MovieChat Forums > Wicked (1998) Discussion > Ellie and Lawson? How?

Ellie and Lawson? How?

posted 14 years ago by brittxblc
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**Alright so if you haven't seen and don't want spoilers of any sort, don't read any further.**

Just to begin, I saw bits and pieces of this movie when it aired today, I couldn't see enough to digest the entire story but one thing that caught me was the relationship between Lawson and Ellie.
First he shows total dislike with her (ex. when she was in the moving truck)like she was a bratty little girl and then he shows some compassion as a caring neighbor after the death of her mother, that I can totally understand. But how did that turn into them planning on running away together and towards the end telling her he loves her?

Could someone please explain it to me? I was just curious before I try to catch the next airing. My friend did suggest Lawson & Ellie taking off was because of her father remarrying but the rest is a total blank for me. Why would Lawson want her accompanying him? Just choosing her presence over being alone? She also said maybe it was because Ellie's mom was secretly with Lawson before she was murdered but like I said, I didn't get to see a lot of it and wasn't aware of an affair between them..
(And yes, I do plan on watching this again next time it airs. :p I'm sure the TV version has lots cut from it, unfortunately.)
Thank you in advance. I know how dumb this post is haha.

[–] janedoe3010 14 years ago

*************SPOILERS*********************Maybe even for you, btittxble, since you've only seen parts ...

On the surface, his relationship arc with Ellie may seem capricious. However, I think it's in keeping with his character (immature, irresponsible) and supports one of the themes of the film (inappropriate / replacement relationships).

Lawson, portrayed as an immature, irresponsible dreamer, was having an affair with the mother. She spurns him, and in doing so, we learn they had planned to run away together. But, the mother informs him she will leave with Ellie and Inger only, angering Lawson.

Lawson then replaces his deceased lover with Ellie by impulsively planning to run away and start over with her, continuing his original plan with the next available female. His plan is to avoid responsibility to his wife and child by "pulling a geographic" (psychological term meaning relocation with the hope that one's life will improve by leaving present messy, difficult, unresolved circumstances) with a "geographically desirable" replacement lover (i.e., close in proximity--she's his neighbor in an all but seemingly barren community, therefore little "choice" available--and with little proactivity on his part--he literally stumbles upon her at a golf course, leading to an impromptu chain of events culminating in their escape plan and his adolescent claim of "love").

Ellie, too, tries to replace her mother as the matriarch of the family and a partner to her father. While clearly this is not impulsive behavior on the order of Lawson's, rather the fruition of a long-simmering dislike of her mother and inappropriate attachment to her father, it does not make her behavior any less immature / emotionally perverted than Lawson's.

And, both Lawson and Ellie try to manipulate the object of their desire: Lawson, by luring Ellie to run away by later agreeing to open the bed and breakfast she envisioned as their new life, an idea he at first wholly rejected; and Ellie, by threatening to expose the tryst with her father to his new wife, Lena.

When you watch the film it will be clear, and you will probably see additional themes and interesting parallels that I did not cover here.

Good point on this being edited down for Lifetime - I am wondering how far the original version took the father-daughter scene? I have a feeling not too much was cut out, though, as it's a fairly stylized film and I think the director was going for more Hitchcock than De Palma.