It seems weird that a pretty attractive 25 year old woman would be a virgin in 1973, even if she was Jewish or her dad was a hard case. Not in 1973 and Los Angeles.
I know she was meant to suffer from “failure to launch” but that is more about not moving on more broadly, not because she doesn’t have any romantic interests or sexual appetites.
Yet it seems like they play her character as sort of sexually innocent and almost virginal.
She had a boyfriend, Lance.
shareShe was BORDERLINE physically attractive, and she was not particularly "fun" most guys would be turned off by her personality. She wasn't an airhead party girl.
Was it suggested in the film that she was cherry?
The movie is pretty clear about refusing to say.
But in some ways, it doesn't matter.
Let's say that she WAS sexually experienced when we meet her in the story. She still was NOT interested in a sexual relationship with a 15-year old "boy"(with some "man" qualities.) Her crucial line comes early "That would be illegal. I can be your friend, but not your girlfriend." She doesn't say anything about sex, she just notes she can't be his girlfriend. Even ROMANCE is off the table.
Gary, for his part, jumps on Alana's concession that she COULD be his "friend." "You give me hope!" he replies in his relentless pick-up chatter.
For my part, I think Alana might be a virgin...but might not. Yeah 1973 had a LOT of sexually experienced girls(especially after age 18), but it also had a lot of girls "saving it for marriage." And Alana's family was shown to be very religious, with a stern father watching over his all-girl brood.
One thing Alana does NOT have when we meet her is a steady boyfriend. When Lance has his disastrous religious dinner with the family, after he has left, Alana yells at her father "He could have been my boyfriend!" Which means she doesn't have one. And she yells "He could have gotten me out of this place!" Which means NO boyfriend has appeared yet to do so. Her looks might be part of it(though she is quite pretty from the right angles), but also her bi-polar, raging temper(a hidden factor of Licorice Pizza is just how raging and hair-trigger Alana IS; Gary may be the only guy to weather that storm.)
There is a clue that Alana is sexual when her old political "friend," Brian, remarks that he remembers "your homework sessions." Those of us in the know may recall that homework sessions -- joint boy/girl study get togethers-- could be covers for all manner of physical romantic activity. So I think that line suggests that Alana is experienced.
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One more thing: it is a mark of PTA's skill as a director that he captures one moment where Alana gives off a DEFINITE sexual vibe...and directly TO Gary.
Its after Alana falls off of Jack Holden's motorcycle. Holden doesn't even notice and drives on with the stunt and away with the adulation of the crowd all around him.
Only Gary runs out to "rescue" Alana -- to see if she's OK after the fall ("I fucking ruined Danielle's guitar" is Alana's drunken line). and then PTA gives us two close-ups in sequence:
Gary...looking down on Alana...and looking the most handsome he has in the whole movie.
Alana...looking up at Gary...with a look (guys would know) of pure carnal desire for sex. Gary has proven Alana's hero and she looks like she now wants it bad. And they walk off together and she is STILL looking like sex is gonna happen within the next ten minutes.
And then it doesn't. They go to the waterbed palace and lie together -- but Alana falls asleep and Gary restrains himself even from copping a feel off the unconscious woman. Frustration.
So maybe Alana isn't experienced, and maybe she is. But that look in that scene after she falls of the motorcycle shows that she DOES have a sexual background.
I don’t get a sense that Brian’s “homework” line was a reference to some previous tryst between them while studying. I think it was more that his watching her solving problems and getting things done (homework) indicated to him that she would be a boon to the campaign he was helping run.
I DO get that he digs her (and probably always has) and sees her volunteering as an opportunity to make a romantic move. But she seems much more focused on her growing role in the campaign and her attraction to Joel. She ditches Brian almost mid-kiss to run to what she things is a mini-date with Joel. And when that goes awry and she seeks Gary out, that is it for Brian and the campaign.
I don’t get a sense that Brian’s “homework” line was a reference to some previous tryst between them while studying. I think it was more that his watching her solving problems and getting things done (homework) indicated to him that she would be a boon to the campaign he was helping run.
I DO get that he digs her (and probably always has) and sees her volunteering as an opportunity to make a romantic move. But she seems much more focused on her growing role in the campaign and her attraction to Joel. She ditches Brian almost mid-kiss to run to what she things is a mini-date with Joel. And when that goes awry and she seeks Gary out, that is it for Brian and the campaign.
I don’t get a sense that Brian’s “homework” line was a reference to some previous tryst between them while studying. I think it was more that his watching her solving problems and getting things done (homework) indicated to him that she would be a boon to the campaign he was helping run.
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I will accept that alternate analysis. I'm pretty flexible on these things, I can't claim to know"exactly" what the point is. Tell you the truth: I think I flashed back on my OWN homework sessions, and what a nice memory that was. (Licorice Pizza is a nice nostalgia trip for some of us who were there back then, girls sure had Alana's hair style and clothes.)
And if Brian IS remembering Alana's brightness and skill at getting things done well -- Gary certainly has brought her in on some projects to show off those skills, too. One aspect of Licorice Pizza is showing how Alana -- in searching for a way to advance her life and career -- DOES have business talent that can be political talent(campaigns are certainly a business) and...its one reason we like her. Between her bi-polar rages.
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I DO get that he digs her (and probably always has) and sees her volunteering as an opportunity to make a romantic move.
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Yes. In fact, if one is "rooting" for Gary in this film, the arrival of Brian provides probably his biggest potential rival in the story. "Team Gary" can feel their hearts sinking.
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But she seems much more focused on her growing role in the campaign and her attraction to Joel. She ditches Brian almost mid-kiss to run to what she things is a mini-date with Joel.
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The Alana Kane character has gotten some attacks for being "out to snare a man" and always willing to "trade up"(movie star Lance, bigger movie star Jack Holden...Joel Wachs, who brings political power and I think Jewishness into the mix.) But...yeah, women do that. Men do that, too. It can hurt others who "don't make the cut", but its certainly real behavior.
See, I feel that Licorice Pizza walks a fine line between being "a typical teenage romance" (but it ISN'T typical, given the age difference) and something more adult and sophisticated in content. PTA takes very seriously (he has said) the "treacherous navigation of young love," and this movie GETS that (all those painful "other people" in way of the Gary/Alana romance, all that jealousy.)
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And when that goes awry and she seeks Gary out, that is it for Brian and the campaign.
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Yes.. Brian loses because he is too CONNECTED to the falsity of Joel Wachs. Alana can't continue with him and Wachs.
But also, Wachs' boyfriend asks Alana if she has a boyfriend, and she says "yes and no," and it is clear that she means Gary, not Brian. Its always Gary. And at the end of the movie it is going to BE Gary.