to inform their "followers" of their meaningless, mindless activities that they consider to be "life's daily routine". 20-year-old Val was just behaving selfishly in order to get what he immediately wanted - sounds VERY accurate to me.
If they had ever been a sequel made, realistically, Val and Barbara would have been divorced in under a year.

[–] davemerino 10 years ago

I know that that is Right!

[–] Samuraibro 9 years ago

You seem to have a lot of issues and unwarranted hate for "Millennials".

[–] hunterofserenity-2 9 years ago

Val really was a jerk in this movie, very hard to like.

[–] Neo1599 9 years ago

What is wrong with Generation Y ?

[–] mcbare 9 years ago

I came to this board specifically for this topic. I get he is supposed to be an anxious son and the straight man to Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, but he is genuinely unlikeable. He seems to weigh down the conversation every time he speaks, and comes across as angry and hostile.

[–] akingofcomedy 8 years ago

He really is, but you know it's a testament to Dan Futterman's performance. This is a guy who usually comes across as quite likable. He had a three-part story arc on Will and Grace as a disheveled, introvert gay guy who slowly came out of his shell. He also got nominated for an Oscar as the screenwriter of Capote.

[–] Moviefan-Two-Kay-Four 8 years ago

I think every main character in the film was being selfish, for different reasons. Senator Keeley was worried about his political reputation after the scandal, only agreeing to support Barbara's wedding for the sake of good publicity. His wife wasn't much better, falling to pieces and crying "someone has to like me best". Barbara herself hid her romance from her parents for a year, only revealing it when they'd planned to marry because she wanted their blessing. Val had made up his mind already, but still valued his father's opinion; otherwise he'd have done something else for the nuptials. Neither he nor Barbara wanted to lie about Armand & Albert, but they knew the Senator would almost certainly keep Barbara away from Val if they learned he was raised by homosexuals. Speaking of the South Beach couple, Armand had clear prejudices against conservatives, claiming to Albert all they cared about was sexual preference before even meeting Barbara or her family. Albert just wanted to be accepted as he was, and felt like everyone was embarrassed by him whether others visited or not. But he also had a temper, resorting to hysterics when he didn't get his way. His self-descriptions of "monster" and "freak" are very telling, as well. Just about the only character who seemed devoid of caring about the whole thing was Agador; his only concern was looking badly in a waiter's uniform.

[–] 8 years ago

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