Repost: Lawn Dogs (best movie ever)

Time passes, and the movie Lawn Dogs is no longer a recent release - but it barely gets mentioned these days and I thought it might be worthwhile for newer readers to know about this greatest of all movies.

It stars a young Mischa Barton as Devon, a tween girl who forges a friendship with a man in his twenties. Perhaps most amazing of all is that this entire film is an extended metaphor, which makes it incredibly relevant to us and entirely perplexing to most viewers.

Spoiler Warning for those who care about such things.

I repeat what I wrote about this movie in 2004:

Best Movie Ever.

I agree about Devon's words to Trent. How beautiful.

Trent: Whatever happened at the end of that story?
Devon: The girl got away. She ran and she ran until she was home.
Trent: Home, yeah. Tell me where that is, Devon.
Devon (cupping Trent's chin in her hands): Home is in my hands.

Other things in the film that you may have missed (it is rich on so many levels!):

1) Devon's parents care about her on some level, but don't really respect her - like many parents. Even though Brett is actually abusive to Devon, they are quick to rationalize it away because it is not convenient to do anything about it. He is rich. See #4.

2) Devon is lonely. She literally has a "broken heart".

3) Trent's relationship with Sean, who was a friend long ago but has now made good, is reminiscent of the relationship between gays and child lovers. (It's pretty obvious Sean is gay.)

4) Poverty is used as a metaphor for child love. I love this conversation:

Devon: People say you're trash.
Trent: Yeah, I guess they do.
Devon: I wouldn't like that.
Trent: You get used to it.
* * * * *
Devon: Trash is something you put a lid on 'cause it stinks. You don't smell that bad.
Trent (laughing): That makes my day.

Devon and Trent's visit to Trent's family doesn't make much sense outside of this metaphor - but note that in the poor community everyone is much nicer to her than at home, and she is treated with respect. Compare Trent's mother and Devon's mother when it comes to serving a drink to a guest.

5) The bit about Trent's father having served his country faithfully, but his country not returning that good faith, seems to emphasize that the U.S.A. is not in fact a free country for many of its best citizens. This is the only interpretation I can find that explains the flag sequence.

6) Stealing the chickens is a metaphor for a sexual relationship: Devon and Trent embark on an illegal venture together, at Devon's insistence. (I don't feel entirely good about this metaphor, because stealing chickens is a real offense that deprives others of the product of their labor - but what does it say about America that this is considered a minor crime which must substitute in the film for the "major" crime of love?)

7) Note that the only people in the film who get hurt are the good guys: Devon, Trent, and Sean. Sean (representing the gay community) gets hurt while attacking Trent (representing the child lovers) at the insistence of Devon's father (representing the normals). The person most victimized by all this is Devon, who her father was ostensibly protecting.

(and from a post in April 2005)

I am not entirely sure of the author's intentions. I was more sure the allegory was intended when I thought the discussion of class was deliberately ridiculous, but later I discovered the author is Marxist.

Baldur