Harlan's Age?
How old was Harlan (Edward Norton) supposed to be in this movie? It sort of mentioned how old October was supposed to be, but I may have missed how old Harlan was.
shareOld post but I've been wondering as well, watching the film at this moment. I'm actually surprised with Norton here, he looked pretty young to me. He may have been mid thirties but he may have been playing late 20s. Besides Norton looking quite young in this film, the fact that the father allowed his daughter to go out with Harlan despite his reservations (first meeting between the 2), hinted that he may have been younger, 26-29 perhaps(?). Obviously, late 20s is still quite an age gap for a 17 year old but more acceptable than someone in their 30s (dating your daughter). Also, no one made mention of their obvious age distinction in the film, not addressed whatsoever, so this leads me to believe that their ages were not a factor or an issue. I have a theory that the character of Harlan is supposed to be around 21-23 but since we have Norton taking on the role, 21-23 is a bit of a stretch for him, so I'll contend with late 20s.
Plus, when the father checked his background, he was referred to as a 'kid', have you ever heard anyone, aside from a 70-90 year old demographic refer to a 36 year old man as a kid?
God may have created man before woman, but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece
In the SFV its not that uncommon to see a young acting early 30s guy with a hot 17 year old chick.
shareWhen Wade was driving them home from taking the horse, he mentioned Harlan being with a 'minor' I'm guessing late 20's
shareNorton obviously plays character significantly younger than his real age, however not young as early 20's. He was working for a while on farms, he spent a year in prison, and some of his actions are not immature due to his age but to his simple, immature personality.
This kind of immaturity is the reason why Tobe could have accepted him so quickly (impulsive quitting job just to spend a day on the beach would be a warning for somebody older, but is heroic, cool for a girl Tobe's age). His real physical age appears in some of his actions, he isn't retarded so he understands that a man at certain age has to accept some responsibilities, what culminates when he has protective plans for Tobe and Lonnie; however, this is the moment when Tobe starts to understand the age gap and that her short-term plans can't match with Harlan's.
I agree that Harlan is supposed to be in his late 20s, and I also agree that emotionally, he's an adolescent.
I think that Harlan is in many ways a sociopath because he obviously has no sense of respecting authority in the way of understanding that there are consequences. Although Tobe is a rebel, she still can understand what will happen if she gets in trouble with the law or her father, and even when she breaks the rules, she knows that there are risks being taken. Harlan seems to have little no concept of consequences. He wanders through life living by his rules and acts entirely on impulse. He has no idea of how to realistically plan for the future.
Even though he displays many signs of being a sociopath, he is also fairly emotionally-charged in certain circumstances, which is a bit of a contradiction. It is as though everything outside his delusion of the way life is "supposed" to be cannot relate to him until it threatens his relationship with Tobe and her brother.
Very good analysis of Harlan's sociopathy. However, this emotionality doesn't have to be a real one - sociopaths can be intelligent persons and as one he could understand that he is supposed to do something (the discussion with Tobe's father after he drives them from police station); so this need to protect Tobe and Lonnie could be something that he "knows" he should do (because of being a "responsible" adult).
So this passion (and sociopaths can develop passion for certian very different things that the others simply can't understand - from extremely moral and human to extremely immoral and illegal - it's just a matter of coincidence or luck) can be seen as emotinality because it is on the "good" side in the eyes of average persons (until the end when, like most passions, its warmth burns to an uncontrolled fire); but he, as a sociopath, could have started shooting people with same passion, however we wouldn't call it emotional then...