even want consuelo fired in the first place?
"Oh my God, what a horrible photograph. My first wanted poster and I look just awful."
I don't think there's any hidden depth to Mikey. He wanted her fired for the very reason he said so - he thinks she's lazy. He thinks that she should have cleaned up the grape juice off the floor instead of mourning her grandson.
Mikey's not very human.
Good question. My guess is that she didn't clean up the grape juice and he had too.
share... as with the "Fiction" story, it was about control. The power to allow his parents to do whatever he wished, including wanting favouritism over his dying brother. Consuelo's dismissal was in keeping with that theme...
shareHe was a little snatchrag, which is something we can't really say about kids -- which is kinda the point.
shareI agree with "Three Gun Fish". The movie does a fine job mocking the movie stereotype of the loveable child. As a friend put it, "If you grew up disabled, you know that kids are incredibly cruel."
I do think, though, that at some level Mikey is just kind of curious. He's also fascinated with hypnotism, and he wants to see how well it works by ordering his dad to fire Consuelo. It seems like the dad doesn't even know why he's doing it. Mikey certainly doesn't understand consequences, though: he doesn't see that people can be 'monsters,' and vice versa. I think that relates to the Columbine and school shooting themes (which are mentioned very briefly) in the film.
Mikey really strikes me as having some kind of Autism. Asperger's perhaps.
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I'd say that he's basically just a wretched little bastard, really, although a very smart one for a kid his age.
sharebest part in the whole movie
you got about 1 f uckin second to live buddy- Frank Booth,Blue Velvet
What's really ironic is how he basically started out as the most normal/likable person in the family...then, through his interaction with Consuelo, we see that he's just as bad (if not worse) than the others. The spoiled, self-absorbed, sheltered little *beep* Oddly enough, I could see Dewey from "Malcolm in the Middle" doing basically the same thing and forgiving him. Funny how that double standard works between comedy and drama.
shareBut at least she didn't get killed in the fire.
shareI thought Mikey started out as just an annoying little know it all but harmless. But in every conversation he has with Consuela it feels like he's making all these little stingy comments and assumptions of her background. Actually, he sounds even a bit rascist at times.
It looks like he's making innocent remarks and asking questions - as what kids who are learning about life do-, but isn't he really asking questions he already knows the answer to? He also does it in the scene where he asks his dad about his comatose brother and then tells him "I don't think there's any hope, either. I was just trying to make you feel better". Seems to me he knows more than he's letting on and is manipulative.
I too think Mikey has Asperger's Syndrome...just the whole inability to empathize with others and not knowing when "it's not a good time" to say something. Case in point, the scene with Consuelo and her mourning her grandson!
Here's a link about Asperger Syndrome in children: http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/brain/asperger.html
These signs and symptoms might be present in a child with AS:
* inappropriate or minimal social interactions
* conversations almost always revolving around self rather than others
* "scripted," "robotic," or repetitive speech
* lack of "common sense"
* problems with reading, math, or writing skills
* obsession with complex topics such as patterns or music
* average to below-average nonverbal cognitive abilities, though verbal cognitive abilities are usually average to above-average
* awkward movements
* odd behaviors or mannerisms
I figure Solondz is probably an aspie, and his films probably have particular appeal to aspies. (I'm that way myself. I attended a screening of "Palindromes" with a Q&A with Solondz, and it gave me an odd feeling that I was, for once in my life, among my own kind. This wasn't a comforting feeling, in that I'm inclined to avoid crowds of any sort. But it was different.)
Oh, I just realize I did an aspie thing, talking about myself instead of Mikey, ha ha. And now another aspie thing, laughing inappropriately. Well, inappropriate laughter is fundamental to a Solondz film, is it not? Anyway, the discussion about Mikey's culpability is interesting, in that, yeah, we sort of hate the little bugger. But he's not old enough to be held morally accountable...which is why he's also not supposed to be making these life-changing decisions for others or even himself. That's another Solondz theme, putting children in positions where they don't belong, and leaving the audience with an awkward choice of passing judgment or having pity, and neither seems quite right. I guess I appreciate the awkwardness of a Solondz film in that it expresses the awkwardness I feel in my own life. I'm referring to, I hasten to add, a dramatic expression within a fictional context; I think we can "get" this without the benefit of personal encounters with child molesters, documentarians, hypnotists, or other such miscreants.
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