After the horror of watching that man get so badly injured when the hotdog cart crashed down the stairs on him, after the six months (Shakes) and full year (the other three) of hell in the juvenile prison, how could Michael and Shakes calmly order a hotdog from a cart when they were adults?
I don't think I could ever eat a hotdog again, much less order from one of the street carts!
In my perspective, Michael went to the hot dog stand because he thought he had finally gotten over what they had to go through at Wilkenson's. But after a bite he threw the hotdog out.. which in a way shows that you cannot get over some things. You know he isnt over it when Shakes narrates in the end and says he lives alone.
shareThat's a very good take on that scene - I didn't pick up on the fact that he only eats a bit of the hotdog before throwing it in the bin till you mentioned it.
I just saw it as a bookend to the story - the whole thing starts with a hotdog cart, and the story ends with a hotdog cart. (Well, the main story...). I didn't read it from Michael's perspective as he thought it would close the book on the events.
I would be the opposite, I would look at it as a kind of penance. I hurt one hot dog owner, I would in my way help another and buy from them. As a poster said above, whether or not I could eat them, would be another story.
shareI agree with you Danomera - I also noticed that Brad Pitt's character was extra "polite" to the hot dog vendor - referencing back to the narrator saying they never saw the hot dog vendor as a man - with a family - that worked hard - they had no respect for him.
shareDuring the scene where they are senteced the voiceover mentions that they find out the hotdog seller is a poor man who works hard to send money to his family in Greece and they feel guilty. Michael buys the hotdog to support the vendor who he assumes is struggling like the one whose cart they ruined. he does not eat the hotdog he throws it away
shareIt symbolizes that they have closure. If you notice, the hot dog vendor is a foreign guy... just like the one they stole from at the beginning. Plus, the director goes to great lengths to show Shakes actually pay for the hot dogs this time!
Oh, I've chosen my words carefully Persian... perhaps you should have done the same. Leonidas
Presumably, the boys felt a sense of closure after the court case - a big chunk of their horrific cast has come to an end and they can finally move forward... and that's symbolized by the ordering of the hotdogs at the end.
Even note they ask for "two napkins" which was what they asked in the begining.
Sometimes people deliberately confront themselves with issues that are linked to painful memories. Foreing-looking hot dog vendor, two napkins…and this time, cash.
There is a scene just before the initial hearing of the boys where they said something like "we never saw the vender as a man, we didn't respect him and didn't notice how hard he worked and that he had a wife and 2 kids in Greece where he wanted to bring to this country, we only saw a free lunch". This pretty much tells us that they genuinely felt remorse. And considering the fact they were faced with far worse recollections in seeing the men who raped them, I don't think the sight of a hotdog cart would be too much to handle.
shareI think in Michael's own very small way he is trying to make amends.
Whereas as kids they were rude and snotty and stole the hot dogs, now they are polite and pay with real money.
================
4) You ever seen Superman $#$# his pants? Case closed.