MovieChat Forums > The Man from Earth (2007) Discussion > Who was the young girl?

Who was the young girl?

posted 10 years ago by henrimaine
3 replies | jump to latest

Great movie. But one question that is not really related to the main point of the movie. Who was the young girl? I know she was a student and she came with the man, who was apparently a scholar or professor like the others. I presume she was the student of the man she came with. But what was the relationship between them? Were they supposed to be lovers? I guess they were. Look how they were sitting next to one another. But how come the others took it so calmly? Is this supposed to be normal practice in college to have students as lovers? Strange that the company was so entangled with the crazy caveman story when instead they should have been shouting: what are you doing with this girl?

[–] A_l_a_c_h_u_a_1 10 years ago

She was sleeping with the professor with whom she came (William Katt's character). As long as she was over 18, there really is nothing the others could say (from a legal standpoint). Apparently it's not uncommon for college professors to sleep with students, although I personally don't agree with it. Just stating it like it is.

I did think it was interesting when the psychiatrist came over, and he looked at the girl and said "I recognize you from somewhere", and she responded that she was in one of his classes, and his response was merely along the lines of, "well my dear, I never thought I'd be giving a lesson like this" - referencing what was going on with Oldman, without even questioning why a student would be there with all those "old" professors.

[–] chuck-526 9 years ago

I suspect such "professorial behavior" is much more common than you think it is. (And the trope of a professor having an affair with one of his students is pretty common in previous films anyway.)

As to "how come the others took it so calmly?"-- what choice did they have? Their only realistic options were to either a] permanently freeze out a colleague (who was obviously never going to change his behavior) or b] smile and pretend nothing was happening.

Being idealistic isn't an option for them. Their only way forward is to choose "the lesser of two evils".

[–] scan-479-856054 9 years ago

I was curious and checked wiki for this movie. Author started to write script at 1960 and finished at 1998 so it's quite "old-school".
In Police Academy (1984) there were line - "sleeping is for fags". In Die Hard II John (1990) were smoking at airport near reception or something. And there is many more. Of course today it can seem odd due some forced tolerance.