It seemed as if the twin brother was just some sort of alter ego, it seemed surreal.
Was it supposed to be real live other person?
I'd say in the context of the movie, yes.
Straightedge means I'm better than you.
In the movie, yes. Allegorically? No. I saw the two "brothers" as two paths a writer can take. One, is the artistic purist who will have little success and probably suffer emotionally trying to stick to his guns. Then, you have the carefree brother who simply wants to spin a good, entertaining yarn and not write the next Moby-Dick.
In the end, I think we find out that the carefree brother isn't really "selling out." He's acknowledging that movie making is about telling an exciting tale and finding that plausible excitement in every day life. Note how the artist brother wanted to do an "honest" portrayal of the novel, but didn't look under the hood for the real, exciting drama in the author's life (e.g. the affair). Just as Brian Cox says, you're an idiot if you think that nothing ever happens in real life. And, just as surely as he says it as soon as they dig deeper they end up in a life-death situation.
The movie I think is a message to writers. Don't call yourself a purist just because you're too lazy to look beyond the perfunctory routine of our daily lives.
Amy: I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
" Just as Brian Cox says, you're an idiot if you think that nothing ever happens in real life."
This is true and false. Yes, there's always something going on, but for a lot of people there isn't much happening at any given time.
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It's not "Sci-Fi", it's SF!
"Calvinism is a very liberal religious ethos." - Truekiwijoker
Well, that's also what Cox' character means. He's not denying the existence of apathetic people, he's only saying that they're idiots. He would have said the exact same thing that you said and only replaced the word "people" with "idiots".
shareHow could you know that? This is your own speculation. There is no basis for such an assumption based on what Cox said.
shareCox says that you are an idiot if you think that nothing is happening in the world. Which means that you are an idiot if you are an apathetic person. Which means that, according to him, apathy=idiocy. Can't be clearer than that, can it?
share[deleted]
In the existence of the movie Donald DOES exist but from a storytelling point of view he is an idea of what his brother could have...will become. Donald's death represents Charlie breaking free of his depressed self and finally but slowly turning into the confident Donald.
You're move, creep