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Let's Make Alana and Gary "Age Appropriate"

posted 2 years ago by ecarle (14979)
6 replies | jump to latest

PTA certainly knew what he was doing in making Gary Valentine 15 and Alana Kane 25. He said he based that on his actually seeing, in REAL LIFE, a young teenage boy hit on a young adult woman in line to get his high school photo taken. "What if?" PTA pondered, "the girl called his bluff and actually showed up for a date?"

From that premise, this whole movie grew -- seeded with all sorts of "based on true story" incidents from the life of the "real Gary" and some other true stories as well.

Elsewhere, some of us make the case that this particular relationship (with Gary 16 at the end of the movie) is defensible and could continue on and is not "bad."

But there is also this: I've said that "without the age difference, there's no movie" becasue then there is no MAJOR OBSTACLE(as most love stories need) to the love story ending happily.

I've given it more thought and I decided: Let's try to tell the story without the age difference being a problem.

Let's make Gary 18. He could still be 18 and a senior in high school, so he could still meet Alana on line for his school photo.

And let's make Alana...19. She's graduated from high school, she's not in college, but she's still in a "dead end job." With Gary 18 and Alana 19...no trouble at all.

So technically they could fall in love and be a couple and have sex and live happily ever after from their first date. And there's no movie.

But let's look closer at how the various scenes would play out:

NYC Trip. Hey -- Gary's 18, he doesn't NEED a chaperone. So this scene is out. But you could re-stage it. Gary simply takes Alana as his paid companion to NYC. She still meets Lance -- and picks Lance over Gary (for now.)

Kane Family Shabbat Dinner. No changes necessary. Alana still loses Lance over the athiesm thing and her anger.

Teen Fair/Jail . So Alana and Gary get back together (Lance is out of the picture) and everything happens the same. Again...they can be boyfriend and girlfriend RIGHT NOW in this version.

Waterbed store opening. In the movie as we have it, Gary rejects a "loving" Alana to go be with an old flame. The age thing, maybe. But if not...just let it play out. Alana chose Lance, Gary chooses this girl.

Sean Penn/Jack Holden scene. Scene plays the same. Jealous Gary hangs around and wins Alana back after she falls off the motorcycle. In this version, Gary and Alana can go have sex. But maybe they don't if she still falls asleep and he still decides not to grope an unconscious woman.

Jon Peters/Truck Scene. There is less tension over their age thing, so let this scene play out. Gary will still end his waterbed business; Alana may still leave him to go work the campaign.

Joel Wachs sequence: Everything can stay the same. Brian enters the story. Alana's idoltry for Wachs and the break up with Gary and the reveal on Wachs and Alana running back to Gary.

Final sequence at pinball palace. Our couple re-unites, kisses, happiily ever after. They can have all the sex right now, no age worries at all.

So, quite frankly, you could tell the entire story of Licorice Pizza with two "age appropriate' young lovers, but...it would become a rather typical love story. They're age appropriate, they're in love, they break up, they get jealous, they get back together again, happy ending.

Methinks that PTA knew there is not REALLY a story to tell, that way. No obstacles to these lovers save occasional other lovers.

Its better the way it is. More tension. More "philosophy" about the power of love.

PS. In real life, the real Gary (who grew up to be a Hollywood producer with Tom Hanks and others as partners) took as his chaperone to that NYC Ed Sullivan show...a stripper. Shows you just how "adult" Gary already was in real life!

[–] Harlyville (24) 2 years ago

[–] ecarle (14979) 2 years ago

BUT, PTA needed Gary to be under 16 so that Alana would be have to drive him around on all his adventures. Otherwise, he would just drive himself and his posse. She would not have a purpose and miss out on all those vignettes.

--

Well, that's a BIG reason for the age difference, isn't it? Great point!

Once PTA had this idea fixed in his mind, based on a real life incident("teen boy hits on 20-something woman), the car thing became crucial to the plot.

Alana "bonds" to Gary by BEING his driver -- he literally cant get anywhere without her(or his mother as alternate, but she is gone a lot.) Both Alana and Gary probably like the "romance without romance" that driving around in that car gives them, again it bonds them.

In the great deleted scene that should have been in the movie, Alana exploits her driver status by hectoring Gary about his "hand man" status with that waitress...and then flooring the accelerator when he lies about it, and then BRAKING HARD before haranguing him again. The car is Alana's power.

And....crucially...when Alana LOSES that power, its a BIG deal.

This is in the great slightly inarticulate scene in the kitchen when Alana and Gary argue over his new "pinball scheme." We get this exchange:

Alana: Well, I won't drive you over there.
Gary: Great. Because I can drive myself now.
Alana: You can drive?
Gary: Yes.
Alana : (Sudden rage.) BIG MAN!

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 2 years ago

Later in the argument, when Gary announces a break-up(pretty much) and goes out to drive HIMSELF to the pinball place, Alana flat out breaks down(great acting by Alana Haim):

Alana: No...wait...I'll drive you over to that stupid pinball place. (Her voice really cracks, you can tell she realizes she is losing power and, yes, a kid-guy-man she cares about.)

Gary ignores her and DRIVES away.

Thus, the age difference as a "theme" is very much articulated by Alana's ability to drive, while Gary cannot(that's why Alana is the "hero" of the great truck drive sequence, too.

--

Speaking of the driver-rider thing, one of my favorite "little moments" in LP comes right after Gary and Alana have an argument (in the car, while she's driving) about showing her boobs in movies(she will) versus showing her boobs to Gary(she won't.)

There is a quick shot to Alana and Gary picking up Gary's little brother from school, and then a cut to Alana driving the car onto Gary's "family driveway" at his house.

The great detail:

Gary gets out of the front passenger seat and -- with great care -- turns around to help his little brother get out of the back seat(its a two -door car.) Always the loving brother -- he didn't HAVE to do that.

At the very same time, Alana angrily gets out of the front seat and angrily THROWS the car keys over the top of the car to the driveway pavement. Its such a funny, typical , ANGRY gesture from Alana. (One realizes, Alana may be the driver, but its GARY's car -- his mom's.)

Alana then walks away(they walk to their homes in this movie -- they must live near each other), decides to go back to Gary's house, and the "boobs" scene follows.

But that great little shot of everybody getting out of the car is the "grace note."

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 2 years ago

I think there is a real mental divide in people’s minds about what is acceptable behavior for a 15 year old vs a 16 year old. If he started the movie out at 16, then was 17 when they had their kiss, I think people would have been less put off. 16 is a more common age for sexual activity, and is closely associated with being an adult (legal to drive, is age of consent in some states). 15 is still seen as being a kid.

---

I guess so.

One issue I have with MYSELF about Licorice Pizza is that I am now of such an older age that all those kids in the movie look roughly the same age -- including Alana.

I sometimes wonder -- if I WERE say 12, watching this movie, would I SEE Gary as a "boy" and Alana as "an older woman"? I suppose. But from this distance, they are pretty close in age to me.

But...certainly..."every year counts" in the years from childhood to pre-teen to teenager to young adult. Our laws are pretty specific.

And this: I think I read somewhere that in America, the coming of "middle school" (7th, 8th, 9th) was to "separate out" kids during their hormonal times, when both aggression and sexuality are emerging.

Trivia: as a kid, I switched from a middle school that was three grades -- 7th 8th and 9th -- to a middle school in another town there were only two grades -- 7th and 8th. I switched in 8th grade In 9th grade, when I went to visit my old friends in the old town -- I was in high school(9th grade Freshman) but THEY were still in junior high/middle school(9th Grade "seniors.") It was weird and I suppose THAT colors this argument about "how young is too young?"

--

I've made the comparison elsewhere the "age difference issue" in Rushmore was more pronounced. The boy was high school age, his teacher was 30 something? And all it looked like was unrequited love -- a crush that the teacher refused to allow to grow.

Licorice Pizza's couple didn't feel like THAT.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 2 years ago

Hey...let's go "all the weird way":

Anybody remember "The Summer of '42," released in the R-rated year of 1971?

Its about a California teenager, indeed in that summer of '42, who becomes infatuated with a beautiful young woman(20s? 30s?) in the town whose husband is off in WWII.

Its all unrequited and innocent, until the wife learns her husband was killed in combat. And for solace...she gives the young teenage boy a night of (barely shown) lovemaking ecstasy. And then -- never again.

THIS was also the kind of "boy/woman" fantasy that Licorice Pizza refuses to be. THAT couple DID look mismatched in age. (And its forbear was from the 50's -- "Tea and Sympathy," anyone? -- "When you remember this...and you will remember this...be kind.")

Those "one night only" forbidden sexual experiences(portrayed as a good thing) in Summer of 42 and Tea and Sympathy are good illustrations of how and why Licorice Pizza isn't in the same ballpark of concern...at all.

[–] liscarkat (17106) 2 years ago

I have no problem with the age difference. There's something about it that creates a tension that the story relies on. And, after all, they didn't have sex. They mostly just hung out and worked together as friends, and didn't have a romantic relationship at all, until the very end when it looked like it was going in that direction. That being said, I think it might have still worked if Gary had been seventeen and eighteen instead of fifteen and sixteen, and Alana had been twenty-seven and twenty-eight. The "older woman" vibe would still have been there, along with some conflict in her mind about the relationship because of the age difference.

If they ended up as a permanent couple, Alana's about seventy-four now, and Gary's about sixty-four. I wonder how that's working out?